No fancy, noisy machines – a tea bag is all you need

IT REALLY is the ‘best drink of the day.’

I clearly remember the 1970s adverts ending with that slogan. I looked them up online, and I was transported back to my teenage years, crouched by the radiator in front of our TV. I especially liked the advert with the man and his dog waking up in a gloomy flat on a dark, stormy morning – both were revived by tea, the dog drinking his from a saucer.

And the one with the housewife who, throughout the day, tried to make herself a cuppa, but ended up giving the drinks away to visiting tradesmen, her kids and husband.

Watching those adverts, I couldn’t understand why a brand of tea is not mentioned. What I didn’t realise was that the famous slogan came from a national advertising campaign aimed at boosting flagging tea sales. Tea drinking in general was declining, so the industry started making generalised promotional ads to try to reverse the trend.

Tea drinking certainly wasn’t in decline in our house. The tea pot was the most well-used item of crockery in our kitchen, out on the table at all times of day, and a good chunk of the night as well. Throughout my life, tea has been a constant. In my childhood home, seldom more than an hour would pass without Mum asking if anyone wanted a cup.

I’ve carried on being a tea devotee. I’ve got a cup on the go as I write, and I am happy to sing its praises in advance of National Tea Day. Observed in the UK every year on April 21 to celebrate the drinking of tea, the occasion is celebrated in tea rooms, hotels, pubs and cafés through special activities and charitable fundraising events.

There’s no doubting we love tea, but is it ‘the world’s favourite drink’ as some websites claim? I’ve also read that it’s by far the most popular drink consumed in Britain today, with more than 100,000,000 cups being drunk every day of the year. But, I have to add, that snippet of information appears on the UK Tea and Infusions Association website, so they would say that. The site has a running total showing the cups of tea drunk so far that day. Its now 6pm on Tuesday April 14 and the number has surpassed 70 million.

Of course not everyone loves tea. In 2024 one of Britain’s oldest tea firms, Typhoo Tea, collapsed after a drop in sales. Younger generations aren’t keen, many preferring coffee or drinks like bubble tea, which I don’t like the sound of at all.

My husband drinks nothing but coffee, and my eldest daughter has followed suit, going so far as to invest in a state-of-the-art coffee machine. That’s the thing with coffee, if you want a decent cup it’s all about fancy equipment – noisy machines that grind, froth and spit. You don’t need all this for a good cup of tea. A kettle and a simple tea bag will do.

There is much debate about how to make the perfect brew. I would say George Orwell had the best advice, setting out 11 rules in his1946 essay A Nice Cup of Tea. These include: boiling water, a warmed ceramic pot, milk last and no sugar. All of which I endorse, although I settle for an un-warmed mug. My parents always served tea in a cup and saucer. I like that, but we are not so civilised and want to limit the washing-up.

I’m a builder’s tea person. I’m not a fan of anything flavoured or taken without milk. Making tea at a friend’s house, I once unknowingly used Earl Grey teabags and, after tasting it, assumed the teapot hadn’t been rinsed, so I gave it a thorough clean and made another pot, only to find the same soapy taste. I was aged 18 – it was my first encounter with a flavoured tea and the beginning of a life spent avoiding them.

The first cup of the day is always the best. And for the record, I prefer Tetley.