# What is the favorite tea in Great Britain? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 31, 2004, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-favorite-tea-in-great-britain/226918 "2004-01-31T15:05:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![benlormat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d26b3c/32.png) [@benlormat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/benlormat)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-favorite-tea-in-great-britain/226918/1 "2004-01-31T15:05:56Z")
Everyone at work has given up drinking coffee and switched to tea. This of course is accompanied by discussion on what’s the best tasting tea. English breakfast tea and Earl Grey are the current leaders. What are the favorites in Great Britain? ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-favorite-tea-in-great-britain/226918/2 "2004-01-31T15:37:04Z")
> [@benlormat](#): > > Everyone at work has given up drinking coffee and switched to tea. This of course is accompanied by discussion on what’s the best tasting tea. English breakfast tea and Earl Grey are the current leaders. What are the favorites in Great Britain? Most popular are blends, leading brands being PG Tips, Tetley, Typhoo and store brands. I have not noticed any great difference between them. They would taste similar to English breakfast tea, I guess. Specialist teas such as Earl Grey or Darjeeling are not actually drunk that much. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-favorite-tea-in-great-britain/226918/3 "2004-01-31T16:34:55Z")
Anecdotally speaking, many in the UK (and myself, although not in the UK) think that Typhoo is a very under-rated tea. It is my personal favourite and sadly costs about $0.10 a round here in the US at most places - where I can find it, that is. When we use about 10 a day, that’s $1 a day for tea. Fierra has written at-length about the quality of the water, the brewing technique, etc. making a huge difference in tea taste. Apparently, the water in Kansas is excellent for making tea. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-favorite-tea-in-great-britain/226918/4 "2004-01-31T16:36:04Z")
Don’t forget \*\*Yorkshire Tea \*\* , grown on the sunny tea estates of Ilkley Moor and Wuthering Heights. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-favorite-tea-in-great-britain/226918/5 "2004-01-31T16:49:46Z")
How much tea do typical (or average) British people drink in a day? All day, or mainly at tea time? I’ve read, mostly in mystery novels, that some keep a kettle on all day. I’ve seen this in movies too, with a kettle simmering on the stove. Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-favorite-tea-in-great-britain/226918/6 "2004-01-31T16:56:35Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > How much tea do typical (or average) British people drink in a day? All day, or mainly at tea time? > I’ve read, mostly in mystery novels, that some keep a kettle on all day. I’ve seen this in movies too, with a kettle simmering on the stove. > Peace, > mangeorge The part about the stove/kettle may have been true fifty years ago. Now we all have electric kettles. Boiling water in a couple of minutes. I imagine the average consuption is about 4 or five cups. A lot of people now drink coffee (the real stuff or instant ) instead of tea. ---
**Author:** ![raygirvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@raygirvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raygirvan)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-favorite-tea-in-great-britain/226918/7 "2004-01-31T17:02:53Z")
_How much tea do typical (or average) British people drink in a day? All day, or mainly at tea time?_ It varies. I think I’m fairly average, among tea-drinkers, in having a cup at breakfast, morning and afternoon work breaks, and sometimes in the evening if I’ve been out. My wife drinks coffee. ---
**Author:** ![drhess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/94ad74/32.png) [@drhess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drhess)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-favorite-tea-in-great-britain/226918/8 "2004-01-31T17:37:15Z")
slight hijak: Where do most teas come from in the West? What climate do you need to grow them? ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-favorite-tea-in-great-britain/226918/9 "2004-01-31T18:11:19Z")
The world’s biggest tea producers are India, China, Sri Lanka, and Kenya. The only country in the Americas that has any kind of tea production is Argentina. Tea grows in tropical and subtropical climates. It was first grown in China and after the British got a taste for it (to say the least), they started looking for new places to grow it. India was that place. Sri Lanka came along later. It started as a coffee growing island, but a blight killed the coffee and tea took its place. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-favorite-tea-in-great-britain/226918/10 "2004-01-31T20:09:00Z")
