Cappuccino is Cup of Tea??

Even in Korea, they know what a
cappucino is...nice persimmon
on top, eh?

Ordering a cup of tea in London can be tricky these days. So many of the wait staff in London are from foreign countries that one struggles to make oneself understood. "Hi, I'd like a cappuccino, please." "A cappa chee?" and indeed a cup of tea was served.

Since time immemorial (well, anyway, since tea arrived in these isles), the English have referred to "a nice cuppa tea". The word "nice" seems crucial.

One never orders "a nice cuppa tea". If it is an order or a choice, "Tea or coffee?", then it's just plain tea. "A nice cuppa tea" is only ever offered or suggested, "Let's have a nice cuppa tea" or "Let me make you a nice cuppa tea." Sometimes we wonder what a not-nice cup of tea is like... And also, why doesn't anyone ever refer to "a nice cuppa coffee"?

In the movie Notting Hill, Julia Roberts, having spent the night with Hugh Grant in his flat, opens the front door to find myriad papparazzi ready to report her latest romantic caper. She slams the door in panic. Never mind, says Hugh, how about "a nice cuppa tea"? Julia, an American, doesn't get the soothing significance of this offer of the ultimate English panacea and reacts with angry sarcasm: "A NICE cuppa tea?" An American in this situation needs "a drink", i.e. some serious alcohol.

But OK, let's focus on tea. An ongoing debate is whether to put the milk in the cup first and then the tea, or the milk after the tea.* People can get pretty het up about this. Most say it affects the flavour, but I heard the other day a most practical reason: pouring milk in the cup first saves the cup from breaking when the hot tea is poured in.

I fell in love with English-style tea when I was a Tea Lady in Australia. A two-week fill-in job for somebody on holiday, and I didn't even know what a Tea Lady was. Turns out I had to work in the Philips electronic company and circulate the tea cart around to people at their desks twice a day. I was supposed to remember how each person liked their tea so I could serve them without asking; I wasn't too good at that, so I'm glad the job only lasted a fortnight.

Nevertheless, I grew to like tea with milk so much that I took a box of tea bags home with me to the States. It didn't taste anything like the same. I think the flavour was due to the milk (what the cows ate Down Under) and the water.

In England, there is a complicated social context for tea. Of course, it was first, in the days of the East India Tea Company, a drink of the upper classes who could afford the imports. Then it moved into the working class with a vengeance. "Builders' tea" is half milk and three sugars – they live on the stuff. Back in the 1980s, there used to be a Teasmade machine that people put on their night tables. Set to start working before you woke up, a cup of tea was ready for you when you opened your eyes, before getting out of bed. Many people still drink a cup of tea in bed first thing.

By the time we had come to Britain in 1981, coffee was gaining momentum. Going to a morning appointment, we were offered coffee at 11am; being a non-coffee drinker at that time, my companion asked for tea. No, not to be had, in the morning anyway. Only coffee in the morning; tea was served in the afternoon, at tea-time (another topic altogether). And neither could be had directly after lunch...

Of course, this is all ancient history as Britain is Starbucks-land just like everywhere else. But at least you can now get a cuppa tea any time of day you want.

*A friend informs me that a 'nice' cup of tea is made with milk in first, then teabag, then boiling water. Anything else is not nice.