Tea and coffee

[signed]

but I don't like modern fashion-statement coffees, finding most of them far too bitter with a strong aftertaste.

It seems there has been a change over to darker and darker roasts.

In my supermarket anything under a given brand 7/10 is getting rarer. And even with official Nespresso capsules, there is more choice at 6/15 and above than under

I personally think that very dark roast is disgusting, but I can see the appeal.

 

[Bletchleyite]

My Dad used to drink "coffee" with half a spoonful of Mellow Birds. You might as well just leave that out and put milk in hot water.

 

[gg1]

My Dad used to drink "coffee" with half a spoonful of Mellow Birds. You might as well just leave that out and put milk in hot water.

I used to work with a woman who liked the tea equivalent of that. Tea bag in the mug, pour in the boiling water then immediately take the bag out with no brewing time. Weird.

 

[DelW]

My Dad used to drink "coffee" with half a spoonful of Mellow Birds. You might as well just leave that out and put milk in hot water.

I used to work with a woman who liked the tea equivalent of that. Tea bag in the mug, pour in the boiling water then immediately take the bag out with no brewing time. Weird.

Curiously those map almost exactly to two of my cousins (two sisters as it happens). As far as the "Mellow Birds" cousin is concerned, I only drink tea (preferably made in a pot). The other cousin I have to persuade/remind to (a) leave the teabag in for a while and (b) not to add milk until after the bag is removed. I don't think she owns a teapot.

I'm sure they both consider me a fussy old so-and-so!

 

[bleeder4]

Curiously those map almost exactly to two of my cousins (two sisters as it happens). As far as the "Mellow Birds" cousin is concerned, I only drink tea (preferably made in a pot). The other cousin I have to persuade/remind to (a) leave the teabag in for a while and (b) not to add milk until after the bag is removed. I don't think she owns a teapot.

I'm sure they both consider me a fussy old so-and-so!

There's a girl I work with who puts milk in first, then the tea bag, then hot water!

 

[Bletchleyite]

I used to work with a woman who liked the tea equivalent of that. Tea bag in the mug, pour in the boiling water then immediately take the bag out with no brewing time. Weird.

That's my Mum. I used to similarly joke about there being no point in putting the tea bag in. She actually sometimes does just drink hot water now!

Tea or coffee, I like both, but I like the spoon to stand up in it

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 9 Oct 2025 ==

I use loose leaf tea with tea filters. Since I bought a cafetiere I have lost the tast for instant and usually start the day with a mug of arabica before switching to tea.

Cafetières (as long as they are washed out properly so don't taste of coffee) are great for making loose leaf tea too.

As for instant, I tend to find decaf instant more palatable than decaf filter, not sure why. There are some good-ish decaf bean coffees (e.g. some of Decadent Decaf's range) but most of it just seems bland.

 

[cactustwirly]

I have one coffee at work in the morning which is more of a social thing and then tea but usually when I get home and can have a proper cup of Yorkshire tea!


exactly! it is all American cultural marketing

It tastes better!
Instant is disgusting but a nicely roasted single origin is very good! Like the ones with a slightly fruity flavour

Costa is very meh, Starbucks is alright. Prefer to go to independent places that roast the beans properly

American coffee is the worst! Very weak and too sweet

 

[DarloRich]

It tastes better!
Instant is disgusting but a nicely roasted single origin is very good! Like the ones with a slightly fruity flavour

Costa is very meh, Starbucks is alright. Prefer to go to independent places that roast the beans properly

American coffee is the worst! Very weak and too sweet

or, like a civilised person, have a nice cup of tea

 

[cactustwirly]

or, like a civilised person, have a nice cup of tea

I'll have one cup a day, when I'm in the office, only Yorkshire Tea!
It's alright, but definitely prefer a good coffee

 

[Gloster]

Going back to the original query I will add a few more comments based on oddments dragged up from my memory. Coffee used to take a relatively long time to make, which was fine if you had the time or the money to get others to do it. But for those outside the leisured classes who didn’t have servants to do the work, something quicker and easier to make was needed: tea, although I suspect that before tea there there were concoctions closer to soup or broth. Tea started to be drunk in the UK in the eighteenth century, but it wasn’t until the mid-nineteenth that tea growing really started in India and Ceylon. (I have no idea if this was to fulfil a need in the UK or in the hope of ’growing’ the modest demand.) With the interchange between UK ad the empire, the advantage of tea in its relatively simplicity of brewing made it popular.

The popularity of tea seems to have lasted because there was no alternative until instant coffee appeare. This was invented in 1889 in Invercargill, New Zealand (Ha! Take that, Coca-Cola), but it did not gain much popularity until improved processes appears as a result of World War II. It seems to have taken a few years from the war for changing tastes, including by those who had travelled at His Majesy’s expense and encountered coffee, simpler methods of brewing coffee, instant coffee and resurgent post-war markets needing customers all combined to make coffee become gradually more and more popular and eventually reach the status that it has.

 

[3141]

Teas and infusions made from plants other than camellia sinensis have been popular for as long as people have been capable of boiling water. I would say that had you gone back to the 15th or 16th century you would be seen as the odd one out for not drinking normal tea made from things like nettle or rosemary.

