What Type Of Tea Do The English/British Enjoy?

Question

As an American woman, and I absoultly love everything about the United Kingdom (especially the men and culture) I was wondering about something. What type of tea do the English/British enjoy drinking on a daily basis? Here in America, we've got all sorts of teas such as green tea, black tea, orange tea, and the list can go on and on. Is there just one type of tea or many that are enjoyed?

Answer 1

As an avid, British tea drinker, I would definitely say that the most popular tea in Britain is your average, run-of-the-mill tea. You know, the plain teabag, milk and hot water job. Definitely the best as well! With two sugars mind!

Answer 2

personally
I prefer the lighter teas... such as
Earl Grey, or even Lady Grey (Lady Grey is a special produced by Twinings [its virtually the same Earl but has more citrus flavourings])
Ceylon
Darjeeling
Occasionaly: Green Tea (very occasionally)
Or late at nights a srong flavour such as Lap Sang Suchong

...all without milk

Id guess most Brits would prefer a 'normal' tea such as Typhoo, PG Tips, CoOp 99 always had a fantastic reputation for taste. Although you won't get CoOp 99 in the States.

There are some other brands such as "Yorkshire Tea" which is reputed to be blended to suit the water in each area. Also there are sepcialist tea shops like Betty's or Whittards.. bith of which have on line shops

Personallyy I find the 'normal' teas far to strong for my liking.. but on the occasions I do have it Yorkshire seems preferable. Mind you sometimes I do resort to industrial strength tea with Milk & 2..3 sugars, usuallt when its far to complex to get someone else to accept you cna have tea without milk & sugar.

Answer 3

I've heard over and over again that Earl Grey is the typical English tea (though mainly from Americans). Being English myself, I don't know anyone who drinks it on a regular basis. The most popular brands are the most normal - PG Tips and Tetley's and that kind of thing. What As You Like It said about tea being just "tea" is right - no one asks for or offers particular brands except if it's something unusual.

Almost everyone has it with milk, and most people take one or two sugar(s).

Answer 4

On a daily basis most people would use either Brooke Bond, Tetely, Twinnings, and PG Tips teabags which are normally of the original plain teas mostly use for any time of the day.

Speciality teas like English Breakfast and Earl Grey are very popular teas too, Earl grey is the kind of tea that is said to make you feel relaxed.

According to Brittania:
Earl Grey is one of the most popular of the speciality teas and said to be named after the second Earl Grey who delighted a Chinese mandarin with his praise of tea, so the honourable Oriental gentleman concocted this special blend for his noble English friend.

Something fun to read/The story of tea:
It was Queen Catherine, wife of Charles II , who first introduced tea drinking as a social and family habit to the English in 1662 when she took chests of tea to Britain from Portugal as part of her wedding dowry. Today Britain exports tea to over 120 different countries including China.

Answer 5

If there is a type of tea we the English drink it , of course much consumption is decided by price as would be in the states , the more affluant you are the pickier the English become, with tea,s like Earl Grey and the aromatic variaties , also the herbal tea,s are now becoming a big thing at the moment

Answer 6

The teas that Brits enjoy are typically much stronger in flavour and "body" than those found for export in the USA or most European countries.

The closest you'll usually find to a "typical" brit brew on US shelves is Twinings English Breakfast - use 1 bag for a decent sized mug or 2 for a small pot and allow to brew properly for 3-4 minutes.

Famous brands to look out for include PG Tips, Typhoo, and my personal favourite Yorkshire Tea.

Incidentally, nobody sane drinks Earl Grey.

One curious thing about tea, though - it has a much higher level of caffeine than coffee, but also contains flavins that calm you down. Alert but calm, ready for anything but still with a clear head. It's good stuff. Dubya should try some :)

Answer 7

*Growls at the worlds tea ignorance!!* Proper tea is called Tea. If you want a cup of tea, you are essentially asking for black tea (with milk) or as some call it breakfast tea. If you want fancy teas such as earl grey you ask for a cup of earl grey, not TEA!!

Same as if you want green tea or any other.

Tea as in of the PG Tip, Yorkshire, Tetley etc variety is the only tea allowed to be just tea. You will confuse a English person by asking them which type they want, as it seems quite absurd to many of us, unless we specifically asked for a herbal tea or a earl grey. That and the fact that most of us are not quite sure what our beloved TEA's real, proper name is!

You don't really need to ask if they want milk (they will tell you if they strangely do not require milk), but you do need to ask if they take sugar. NEVER guess, you need to ask! It is such a personal thing. I used to have sugar in tea, but slowly weened myself off. It took about a year of drinking tea, I just did not like that much. But now I love it again and literally have to spit out tea that has sugar in.

People generally have no, one, one and a half, or two tea spoon fulls of sugar in tea. Builders, plumbers and rebellious teenagers on the other hand may possibly go for 3 tea spoons. (But they are just showing off!)

Answer 8

Green Tea

Answer 9

The vast majority of tea we drink is the kind with milk in it.
Yorkshire tea is the finest followed by tetleys and PG tips as the most popular. Our supermarket own brands are big sellers too.
Herbal teas are much much less common as with earl gray tho not exactly rare.

They tried to introduce iced tea overhere and it bombed badly,
we Brits know how we like it thankyou very much!

God I love tea!

Answer 10

Whatever the Tea English folks drinks, but with milk in first.......I love all the names given to Teas like English breakfast, Earl Grey and so on.......but for me there is nothing like a Ceylon (Sri Lanka) Cup of Tea.... All those Teas with names are Blends of Sri Lanka, India, China etc., Teas.
The Glory goes to the different types of earths....which produces the different tastes.