Drinking Tea in the United Kingdom
 

I'm from the Southern part of the United States where we have our own special flavor of tea. Over the years, I have branched out and have tried many different types of teas, but now I have the opportunity to visit London and do it right!

Give me some idea what to expect. I routinely purchase Earl Grey loose tea and use a tea ball. Will it be similar to this? What if I just can't live without my wonderful Southern iced sweet tea? Will I be able to find something like this? While on the subject, what about coffee? I have an addiction after all. Will coffee be as readily available as in the U.S.? Here we have a coffee pot in most hotel rooms.

Thanks in advance for the advice.

You will most often be served a small pot of hot water and a cup and a tea bag or the pot will have loose tea leaves in it. There will sometimes be an extra pot of hot water to dilute,heat up the pot.
You will have to add your own sugar for sweet tea, they don't even do sweet tea in that many places in the US outside of the South.
Funny, I grew up drinking tea (British grandmother) and lived in the South, iced tea...sweet!
I lived away from the South and now I am back and I find all that too sweet tea cloying. I never thought that I would not like Sweet tea!
Some of the best coffee I have had has been in London. Our hotels always served good coffee and I always bring back Harrods coffee when visiting.
*just watch out for those lovely scones with all that clotted cream and jam that taste so good with your tea and coffee *

Sadly, despite all the tea they drink in the UK, iced tea as we know it is almost unknown. It is recently gaining popularity, but I only tend to see it as that nasty canned stuff. I hate it because it is all sweet, but since you like sweet tea you might like it better than I do. I've gone to many places and asked for brewed tea and a big glass of ice so I can "make my own", but I rarely will get more than one or two ice cubes in the glass, so that just doesn't work. One of my greatest joys of renting a flat in London, is that now I can at least make my own real iced tea.
My experience in most hotels is that you will find an electric tea kettle for boiling water. And they will often have a tea pot for use, but coffee will then need to be instand crystals.
The good news is that there must be roughly 17 million coffee shops in London alone, one every three of four doors as you walk down any street.

Coffee will be no problem, but I'd forget about easily finding the sweet ice tea.

As much as I like it, going without for a few days doesn't bother me much anymore. Not worth the time and energy to keep asking for it and getting disappointed with the odd stuff they bring you.

Coffee is ubiquitous in London, but you'll probably only find the instant variety and a hot pot in your room. Room service would be your best option.
Try Starbuck's for iced tea. It'll be close to what you're use to. Cafe Nero is good place for coffee. I would also advise a stop at Fortnum & Mason to purchse both tea and coffee. They have the best selections anywhere. Also The Tea House on Neal Street ( Covent Gardens).

If you're served proper tea--loose leaves in a pot instead of a tea bag and cup--you should be given a little strainer to use when pouring the tea.

Sometimes you will be asked whether you prefer China (milder) or Indian tea(usually stronger in flavor). In a few upmarket spots we were given a list of teas from which to choose, and my favorite Assam was usually available.

When you get proper tea--brewed in a teapot with tea leaves--you will see a small strainer for use when pouring. Very handy.

In some places you will be asked whether you prefer China or Indian tea, and occasionally there will be a list of teas from which to choose. I immediately look for my favorite, Assam, and it's usually available.

You will also receive a small pitcher of cream with your tea. If you want lemon instead, you'll need to let your server know. I've never been asked which I prefer, as drinking hot tea with cream/milk is the preferred way in the U.K.

Properly, you would NOT get cream w/ tea. You get milk for tea and cream for coffee. Also white sugar w/ tea, demerara sugar w/ coffee.

bballmama: In your room you will likely have an electric kettle, cups, tea bags and instant coffee packets.

One thing you might be in the habit of saying at home is "Hot tea" when ordering a cup of tea, and "iced" or "sweet tea" when ordering iced tea. If tea (hot) is what you want - just ask for TEA. "Hot" tea sounds sorta silly since tepid tea would be a real no no.

A very few trendy places do have iced tea - but normally it would just be fresh brewed tea poured over ice. It would not usually be presweetened. Bottled/canned Iced tea in snack bars etc would be sweet - but also pretty awful.

Hmmm....I didn't realize demarara was more for coffee than tea. We got in the habit of drinking it with our tea, and now don't like white sugar in tea -- the demarara seems to have more flavor, instead of just sweetness.
And we thought we were being oh so native by choosing demarara!!
oh well.....

demerara is certainly yummy - but "just not done" with proper tea. :-)

Some places D. sugar is actually called coffee sugar.

And to "look native", did you put the milk and sugar in the cup BEFORE the tea, but the cream and sugar AFTER the coffee???

Oh this is going to run and run.

Never mind Gulliver and his Bigendians/Littlendians, the battle between people who put the milk in tea first or last is never-ending; but I think both would agree you would never put the sugar in before the tea. Not everyone takes sugar, after all.

Personally, I put the milk in after the tea, but I don't look down on the MIFs (unlike some people).

