How do you take your tea?

[Mr Eagle]

i'm surprised no brits have weighed in. after all, it was they who traversed the world in boats for a decade trying to find a quicker way to bring this precious cargo into port.

The working classes take their tea with milk and optional sugar.Tea breaks occur at regular intervals during the day anounced in the traditional way with the Foreman or Boss shouting at the top of his voice TEA UP ! It is regarded as very poor form if underlings who have usually made the tea do the shouting.The tea maker must inform the Boss or Foreman that the tea is ready.Tea is normally served in mugs, Sandwiches usually brought from home are sometimes consumed with the tea.A quick smoke and its back to some hard work untill the next tea break.This will normally be within the next 2 hours though some slavedrivers may make the workforce wait for 5 hours which is the maximum allowed under UK law before the Boss must shout TEA UP ! again.

The upper classes of course take a completley different approach to the drinking of tea. The tea is made by the servants in what are known as "tea pots" .These are made of fine China and come as part of a set along with cups,saucers,sugar bowl and milk jug. When the tea is ready the servant will place it on the table in another room from where you are and ring a bell,anouncing that "Tea is served my lud". These occasions are normally in the late afternoon between Gin with Auntie and Whisky with Grand pa pa . Cake and biscuits are also served at this time. Sometimes the tea is served black with lemon but this is usually reserved for incontinent old ladies with mental dissorders. The most important thing to remember wether a lord or serf is that tea however you take it must always be announced before drinking TEA UP !

[whetstone]

I've been up there and ordered tea in a restaurant. Whatever the concoction they brought me was, it wasn't tea.

didn't know you guys drank sweet tea up north. i've never seen it in any eating establishments up there.

[billysandy]

fairtrade english breakfast tea from TESCO - for those of you from uk!!! with 1 sweetener and quite milky. can someone explain to me about adding lemon juice? is it in hot tea or cold tea? and do you put milk in? sorry, I am from England and i haven't ever heard of someone putting lemon in tea. . . sounds soooo good though.

[senorchipotle]

I also drink a lot of iced tea, lemon and peach stuff from bottles usually. I prefer it to juices and carbonated drinks. Been meaning to try making my own for ages so if anybody has a good recipe floating around let me know!

well, the best iced tea brand in my opinion is called "luzianne.'' i'm not sure whether or not it's sold outside the u.s., but it's produced in louisiana and it's very good. just boil a pot with about three cups of water to make a concentrate, take it off and drop a few bags in. then add 3/4 cup of sugar and it'll make about a gallon and a half. i like lime and mint in my tea as well.

The working classes take their tea with milk and optional sugar.Tea breaks occur at regular intervals during the day anounced in the traditional way with the Foreman or Boss shouting at the top of his voice TEA UP ! It is regarded as very poor form if underlings who have usually made the tea do the shouting.The tea maker must inform the Boss or Foreman that the tea is ready.Tea is normally served in mugs, Sandwiches usually brought from home are sometimes consumed with the tea.A quick smoke and its back to some hard work untill the next tea break.This will normally be within the next 2 hours though some slavedrivers may make the workforce wait for 5 hours which is the maximum allowed under UK law before the Boss must shout TEA UP ! again.

hilarious! pip pip, cheerio. one question, however. if one were drinking tea alone, would one be oblige to announce to oneself that ''tea is served?"

[Mr Eagle]

One would never drink tea alone,the whole essence of tea drinking is to show off ones china and obidience of the staff to ones guests. When alone one drinks Gin old boy

Tally Ho!

[zeg]

fairtrade english breakfast tea from TESCO - for those of you from uk!!! with 1 sweetener and quite milky. can someone explain to me about adding lemon juice? is it in hot tea or cold tea? and do you put milk in? sorry, I am from England and i haven't ever heard of someone putting lemon in tea. . . sounds soooo good though.

