Brits spill the tea on their top shade for a brew

To celebrate National Tea Day on the 21st April, Yorkshire holiday cottage specialists Gorgeous Cottages have questioned people up and down the country to find out everything from the UK’s ideal shade for a brew to our favourite brand and whether the milk is added first or last. Find out more.

Experts disagree on whether milk should be added first or last
Half of Brits like their tea brewed to the colour of a Yorkshire Pudding
58% of Brits take their own teabags on holiday with them
‘Yorkshire Pudding’ is most people’s preferred shade for tea

Almost 50% of people like their tea brewed to the colour of a Yorkshire Pudding according to recent data collected by Gorgeous Cottages (see the colour chart at the end of the press release for details of all the shades used).

The next most popular shade is ‘Yorkshire Terrier’ with 20% of the votes followed by ‘Filey Beach’ with 13% of the votes.

12% of respondents said they prefer their tea the colour of ‘Whitby Jet’, with no milk added and the paler shades of ‘White Rose’, ‘York Minster’ and ‘Fat Rascals’ got no votes at all – it seems we all like our tea with a bit of oomph!

65% of us add milk last to our tea

Two thirds of us add the milk last to a cup of tea which means around 35% of Brits put the milk in first according to data collected from our Great British Tea Survey. Everyone has their preferred method for making tea and it seems that not even experts can agree on this controversial subject.

Gorgeous Cottages spoke to Jesse Richardson who is Ambassador of Teas at The Brothers Apothecary and studying Plant Based Medicine at Cornell University who says:

“The temperature of the water has direct effects on the flavor and character of the tea and robust black teas require higher temperatures closer to boiling. If you add milk first you are quickly reducing the water temperature from what is measured on your kettle. Similarly, milk can curdle or separate at times if the tea or kettle is acidic, which becomes more apparent the longer the milk is brewed with the tea.”

However, Professor Alan Mackie from Leeds University has claimed that adding the milk last can help tea taste better by binding its proteins to the tannins in tea and stopping them turning to solids before the flavour is properly developed.

Yorkshire Tea is the UK’s top brand for a brew

Around a third of people in our survey named Yorkshire Tea as their favourite cuppa with another Yorkshire brand Tetley coming second in our poll of more than 1000 people to find the nation’s favourite brand. The UK’s top three brands are:

Yorkshire Tea
Tetley
Twinings
The majority of Brit’s can’t do without their favourite tea

Is having a good cup of tea so important that you take your favourite tea bags abroad with you? If the answer is YES you’re not alone – according to our survey results 58% of Brits include tea bags on their packing list – it seems that settling down to a good cup of tea really is a holiday essential!

The average British tea drinker

How do you compare to our survey results? The average Brit drinks 3-4 cups of unsweetened Yorkshire Tea each day which is brewed to the colour of a Yorkshire Pudding, adds the milk last and makes sure that tea bags are always on their packing list when heading abroad.