Ah yes -- the never-ending debate!
We are MIF's, even if we transgress on the sugar issue.
The real issue now becomes PG Tips vs Yorkshire Gold!
Annette

A lot depends on the water of course. I'm not sure Yorkshire Gold works in hard-water areas like London..

But then I long ago destroyed my palate by going for trot-a-mouse strengths of tea. Nowadays I have Fairtrade brands anyway.

I am one of those barbarians that HAS to have coffee the second I wake up. Also, I really do not like instant coffee. I buy Maxwell house coffee bags (just like tea bags). They always are in my luggage, just in case. Its not the greatest but it is better than instant. So? One reasonable cup and THEN I have the strength to go find a real cuppa. (I carry these with me even when I visit friends here in the US...some of them cannot manage to make at least 1 cup of coffee!)

Re "Demerara is certainly yummy - but 'just not done' with proper tea," I would respectfully disagree. :-) It's been my experience in London and surrounds that demerara ("brown" sugar) is almost exclusively served anywhere tea is served ... from places like The Dorchester to department store restaurants. In fact,there's usually always both types of sugar available: brown and white.

And bballmama, the trick isn't really going to be finding sweet tea ... the trick is going to be finding any bloody ice!! :-)


Tea Lover Denise, a Southerner (Charleston, SC) living in London

Whether MIF or MIL, don't put lemon and milk in the tea. The milk curdles.

IIRC Winnie-ther-Pooh preferred his bread with butter *and* honey, when having tea.

As an American, I guess I'll bite and enter into the debate. My "French Mom" was actually an Englishwoman from Hull who had married a Frenchman, and Sunday Tea was LAW at our house. My question is, are there perhaps regional differences that enter into it? Is tea done differently based on socio-economic-geographic factors in England?

At home "en famille", the sugar bowl always had both kinds of sugar. More for convenience than anything else, I believe. We had Breakfast tea to start the day served in the ordinary brown bean-pot style pot and it always had milk (wasn't awake enough to notice or care wether the milk went in before or after the tea), and coffee after the main midday meal.

Now when we had guests specifically for "tea", on the other hand, there was only cubed white sugar with tongs (which nobody up to now has mentioned as a requirement along with the beautiful silver leaf strainer and accompanying holder, but which in my mind is) and she always had both tea slices and milk to offer (either/or, as Ira pointed out). She always served a mix of looseleaf black tea and Earl Grey for these occasions and it was served in the most delicate white with little blue flowered English Bone China.

It was my understanding that no self-respecting tea-drinker would use tea bags, or ever cut corners by not following the proper ritual...preheating tea pot, using tea cosy etc. She would do the milk (not cream) and sugar before the tea and had the most elegant way of holding the demi-tasse spoon and swishing the tea gently, to-and-fro, to-and-fro (versus my American grandfather's agressive circular, vortex- producing churning, followed by the god-awful tap of the spoon on the lip of the cup. I wonder how may chips my grandmother's china had from that)

Maybe it's my imagination, but the ritual, type of indredients do make for a quality cup of tea...I'm not convinced the order of the tea/milk/sugar has any bearing. What is the rationale involved in that???

Thanks to all the experts who share their opinions

PatrickLondon and anntettetx, what a fun & cheerful post!
My husband and I were MIF's but have been corrupted by American tea habits, but he still puts my sugar in first! Knowing that I like all things Sweet! even the coffee~
Is there the same catagory for tea drinkers who use bags vs loose leaf?
What would they be labeled?
In that catagory-I am non-partisan, I take my tea in whatever form it comes in :)
Cheers~

Yorkshire Gold actually sends different blends to different parts of the country to suit the water. London will get the blend for hard water.

I don't care whether you put sugar in first or tea first, but milk should come last. If you add milk before tea, it cools down the tea and the sugar may not dissolve totally or as quickly.

We learned the term "milk in first" from an English friend of the old school; the term was used for anyone felt to be a bit déclassé, as in "She's very milk-in-first, my dear." I remember in a WWII film that a German officer taking tea with a Frenchwoman who was actually an English spy watched very closely to see whether she put her milk in first, believing that to be the standard English practice.

Of course, at home I always put my milk in first--saves stirring and washing a spoon. In public, though, I'm careful to put the milk in last, just in case a spy is watching me!

Denise, they'll have both white sugar and demerara out in case anyone orders coffee. Demerara sugar is definitely not for tea.

My mother was an English war bride and I was brought up drinking tea-but not with milk or sugar. I enjoy hosting tea parties, and have also donated tea tastings to my children's school auctions. In my tea research I learned that in Victorian times the milk was always added first to protect the delicate china teacups from cracking when the hot tea was added. Can't comment on when it is proper for the sugar to be added. Was glad to hear that my favorite Yorkshire Gold tea is popular with others. Another wonderful tea (although it is VERY expensive-about $65/lb) is Jasmine Jazz, a green tea. In tastings I always serve it first because it is so delicate and fragrant, but everyone wants it at the end as well.