Lemon juice, or normally an actual lemon wedge, is served pretty commonly here in the US with both hot and iced tea. For iced, you normally just squeeze it in and then drop the wedge in. For hot tea, I'm not sure exactly, but I think it's the same process but a bit less common, at least in the areas I've been. You wouldn't use both milk and lemon at once, unless you like curdled milk I imagine...

[CrazyO_8]

I chew the tea bag!

[Jay-Bird]

I like green tea.
I like white tees.

[DavidFehertysBike]

I take my tea with a low dose of goverment spending!

[ninjadriver]

The cuppa, as any fule kno, is made to be drunk anytime, anywhere, and always with milk.

The middle classes, eager to impress, will take it MIF (Milk In First) but those of a more genteel persuasion will add the milk after the tea has been poured, preferably from a china teapot, although nowadays the curse of the teabag has reduced the masses to slopping the bag around in a mug until it reaches the required, deathly brown, shade - even going so far as to chuck the milk in BEFORE the bag has left the confines of the mug! Shocking.

I am a devotee of PG Tips, brewed long and strong, but am partial to an iced lemon tea in the summer months.

The Japanese (I live in Japan) also have their own way of tea, which is long and involved. I like a cup of the green stuff on occasion, especially after a good sushi meal, when spirits start to flag after copius amounts of nihonshu and beer.

Finally, I leave the last word to that famed Americanophile PG Wodehouse:
"The cup of tea on arrival at a country house is a thing which, as a rule, I particularly enjoy. I like the crackling logs, the shaded lights, the scent of buttered toast, the general atmosphere of leisured cosiness"

I couldn't agree more.

[Fozcycle]

I'm a Southerner, so I take my tea Iced, Sweetened, with Lemon & Mint

[right handed phil mickelson]

Tea is all I drink essentially. About a gallon a day. I like it brewed strong...add one Sweet 'N' Low per glass and lots of lemon juice. I go through at least 40 ounces of lemon juice a week. Yum yum yum...

So I'm guessing your teeth are yellow-er than Srixon's new yellow ball?

Just kidding :P I like my tea southern. Cold sweet tea. Maybe the occaisonal lemon if I'm feeling shnazzy.

[zeg]

The middle classes, eager to impress, will take it MIF (Milk In First) but those of a more genteel persuasion will add the milk after the tea has been poured, preferably from a china teapot, although nowadays the curse of the teabag has reduced the masses to slopping the bag around in a mug until it reaches the required, deathly brown, shade - even going so far as to chuck the milk in BEFORE the bag has left the confines of the mug! Shocking.

If I'm making tea in a teapot, I'll usually put milk in first just because I can set it up while the tea is steeping. If I'm using a bag or tea ball, then obviously I have to wait until after brewing to add it. But I'm with you about putting the milk in first---great way to ruin the tea. It's kind of important to use hot water. The only exception I'll accept is if you're making Indian chai where you're steeping it in hot milk.

When things are too hectic to make tea well, I'll usually go with coffee. Badly-made tea is awful, whereas badly-made coffee is usually ok with some sugar to hide the bitterness. Unless it's too weak. There's no saving weak coffee.

[WUTiger]

If it's Earl Gray or similar brown tea, I take it with a squeeze of lime or lemon. Usually drink it with breakfast.

I'll take a pot of the local tea with Asian meals.

A cup of decaf tee at 1 a.m. will help me finally go to sleep if I'm restless. (Sorry, dedicated tee drinkers!)

[lcfd42]

Six "Luzianne" tea bags brought to a rolling boil, then allowed to steep while 1.5 cups of pure white cane sugar are added to 3/4 gal of warm water (to aid in dissolving sugar), add steeped tea, top off gallon with water till full. Stir until all sugar is disolved completely. Serve over ice with a wedge of lemon. Usually better when referigerated overnight.

[Cussin hacker]

Shaken not stired!

[Prairie Golfer]

Nestea instant iced tea with an illegal amount of sugar.

[rudygu]

Southern style...Cold, sweet Luzianne. I'll drink it plain, with a lemon wedge, or mixed 50/50 with pineapple-orange juice. Can't get enough of the stuff.