I've joined the tea party......

It's an emotive subject, tea. Iota and Michelloui, at their respective blogs, have been discussing the English custom of immediately offering your guest a hot drink - something that just doesn't happen in America, where the electric kettle is almost unheard of. Go and read their wonderfully insightful posts here and here first (and the many fascinating comments). And then the lovely Michelloui asked if I would like to join in. Well, let's just say being invited to this particular tea party is definitely preferable to the Sarah Palin kind....


You see, even if our American friends have got over the fact that we like to offer them hot drinks, and begin to reciprocate, there is still a long way to go to understanding the British cult of tea. In an American household, you may be offered a herbal tea, or green tea - they will not, understandably, have plain black tea (although brands like PG Tips and Twinings are readily available here). You might be offered honey to sweeten it - or even milk, but that's probably because they know you are British, and let's face it, who wants to drink green tea with milk?

But, American friends, what you really need to understand is that our choice of tea - and the way we drink it- is riddled with centuries-old prejudices revolving around the dreaded British disease of class.

Here I must disclose that I grew up drinking Twinings Earl Grey tea. It was the brand my mother always bought; I didn't realise until much later that this was considered frightfully middle class, and by that time I was addicted. (When we arrived in the US, I brought three foodstuffs in my suitcase; Marmite, Weetabix and Twinings Earl Grey).

Given a choice, I will always go for Earl Grey (although never, ever 'Lady Grey', in my view a completely pointless, inferior made-up version). However, I am quite happy to drink less poncey teas - for example, Tetley or PG Tips. Note for Americans: this kind of tea, particularly if it is made very strong and comes with a good helping of sugar, is often known as builders' tea. (In the UK, builders drink tea. If you have builders in your home, you offer them tea and biscuits. And if you don't, they will probably ask for them). So, in some British households, you might be offered a choice of 'Earl Grey, or builders' tea' - others just assume you want one or the other.

As a child I remember reading Enid Blyton and there being discussions, among characters deemed to be 'snobbish', about 'China' vs 'Indian' tea. 'China' tea was thought to be more proper. But these distinctions seem to have fallen by the wayside, and it's all about brands now. Twinings is firmly middle class; PG Tips comes with a good dose of British humour (remember the ads with chimps?); Tetley is Yorkshire and no-nonsense. (Interestingly, in an effort to seem less snooty, Twinings launched a new tea a few years ago called Everyday Tea. They still got Stephen Fry to star in the ads, though.)

The order in which we add the milk is also ridden with class assumptions. I was always told it was more polite to make the tea first and then add the milk, although some people believe the opposite. My mother definitely thought it was the height of bad manners to put the milk and teabag in first, then add the hot water.

Then, of course, do you serve it in a proper teacup, with a saucer, or in a mug? This is definitely a generational thing. My grandparents would never have served tea in mugs. If we were having a posh tea party, with cake, my mother would have definitely have got the cups and saucers out, but if it was just us, we had mugs. Now, we drink out of mugs all the time. I do actually possess a set of Wedgewood cups and saucers - a wedding present- but they are rarely used. (But, Americans, rest assured that if you go and 'take tea' at the Ritz or Claridges, you will get nothing but the very best bone china. )

And then there's the question of teabags. Again, these used to be rather sneered upon by tea snobs - you made your loose leaf tea in a pot and then strained it. But, while you'd still get it at Claridges, I can't believe there are many families who would bother to make loose leaf tea now.

I do wonder what will happen in the next generation. I can't remember an age when I didn't drink tea, but you don't see children drinking it these days. My own boys refuse to try it. I suppose it's probably thought bad to give kids any kind of caffeine at all now, although I can't believe there's anything wrong with a weak cup of tea. So, will Britain lose its tea-drinking tradition? Will children move straight from apple juice to smoothies and then on to Starbucks? And with it, will all this knowledge, ceremony and tradition just disappear? I'd hate to think so.