“Working man’s tea, known better as “builder’s tea,” is everywhere in England. Most places are still serving it – and most people are still drinking it, even if they never pick up a hammer or saw. We may believe that the British are very sophisticated when it comes to tea and – don’t get me wrong – I am sure many are. However, the majority of people I met during a recent trip to London were drinking “builder’s tea.”
So what on earth is builder’s tea? It’s an old term used to refer to builders who refused to work on a house or building unless it had some type of electricity for their kettles – so they could have their tea breaks on schedule while working. It is not “cheap” tea – I won’t say that because of my respect for the industry – but it is affordable for most people. In fact, it was actually a brand name many years back and is still available to this day.
Most people have no idea what is in their cup and don’t know much about tea at all. Sure they drink it every day and usually many times a day, but they really don’t seem to know what they are sipping. The younger generation is a bit more receptive to green tea these days, but “builder’s tea” or similar blends is still a staple in England.
One lump or two? Guess again – for many, it’s at least two heaping teaspoons of white sugar and lots of milk, often steamed or heated. It’s served in a mug and extended pinkies are rarely seen. Twinings seems to be the tea of choice in most shops.
Builder’s tea is strong black tea – most are blends from Assam and Africa – but many don’t seem to even know that. A fist goes into the box of tea and anywhere from two to a handful of teabags come out – depending on whether one is making a cup or a pot of tea.
I will sadly admit that I did not have the chance to have tea in a traditional British tea room during my recent visit! So my impressions were based on my experiences with average folks who, I will say, keep the tea industry alive and booming in England.
I was on a college tour of film schools in London with my eighteen-year-old daughter, so my tea experiences were a tad limited by our hectic schedule. In the administrator’s office of one college, I was served tea. When he read my business card, he got a little nervous about the tea his assistant was bringing us. When I asked her what she was serving after he introduced me as a “tea expert” (which I had not called myself), she got rather nervous too. She said it was “Yorkshire.” Then she looked at him and said, “It’s not the Yorkshire Gold,” so he apologized. I had no idea what either was until I saw it on the grocery store shelf days later from Taylors of Harrogate: “Teas from Assam, Africa and Sri Lanka; blended and packaged in England.” I had asked for mine “clear.” I never made that mistake again in England! Without milk and sugar, it just about curls your hair, which would have come in handy considering all the wet weather we experienced!
Isn’t it amazing that this continues to be the case today in England. With so many wonderful choices, the British keep drinking the same old, dreadful – that’s my word not yours, tea. I realize that people get in the habit of their rituals but please, it’s 2012 and specialty tea has gained a real foothold. What do you suppose it will take to wake up the British to join the 21st century? Keep in mind, with all that milk and sugar, this is NOT a healthy beverage choice. No wonder the epidemiological studies don’t show the protective benefits of drinking all that tea in England – only in Asia where tea is consumed straight up – without anything added.
Thanks for the insight. Any contenders for film school?
Michelle
Hello Michelle …. yes, it was quite the eye-opening experience! I’d go back in heartbeat, though. And yes, Central Film School in London looks like it’s it for my daughter. Guess I’ll be making several trips there over the next few years. I have to say I was treated wonderfully at the Twinings main store in London and saw some very ‘special’ teas in there – tasted a few, too.
Oh, let me add one more thing. The grocery store shelves had some interesting teas, that is for sure, mostly all teabags. But what truly amazed me were the rows and rows of instant coffee selections. When I mentioned this to my British friend, she replied, “Oh, this is what we all drank during the war when coffee and tea were rationed, guess we all just got used to it.” Hundreds of jars of instant coffee!
I know this tea you speak of. A good friend, who was raised in England but now lives in the U.S. is, of course, a tea drinker. You would think he would be thrilled to have a friend who owns a tea business and he does graciously accept and try all samples of tea offered. But if you go into his kitchen cabinet when he isn’t looking, alledgedly, you find a box of Builder’s Tea bags or Barry’s he gets from a local British/European foodie shop. Can’t shake him from the habit, it’s too strong.
Now come on please. There are many fine leaf and bagged teas in our stores, but the traditional drink is taken with milk and either with or without sugar. That’s the way it is, its our culture. There are also some massive ranges of coffee, instant and fresh. Its the way we roll. Its similar, I suppose, to our confusion about why you call Budweiser a beer ;-)
My next door neighbor is from Wales. She will come here and loves the Indian tea Darjeeling while here, with milk and sugar (of course). But, at her home, it’s teabags, lots of sugar and milk. You can take the British out of Britain but you can’t take British style tea out of them. :) I personally think it’s that tie to ‘home’ and comforting/familiar and I don’t even try to get her to ‘go there’ at home.
John – I do understand about different cultures. The issue I’m hearing is that without milk and sugar, the tea is not good tasting. As you know, there are wonderful black teas that are perfectly delicious without anything added. It sounds like your standard, popular teas are not of that quality, which is what the majority of Brits are drinking. It’s like where we were as a tea culture in the U.S. – it was Lipton or Tetley tea bags. Dreadful tasting which required milk, sugar or lemon to disguise the low quality tea. Yes, both companies have significantly improved the quality of their tea bag teas but let’s not suggest they’re on a par with whole leaf teas that are available – even in tea bag form.
I do appreciate your point about what we’re familiar with and the comfort that provides Diane but most people I turn on to high quality tea are eager to move forward in their tea journey. Yes, they’ll still often stick with tea bags but they tend to purchase higher quality selections, which I notice when I’m at their home next. They’ve upgraded a bit but resistance to whole leaf is evident.
Great discussions going on here. I love it! Certainly not my intention to ‘bash the British.’ I conduct many tea demonstrations in senior communities and they all believe that the British must be the most knowledgeable people on the planet when it comes to tea. I call that ‘good marketing’ on the behalf of the British. Folks still think tea comes from England! John, I did enjoy a few British pints while in your country and I very seldom have a beer here! But I sure did enjoy coming home to some goooooood tea!
Michelle, maybe the fact she’s in her late 70’s has something to do with it, as this has been what she’s been drinking all her life. I’m finding, like you said, that almost everyone who tastes a really great Yunnan or Assam never goes back to ‘the bag’ again. That goes for coffee as well; I can’t tell you how many people seldom if ever drink coffee regularly (our customers anyway) after they have had unbelievably great loose tea for any period of time. And we serve great coffee (voted Top 5 for coffee in the entire Inland Empire SoCal ‘Hotlist’).