But did they call those drinks "tea"? My understanding is that the real tea, under that name (or alternatively chai or char) only slowly spread into Europe from the late sixteenth century onwards.

While traditional hot drinks as you describe have a long history, the stuff I was referring to in my earlier post has only recently begun to occupy a large amount of retail shelf space. And some of it with the peculiar names is definitely not traditional because it didn't grow here.

 

[najaB]

But did they call those drinks "tea"? My understanding is that the real tea, under that name (or alternatively chai or char) only slowly spread into Europe from the late sixteenth century onwards.

Whether they called it tea or not, the history of drinking infusions goes back thousands of years. If Tesco existed in the 16th century the shelf space dedicated to camellia sinensis would be tiny compared to nettle, rosehip, mint, camomile, daisy, etc. so "traditional" black tea is a relative newcomer.

 

[Bald Rick]

I used to work with a woman who liked the tea equivalent of that. Tea bag in the mug, pour in the boiling water then immediately take the bag out with no brewing time. Weird.

That’s ‘Dutch tea’ (as advised to me by an Abellio director over a decade ago).

I quite like that to be honest. But it has to be hot water first, show the tea bag to the hot water. If you can’t see the bottom of the mug it’s too strong. Very refreshing.

Coffee - I started drinking it three years ago, after nearly 30 years absistence. Even decaff gives me a big hit. A stong regular coffee and I’m bouncing off the ceiling, certainly more so than with a lager.

 

[ac6000cw]

Whether they called it tea or not, the history of drinking infusions goes back thousands of years. If Tesco existed in the 16th century the shelf space dedicated to camellia sinensis would be tiny compared to nettle, rosehip, mint, camomile, daisy, etc. so "traditional" black tea is a relative newcomer.

I suspect humans have been making hot water infusions ever since they worked out how to make a suitable vessel to heat water in and drink hot drinks from.

I quite like that to be honest. But it has to be hot water first, show the tea bag to the hot water. If you can’t see the bottom of the mug it’s too strong. Very refreshing.

That's exactly how I make the very weak black tea that my other half likes - hot water first, then two or three very brief dips of a teabag into it until it looks the right colour. Then I use the same teabag to brew my own much stronger tea in a mug.

 

[styles]

This probably sounds pretentious (moi? ), but I really think I enjoy tea and coffee more if I spend a small amount of time and effort making it, rather than bunging a spoonful of instant or a teabag into a mug and chucking hot/boiling water in.

This is actually why I like drinking matcha - the process of preparing the drink feels quite ceremonious. Having meals and drinks as ceremonies is something I've been thinking about a bit lately, especially when I see people eating while walking.

So tea is loose leaf brewed for about five minutes in an infuser teapot. Coffee is freshly ground beans brewed in a cafetière. Both are served in a double walled insulated mug, which keeps the contents at optimum drinking temperature for longer.

Being retired does mean I have more time for this sort of thing though!

Similar for me then (though not retired), though I'll admit that my cups of tea are probably 50/50 between loose leaf and teabags. I only tend to have one coffee a day at the moment so the time for a cafetiere to brew would only be an issue if I really needed to be running out of the door.

 

[PeterC]

Similar for me then (though not retired), though I'll admit that my cups of tea are probably 50/50 between loose leaf and teabags. I only tend to have one coffee a day at the moment so the time for a cafetiere to brew would only be an issue if I really needed to be running out of the door.

Brewing time for a cafetière is about the same as for a decent cup of tea in my view. I really can't be bothered with grinding beans so only buy smallish quantities ready ground. I have an airtight tin that takes about 100gm, which I know from experience will not deteriorate noticeably before I finish it. The rest goes in the freezer.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Brewing time for a cafetière is about the same as for a decent cup of tea in my view. I really can't be bothered with grinding beans so only buy smallish quantities ready ground. I have an airtight tin that takes about 100gm, which I know from experience will not deteriorate noticeably before I finish it. The rest goes in the freezer.

I usually just keep it in the fridge which works fine, but you can use ground coffee directly from the freezer, and in that case it will near enough keep forever.

Tea of course has the advantage that it basically doesn't go off because unlike coffee it is completely dried. So you can buy a massive bag of Yorkshire (the only tea) and use it over years without it deteriorating if you want.

 

[jon81uk]

Coffee seems to have benefited from clever marketing creating lots of ‘trendy’ varieties where as variety in the tea world seems to be if you want milk and / or sugar.

There is plenty of "trendy" tea bags available too, companies like Bird & Blend, Tea Pigs and others specialise in flavoured teas and infusions. But most of this is for home consumption as its easy to brew at home.
Whereas espresso-based coffee is harder to do at home, especially with decent foamed milk etc.

Instant coffee is made from a bean called Robusta, which is easier and cheaper to grow. If it doesn’t say 100% Arabica on the label then it’s Robusta.

[citation needed] - not being 100% arabica doesn't mean it is 100% robusta.

Most classic Italian coffee is a blend of arabica and robusta and that is often considered better for that Italian style flavour. You can have 100% arabica and have worse coffee than a properly curated and roasted blend of beans.

