Tea in the United Kingdom

Since the 18th century the United Kingdom has been one of the largest per capita tea consumers in the world, with each citizen consuming on average 1.9 kg per year.The popularity of tea occasioned the furtive export of slips, a small shoot for planting or twig for grafting to tea plants, from China toBritish India and its commercial culture there, beginning in 1840; British interests controlled tea production in the subcontinent. Tea, which was an upper-class drink in Europe, became the infusion of every class in Great Britain in the course of the 18th century and has remained so.

In Britain, the drinking of tea is so varied that it is quite hard to generalise, but usually it is served with milk and sometimes with lemon. Strong tea can be served with milk and occasionally one or twoteaspoons of sugar in a mug, and is commonly referred to as builder's tea. The expression "cream tea" does not refer to cream mixed into the beverage but to a meal in which tea is taken along withscones and clotted cream, and usually strawberry jam as well. (This tradition originated from Devonand Cornwall.)

Much of the time in the United Kingdom, tea drinking is not the delicate, refined cultural expression that some might imagine: a cup (or commonly a mug) of tea is something drunk often.