# "British-style" tea - how do you take it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 29, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-tea-how-do-you-take-it/607740 "2011-12-29T18:11:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2012, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-tea-how-do-you-take-it/607740/61 "2012-01-01T07:49:34Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Marathi, also. > > I doubt one American in ten- even the ones who do drink tea- understand that chai tea is redundant. Starbucks and other places which serve hot tea don’t help, since they call it “chai tea” too. I want to throw the “Chai tea latte” back at the Baristas. What the HELL is in that concoction? ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2012, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-tea-how-do-you-take-it/607740/62 "2012-01-01T12:59:28Z")
The Teltley’s round bags used to be great, good dark flavor. Not so much anymore ☹ I may have to start double bagging my mugs. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2012, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-tea-how-do-you-take-it/607740/63 "2012-01-01T16:22:46Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > I want to throw the “Chai tea latte” back at the Baristas. What the HELL is in that concoction? [Sean Lock] It’s [Polish chemicals](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mitc-4tsH_A). [/Sean Lock] ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2012, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-tea-how-do-you-take-it/607740/64 "2012-01-01T19:15:39Z")
> [@Angua](#): > > Well, Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati, Kutchhi (and probably other Indian sub-continent languages I’ve forgotten) for tea. And Russian (borrowed, I’m sure). ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2012, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-tea-how-do-you-take-it/607740/65 "2012-01-01T21:58:37Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > I want to throw the “Chai tea latte” back at the Baristas. What the HELL is in that concoction? The Starbucks stuff is a sort of chai masala with steamed milk, but it tastes wrong because it has allspice in it instead of cloves. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2012, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-tea-how-do-you-take-it/607740/66 "2012-01-01T23:13:58Z")
Apparently there were two words for tea in China. In the north they called it Cha and in the south they called it Te. These two words spread around the world. Albanian, Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bulgarian, Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Japanese, Kazakh, Kurdish, Marathi, Mongolian, Persian, Punjabi, Portuguese, Russian, Swahili, Turkish, and Vietnamese use a variant of Cha. Armenian, Catalan, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, French, German, Hebrew, Irish, Malay, Polish, Spanish, Swedish, Tamil, and Welsh use a variant of Te. ---
**Author:** ![Neevil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Neevil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neevil)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-tea-how-do-you-take-it/607740/67 "2012-01-02T02:11:49Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Apparently there were two words for tea in China. In the north they called it Cha and in the south they called it Te. These two words spread around the world. Albanian, Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bulgarian, Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Japanese, Kazakh, Kurdish, Marathi, Mongolian, Persian, Punjabi, Portuguese, Russian, Swahili, Turkish, and Vietnamese use a variant of Cha. Armenian, Catalan, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, French, German, Hebrew, Irish, Malay, Polish, Spanish, Swedish, Tamil, and Welsh use a variant of Te. That’s interesting and backs up what I had been told re the use of ‘cha’ in Ireland as another word for tea. I’ve heard it used quite a bit, it’s certainly in use in Dublin anyway. I had been told it was something to do with the original word for tea but never checked it out before now. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-tea-how-do-you-take-it/607740/68 "2012-01-02T03:04:41Z")
The [Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea#The_word_tea) I assume you’re referencing contains exactly one citation, so I wouldn’t put a great deal of stock into it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-tea-how-do-you-take-it/607740/69 "2012-01-02T04:59:33Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > The [Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea#The_word_tea) I assume you’re referencing contains exactly one citation, so I wouldn’t put a great deal of stock into it. I see fifty-eight online citations and twenty-three print citations. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-tea-how-do-you-take-it/607740/70 "2012-01-02T05:08:03Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Apparently there were two words for tea in China. In the north they called it Cha and in the south they called it Te. Hmm. It’s called ‘cha’ in Cantonese, which is the most prolific dialect in southen China. ‘Cha’ is also British (esp. London) slang for tea. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-tea-how-do-you-take-it/607740/71 "2012-01-02T05:13:05Z")
Oops just read the Wikipedia article and see they’re talking about Hokkianese. Ignore my comment. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-tea-how-do-you-take-it/607740/72 "2012-01-02T07:14:55Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I see fifty-eight online citations and twenty-three print citations. There is only one in the etymology section, I mean. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-tea-how-do-you-take-it/607740/73 "2012-01-02T17:32:52Z")
> [@Neevil](#): > > Strong with milk & one sugar. I’m Irish and drinking tea without milk is almost unheard of here if it’s a regular cup of tea you are having and not something fancy like Earl Gray. I just had to be different. I’m Irish and I drink tea with no milk or sugar. I used to like sugary, milky tea but now I find it too sweet. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-tea-how-do-you-take-it/607740/74 "2012-01-02T18:22:55Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > There is only one in the etymology section, I mean. Which, on reflection, is exactly what I linked to, so it really shouldn’t have been that difficult to figure out what I meant. ---
**Author:** ![Pixel\_Dent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@Pixel\_Dent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixel_Dent)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-tea-how-do-you-take-it/607740/75 "2012-01-02T18:27:16Z")
Another vote for Black. I was staying with a family in Manchester once and after 3 days of choking down tea with milk I asked for it without milk or sugar. They thought it was the funniest thing they ever heard but kindly served the crazy American kid his black tea. And to be honest what I really like in my unsweetened, undairied, black tea is a whole lot of ice cubes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-tea-how-do-you-take-it/607740.md?page=3)