«Fancy a cuppa?»

31 de octubre de 2016

That’s a question you’ve probably never been asked and yet it is uttered tens of thousands of times every day in British households. It means “Would you like a cup of tea?”

Britain is a nation of tea drinkers. It is by far the most popular drink in the UK. You might not believe this, but it is estimated that approximately 165 million cups of tea are drunk every day in the UK!  And despite the efforts of coffee house chains, such as Costa or Starbucks, with their “lattes”, “flat whites” and “espresso macchiatos”, coffee is way behind and only 70 million cups per day is the estimated overall intake.

People drink tea in the morning, afternoon and evening, with their breakfast and other meals. It is a comfort drink, a refresher, a pick-me up, a relaxer. All that in one little cup, with or without milk, with or without sugar.

Have you ever wondered how this love affair with tea started? Many people say it was with the Portuguese. King Charles II married Catherine of Braganza in 1662. Catherine was Portuguese and perhaps, upset by the fact that she was going to leave her sunny country and spend the rest of her life looking out the windows of her palace at rain and clouds, she brought chests full of tea as part of her wedding dowry and so the craze started.

If you want to discover more about the British and their love of tea, take a look at this video:

Did you learn anything new about tea from this video? What’s your personal favourite? Tea or coffee? Or something else? Let us know in the comments!

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Comentarios
Eva4 de noviembre de 2016 a las 20:21

Hi!

I have loved the video about the Brits and tea. All the stories have been really interesting. I didn’t know any of those stories.

Regarding the expression «fancy a cuppa?», I have liked it and I’m going to use it.

I have to confess I am a tea drinker. I prefer tea to coffee because it lasts longer and in winter I like to keep the hot mug in my hands. One of my favourite things in winter is to sit in the sofa with a good book and a mug of tea.

Eva

Responder
    Patricia Benson7 de noviembre de 2016 a las 11:41

    Hi Eva,
    Yes, nothing beats wrapping your hands round a nice warm mug in Winter.

    Responder
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