>I'm not convinced the order of the tea/milk/sugar has any bearing. What is the rationale involved in that??? <

>...at home I always put my milk in first--saves stirring and washing a spoon. <

OR

>...the milk was always added first to protect the delicate china teacups from cracking when the hot tea was added. <

Take your pick.

Also, the sugar will dissolve more completely if put into the hot tea before the milk.

Twinings has an iced tea in waxed containers that you can get at Sainsbury's. Two years ago they had peach which was delicious, and a couple of other flavors. Last week all I could find was raspberry. It was good too, but a bit sweet. My husband tried to order iced tea in restaurants a couple of times, but no one had it.

Yorkshire Gold is delicious, and I'm fond in general of Taylors of Harrogate Teas, which are getting harder to find in stores--especially assam in bags.

I had the 'milk in tea before or after?' conversation with my husband when we first met. He insisted that it go in first and that he could tell the difference. Recently, I forgot to put the milk in first but he didn't see me prepare it so I didn't worry. Until, that is, he said "When did you put the milk in? The tea doesn't taste right". I couldn't believe it... I can't get away with anything!

Another tea question... Growing up, we always used honey in our tea. Never sugar, even though we had it in the house. I actually grew up thinking that honey was the proper sweetner for tea. Anyone else out there take their tea with honey?

Dear Annette
Yorkshire Gold wins out! However, I've discovered I like Tetley's, too.
I'm constantly trying new teas (loose, if I can get it) Red Label Lipton (for the Indian market, sold in Indian food stores) is good for sort of a "malty flavor") I'm talking about what I can get in the US.
My favorite is Sainsbury's Kenyan tea but, alas, can't get it here.

That lovely malty flavor comes primarily from a good Assam. Try mixing 9/10 Assam with 1/10 Darjeeling (or a little bit more even) for a real taste treat in the morning, served with milk.

As Paul Burrell (Diana's former butler) says "putting milk in before tea is what common people do"

I favour a Darjeeling Chamong - the finest darjeeling in the world, very delicate with peach notes.

put me down as common, then, I'm a milk first (taught that by my British almost-father-in-law) Just habit, now.
MMM, yes, Assam and Darjeeling mix. I think I'll have to make a pot when I get home (and risk being up all night on an overcaffienated buzz!) ((c)) Cheers!

(ps--I like Lifeboat tea, too.)

Like epicureangirl's husband I can tell the difference - milk first please. Perhaps it is habit - I grew up with having milk and sugar in my tea. I dropped the sugar many years ago and now I can not stand the taste of tea with sugar.

Sandy

What an informative thread! I have had the wonderful experience of business trips to London over the years and have very much enjoyed the tea. On a different note I'd like to add a comment about varieties. Tea you find in the UK is much stronger, fresher and better than anything you will find in the states. I have enjoyed Earl Grey and Darjeeling. Others are fond of English Breakfast or Irish Breakfast.

Tea makes a good trip souvenir and gift.

You may also trip across coffee/tea/hot chocolate hot drink dispensers where you put in your money, make the selections to adjust the sugar, milk, cream and a little cup is dispensed and made to order. I will say, I'd prefer to let my tea steep and enjoy a proper cuppa.

Put me down as common too. I always put milk in my cup first for both coffee and tea. But, I am just trash from Stepney, so what do I know about the exclusive world of Mkingdom?

I am sure between Mkindgom's diatribes on this forum, he is taking tea with Princess Michael of Kent and Freddie Windsor. Blimey.

Tea with Princess Michael? Now THAT would be common.

You know this incessant "class struggle" thing you folks seem to revel in is definitely a tempest in a tea pot.

I believe Sharon is correct about tea quality being worse in the US than in the UK, but I would amend that and possibly add Northern Europe (or at least Sweden) to the better tea category. Everytime I visit my mother in Sweden I stock up on Lipton tea(yes, you heard right, Lipton) which is arguably the lowest grade in US supermarkets. In Sweden, the Lipton teabags come in a variety of flavors which taste fresher and better than any Lipton and even several more expensive varieties I've found in American stores. A few years ago I also found a bag of Tetley loose leaf rhubarb cream tea there which was absolutely delicious. Needless to say, it doesn't seem to exist in the US.

Do the British tea exporters think that Americans don't care if the tea is older and of lower quality than that of the the European market? Or could it be that they view the US as a coffee drinking country that is mostly indifferent to the tea culture.

Maybe it's time we tea drinkers have another little Tea Party here in Boston and show the British tea companies that we mean business!

France also produces some excellent tea blends. Last year a friend brought us some French Breakfast Tea (which I'd never heard of), and it fast became my husband's favorite. It has a distinct aroma of chocolate, but the taste is mildly smoky, a bit like a Lapsang Souchong. The French also have a good many herbal flavors that I haven't seen anywhere else, such as an organic blend of mauve anise and mint. We've found that vervein is especially good after a lengthy dinner, rather than coffee.