The cup of tea. It’s a British institution. What the nation is built on. It’s a revitaliser for builders, a lunchtime necessity for bankers, and the perfect accompaniment to a mid-morning gossip with the girls. Or at least it was…
Builders are taking coffee breaks, the bankers are lining up outside Starbucks, and the ladies are having coffee mornings. The tea bag has burst, and it’s pouring out coffee beans.
There’s been a noticeable shift towards coffee over the last few years, you can’t walk down a high street without seeing a Starbucks, a Costa, or a Café Nero on each street corner.
And according to a recent poll with Ladbrokes Bingo, the bean has ousted the humble cup of tea in favour of the increasingly trendy cup of coffee.
Taking 23% of the vote compared to tea’s 21%, it appears our love for coffee in an ever-expanding technological world is moving us away from traditions. Yorkshire Tea may be persuading us to ‘have a proper brew’, but that proper brew seems to now be in the form of a latte, or a Frappuccino, or a mochawochadoodah, the list is endless.
Which is perhaps half the reason. The range of coffees now available is huge, meaning it’s easy for everyone to find a favourite. Not to mention the caffeine kick we need when we’re trudging to work on a Monday morning.
In fact, there are so many varieties, it can even say something about your personality, whereas tea can tell you you’re quintessentially British.
Of course the teabag isn’t dead. Far from it. Tea sales have fallen, but it’s still a staple of the English diet, and with more herbal teas and organic teas being introduced onto the market, variety is becoming the spice of life. Just don’t spend your entire break trying to decide which one you want.
