People from around the world often wonder why the English drink milk with their tea. The answer is that in the 17th and 18th centuries the china cups tea was served in were so delicate they would crack from the heat of the tea. Milk was added to cool the liquid and stop the cups from cracking.
The Brits started adding milk to their tea somewhere around the 18th century. The ordinary cups of commoners couldn't bear the heat of piping hot tea.
In 1680 Madame de la Sabliere, served tea with milk at her famous Paris salon. She is traditionally ascribed to introducing the custom to Europe. It is also thought that the poor quality in tea had to be softened with the flavor of milk just to make it palpable.
Although typically served with milk, it is also common to drink certain varieties black or with lemon. Sugar is a popular addition to any variety. Everyday tea, such as English breakfast tea, served in a mug with milk and sugar is a popular combination.
Samuel Twining has theorized that milk first prevented early china from cracking in reaction to boiling water. That theory appears rather shaky today since boiling water is not poured directly into the cup. By now, it goes without saying that milk should not be added to white, green, or oolong teas.
Tea is often thought of as Britain's national drink. But how we enjoy it varies from person to person – from no milk, three sugars, to a traditional builders' tea.
Chinese did not. The simple fact is that China was never traditionally a country where cows grazed in vast numbers. Milk was available in England in the countryside and it was common to drink Chinese black tea with milk even before Indian tea arrived in the 1840s.
In Britain, when hot tea and cold milk are drunk together, the drink is simply known as tea due to the vast majority of tea being consumed in such a way. The term milk tea is unused, although one may specify tea with milk if context requires it.
Believe it or not, this is not something I made up. In general, the British custom is to pour milk in your cup first, then tea. Whereas, the European custom is to pour the hot tea in first, then milk. So doing something as simple as pouring milk could be a dead giveaway that you are not German.
It is also commonly referred to as “builder's tea”, as it is a strong cup of tea with the addition of milk. Some other colloquial expressions used to describe tea with milk in the UK include “cuppa”, “cuppa milky” and “a proper cup of tea”.
Black tea is tea without any milk.
Turns out, it's all to do with taxes. Tea was first brought to Britain in the early 17th century by the East India Company and was presented to King Charles II. His Portuguese wife, Princess Catherine of Braganza, set the trend in drinking tea, which then caught on among the aristocrats of the time.
The story of tea begins in China. According to legend, in 2737 BC, the Chinese emperor Shen Nung was sitting beneath a tree while his servant boiled drinking water, when some leaves from the tree blew into the water. Shen Nung, a renowned herbalist, decided to try the infusion that his servant had accidentally created.
Traditionally, one would put milk in the cup before the tea to prevent the glaze on teacups from cracking. However, this is not an issue with modern tea cups.
Turkey had the highest rate of tea drinkers in 2022, with nine in ten people saying that they regularly drink the hot beverage, followed by Kenya. Tea is the second most widely consumed drink around the world, coming in only after water.
A quarter of Britons drink up to 10 cups a day. Brits seem to love milky and sugary tea. Around 85 per cent of people who drink Earl Grey and English breakfast put milk in it.
Served. Tea in the Arab world is usually a strong dark mix, similar to the so-called "breakfast tea" served in other parts of the world. Often brewed with sugar and served in long glasses, it can also be made with mint or cardamom, or with a dash of milk.
Some sources credit the French with being the first to add milk to tea. It was also a regular drink of the court and King Louis XIV, the Sun King, who was known for drinking copious amounts of tea. It quickly became very popular among the aristocracy and was associated with royalty, leisure, and wealth.
The Dutch drink tea without milk and the tea is quite a lot weaker than typical English or Irish types of tea which are stronger and are usually taken with milk. Other hot drinks used to include warm lemonade, called kwast (hot water with lemon juice), and anijsmelk (hot milk with aniseed).
You can put milk in Earl Grey tea, if you do so in the right way to avoid the milk curdling. Alternatively, this type of tea is just as delicious and flavourful without milk, so it will depend on your personal taste and preference whether you should put milk in your tea.
Cuppa. Let's start with an easy one. We all know the Brits love a good cup of tea, but did you know that tea can also be called a cuppa. This slang word came from the phrase “cup of tea” which was shortened to “cuppa tea” and eventually just cuppa.
Tea latte –Tea (can be any type of tea) with steamed or frothed milk added. It can be sweetened or unsweetened. Boba Tea – Or bubble tea, a milk tea from Taiwan with added tapioca pearls popular around the world.
The elite began to drink tea to energize the body and clear the mind instead of only for medical purposes. Teas were boiled with other plants to make a tea soup which was considered a combination of medicine, food, and drink.
The taste of chai (sweet and milky) helps disguise the stronger and more bitter flavours of some of the medicinal additives, while others such as cardamom, clove and ginger add a pleasing flavour and aroma to the tea along with health benefits. For many years, documentation of tea in India was lost in history.
This is called 黑糖珍珠奶茶 (Hēitáng zhēnzhū nǎichá) in Chinese. Some people also call this drink a dirty brown sugar milk tea due the messy look from the syrup.