> [@BobT](#): > > Sri Lanka came along later. It started as a coffee growing island, but a blight killed the coffee and tea took its place. Actually “ **Ceylon, which later became Sri Lanka** , came along later.” ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-favorite-tea-in-great-britain/226918/11 "2004-02-02T11:32:06Z")
This wasn’t asked but in Ireland it has to be Barry’s tea. Other brands are available but I don’t know who buys them as no Irish person in their right minds would tolerate anything else. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-favorite-tea-in-great-britain/226918/12 "2004-02-02T11:39:59Z")
As long as someone brought this idea up, may I ask a side question of U.K. Dopers? Does Lipton market thier tea bags there, and if so, how popular is it? ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-favorite-tea-in-great-britain/226918/13 "2004-02-02T11:55:32Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > As long as someone brought this idea up, may I ask a side question of U.K. Dopers? Does Lipton market thier tea bags there, and if so, how popular is it? I have never seen it in Britain, and am always suprised with how popular it is abroad. As to the mutants who drink Earl Grey: Stop it you fools! It tastes of soap! Now for a nice cup of PG tips. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-favorite-tea-in-great-britain/226918/14 "2004-02-02T12:07:41Z")
I also want to stick up for Typhoo. To me it has a more fuller and rounded flavour than the other leading brands, though PG Tips is close behind. > [@duffer](#): > > Does Lipton market thier tea bags there, and if so, how popular is it? Lipton’s is rarely seen in the UK. This is because it is an abomination that has brought tears of frustration to my eyes from San Francisco to Hong Kong via Rajasthan (yes, even in India they serve this muck). Why don’t some proper tea companies try to compete internationally? ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-favorite-tea-in-great-britain/226918/15 "2004-02-02T12:54:38Z")
My mother swears by PG Tips. But I know naught of the ways of the tea drinkers, they are a strange folk. Steve “UK coffee drinker” Wright. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-favorite-tea-in-great-britain/226918/16 "2004-02-02T13:07:07Z")
Lyons and Barry’s Tea would be the most popular teas here in Ireland. IIRC Ireland has the hightest per capita consumtion of tea. You rarely can ever go anywhere (outside of a pub) without being asked do you want a cup of tea. I like coffee but I LOVE tea. ---
**Author:** ![Popup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@Popup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Popup)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-favorite-tea-in-great-britain/226918/17 "2004-02-02T13:24:43Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > How much tea do typical (or average) British people drink in a day? All day, or mainly at tea time? England is seconds only to Ireland in tea consumption, and they consume about ten times as much tea as the average american. Quoting from [tea.org](http://www.tea.org.au/world/sub2.html) > [@](#): > > In the period 1996-1998, the countries with the highest annual per capita consumption of tea were Ireland (3 kilograms), the UK (2.5 kilograms), Turkey (2.1 kilograms) and Iran (1.5 kilograms). Although India is the largest consumer of tea in terms of total consumption, its per capita consumption was a relatively low 0.7 kilograms per annum. Consumption in the United States was 0.3 kilograms per capita per annum. That makes about 3.5-4 cups per day (for the average ukogbanian.). * * * Popup, who is not English, but who drinks about three pots per day. ---
**Author:** ![Galanthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Galanthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galanthus)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-favorite-tea-in-great-britain/226918/18 "2004-02-02T13:57:48Z")
I drink Taylor’s Yorkshire Tea … it’s simply the best. The same company also runs the best tea shops in the world. Betty’s. ---
**Author:** ![Armilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e19b73/32.png) [@Armilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Armilla)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-favorite-tea-in-great-britain/226918/19 "2004-02-02T14:05:03Z")
I was traditionally a PG Tips drinker until I discovered [Twinings Ceylon Tea](http://www.twinings.com/en_gb/explore_our_range/prod_detail.asp?dept_id=40&blend_id=137). Despite the fact that it’s sometimes hard to find (damn you Earl Grey drinkers for taking over the supermarket shelves) I would not swap it for any other tea I’ve ever tasted. ---
**Author:** ![raygirvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@raygirvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raygirvan)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-favorite-tea-in-great-britain/226918/20 "2004-02-02T14:24:55Z")
The [Twinings range](http://www.twinings.com/en_gb/explore_our_range/prod_family.asp?dept_id=40) is very good: my favourites are their Keemun and Lady Grey. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-favorite-tea-in-great-britain/226918.md?page=2)