Let’s have “A Nice Cup of Tea?”

My Mum often says, ”let’s have a nice cup of tea” and MBH always thinks it’s really funny so I got to wondering what it might be all about and why I am so attached to tea and its rituals.

The Chinese and Japanese have been doing it for centuries so it clearly is not a passing fad. Take a look at  http://www.2basnob.com/tea-history-timeline.html if you are into the history of tea…it goes back to 2737BC

The “nice cup of tea” is a uniquely British twist on the beverage and speaks clearly to important aspects of British culture such as staying calm under pressure…even when it may actually be better to panic and flee but no we sit down and have a “nice cup of tea”. It is the drink of choice after car accidents, natural disasters, as a gesture of friendship, a peace offering….any stressful moments that tend to come our way.

Bearing mind that stress situations are not on the decline it seems sensible that we promote the drinking of tea and in particular my Mum’s “nice cup of tea”.

If more of us sat down for a “nice cup of tea” rather than going shopping, going to the pub, going to the movies, going for lunch …how much better off would we be? We would save money, save calories, pollute less and maybe be happier too.

Off to have a nice cup of tea…anyone want to join me?

The image above was created by Paul Hammond and comes from a neat project between http://www.icons.org.uk and the charity Mencap.

---

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• As the Brits would say, ‘Let’s have a nice cup of tea!”