Hi, I’m Nick Simcock, an English Language coach. I help Italians to unlock their English. You can listen to this podcast and read a full transcript at the same time on my website: speakwithnick.it

This podcast is the spoken, chatty version of an article I wrote about tea. Yes, I’ve got a lovely … mmm, cup of tea with me right now. And so I wrote this article and a lot of you have asked for the audio version.

So the article starts with a ‘did you know’.

Did you know? Tea is considered the quintessential drink of the English people, but before the 17th Century the English were coffee drinkers! Sounds very strange to me but that’s what I read.

The rise in popularity of tea between the 17th and 19th centuries had major social, political, and economic implications for Great Britain and contributed to the Industrial revolution.

Since the 18th Century the English have been one of the largest tea consumers in the world. It continues to be considered an important part of the British identity and is a prominent feature of British culture and society.

Exactly, I have so many memories about tea and that’s how I started writing this article. When I think of tea I remember my mum and dad drinking tea in bed first thing in the morning. Having ‘a nice cup of tea’ was the first thing we did to wake up and to start our day. And yes, I know this is a bit strange for most Italians, but it’s normal to put milk in it. Milky tea, mmm!

I also remember that when we were very young kids we didn’t like the taste so much … we were like, oh, err … and so we were allowed to add a teaspoon of sugar. But, you know, we were given tea and expected to drink it because that’s what the English do, and so we got used to it. And now I love to drink milky tea without sugar. And if someone asks me if I want a sugar I usually add the cliché, the quip, “no sugar thanks, I’m quite sweet enough!” Ha ha!

In the 1970’s my parents, like many other people, had a ‘teasmade’ next to their bed. This is an appliance a bit like an automatic coffeemaker and it combines an alarm clock, a kettle and a teapot. And if you watch the music video for Queen’s “I Want To Break Free”, you will see Brian May is woken up at the start of the video by a teasmade!

The phrase “a nice cup of tea” (that I gave to this article) is also the title of an essay by the famous British writer George Orwell, first published in the Evening Standard newspaper in January 1946. Now, I don’t know if that’s why ‘a nice cup of tea’ is such a standard and classic phrase in English or whether it was already in use before George Orwell’s article. Anyway, in this article it’s very interesting, at one point he considers “one of the most controversial points of all”: whether to put the milk in the cup first and then add the tea, or the other way around. Orwell says tea should be poured first because: “one can exactly regulate the amount of milk, whereas one is liable to put too much milk if one does it the other way round.”

So basically you have the tea in the cup, then you pour in the milk, and you judge how much milk by the colour. Personally I have tried both methods, but now I always start with the tea and then add milk. I guess we could call it the Orwell method!

We often talk about having a cup of tea in England, but you should know that most people, myself included, and that’s what I’ve got in my hand right now, we actually prefer a mug not a cup! The mug … mmm, ahh … excuse me, is more popular mainly because it holds more tea, and there’s nothing more comforting and relaxing than wrapping your hands around a mug of hot tea.

In England people refer to tea with different names depending on where you are in the country. In the north, which is where I come from, it’s common to have ‘a brew’. And we say things like, “Put the kettle on love, let’s have a brew!” Whereas in London, specifically from Cockney Rhyming Slang, tea is often called ‘a rosie lee’ (because it rhymes with tea, that’s the way that Cockney Rhyming Slang works). So they say things like, “Do you fancy some rosie lee darlin’?”

Tea is also known as ‘cha/char’, which comes from the Chinese word ‘tcha’. I don’t know how they pronounce it exactly in Chinese, and it means tea. “Let’s have some char”, we say.

It’s also important to know that the phrase ‘a cup of’ has been shortened both in spoken and written form to ‘a cuppa’. “Shall we have a cuppa?”

So when in England never underestimate the healing power of a mug (or cup) of tea! If you ever feel down, or you have heavy things to discuss with a close friend, or you just want to put up your feet and relax, the phrase “Let’s have a nice cup of tea” always lifts an English heart! “Do you want a biscuit with that? Cheers!”

My name’s Nick Simcock, you have listened to my podcast “A nice cup of tea”, I hope it has warmed your heart. If you want to know anymore about me then go to my website: speakwithnick.it

Speak to you soon.

Ciao for now.