 

[Forty29]

I quite like to leave the tea bag in the milk for a while then pour hot water on always tastes exactly how I like it!

 

[Tetchytyke]

One thing that has improved a lot over the years is the flavour of decaff coffee - while it still can't match really good ordinary coffee for flavour and 'body' the better ones get pretty close.

Pumphreys in Newcastle do an excellent decaff, its Swiss Water Method so it really keeps the flavour and the body. I make sure to get a bag whenever I'm back in the north east.

Curiously the UK seems to be popularising shorter milk based drinks again in the form of the flat white

An Australian invention, coffee shops seem to like it because they can charge the same for it as they do a caffe latte, despite a flat white being smaller.

I don't get the snobbery about milky coffee. Sometimes I want a bucket of coffee-flavoured foamy milk from Starbucks or Caffe Nero. And sometimes I want the Ethiopian yirgacheffe from Pumphreys- brewed in a V60, served black, obviously.

Have I mentioned how good I think Pumphreys Coffee is?

 

[cactustwirly]

Pumphreys in Newcastle do an excellent decaff, its Swiss Water Method so it really keeps the flavour and the body. I make sure to get a bag whenever I'm back in the north east.


An Australian invention, coffee shops seem to like it because they can charge the same for it as they do a caffe latte, despite a flat white being smaller.

I don't get the snobbery about milky coffee. Sometimes I want a bucket of coffee-flavoured foamy milk from Starbucks or Caffe Nero. And sometimes I want the Ethiopian yirgacheffe from Pumphreys- brewed in a V60, served black, obviously.

Have I mentioned how good I think Pumphreys Coffee is?

You get more flavour from the coffee from a flat white
More like a traditional cappuccino in terms of coffee to milk ratio

 

[Bald Rick]

Tea of course has the advantage that it basically doesn't go off because unlike coffee it is completely dried. So you can buy a massive bag of Yorkshire (the only tea) and use it over years without it deteriorating if you want.

Many, many years ago some enterprising soul introduced “Lancashire Tea”, which was sold in very similar packaging to YT but (obvs) with Lancs map / scenes / etc. I have to say it was better than YT. Not seen it for about 20 years.

However I recently discovered Fortnum & Mason Royal Blend tea. It is outrageously expensive (when compared to, say, Tetley) but still rather cheaper than a cup of tea from Starbies.

 

[m0ffy]

Barry’s Gold Blend is the go-to tea in our household. I used to love Yorkshire until this took the crown.

 

[Oxfordblues]

I’ve noticed in France that ordering ‘un café’ often gets a ‘café traditionale?’ question in return, presumably because fellow rosbifs expect a pint or half pint of something coffee-flavoured rather than a single espresso?

On my first visit to France as a callow youth in 1970, hitchhiking from Boulogne, I stopped at a roadside cafe and ordered "un cafe". I was given a thimble of a black treacle-like liquid and a glass of cold water. It was my first lesson that abroad is another place: they do things differently there!

 

[takno]

Many, many years ago some enterprising soul introduced “Lancashire Tea”, which was sold in bery similar packaging to YT but (obvs) with Lancs map / scenes / etc. I have to say it was better than YT. Not seen it for about 20 years.

However I recent discovered Fortnum & Mason Royal Blend tea. It is outrageously expensive (when compared to, say, Tetley) but still rather cheaper than a cup of tea from Starbies.

The Fortnums stuff is very nice, but I definitely prefer to only have it when somebody else has paid for it.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Many, many years ago some enterprising soul introduced “Lancashire Tea”, which was sold in very similar packaging to YT but (obvs) with Lancs map / scenes / etc. I have to say it was better than YT. Not seen it for about 20 years.

Had though that this was the exact same stuff as "Yorkshire Tea", with both marketed by Taylor's of Harrogate, but apparently not. Think it ("Lancashire Tea") is still available at Asda, £2.18 for 80.

 

[Bald Rick]

Had though that this was the exact same stuff as "Yorkshire Tea", with both marketed by Taylor's of Harrogate, but apparently not. Think it ("Lancashire Tea") is still available at Asda, £2.18 for 80.

Ah thats why I havent seen it. Must be 20 years since I went to an ASDA!

 

[DM352]

I feel especially here in Canada coffee is the new beer at the same price! It has become very gourmet with many flavours though I like basic dark roast being mindful not to have it in the afternoon if I want to sleep.

I grew up in the UK on instant at a fraction of the cost and part of me wants to go back to it.

A side joke is private dentists are different prices here and the expensive ones often have an expensive single cup coffee machine next to a giant fish tank! My current dentist has none of this, does a fine job and is much cheaper!

 

[Ashley Hill]

Currently enjoying a mug of Sainsbury’s Rich Roast coffee with breakfast. Two heaped teaspoons in a mug,black no sugar, lovely. You don’t need to spend a fortune for good coffee.

 

[takno]

I feel especially here in Canada coffee is the new beer at the same price! It has become very gourmet with many flavours though I like basic dark roast being mindful not to have it in the afternoon if I want to sleep.

I grew up in the UK on instant at a fraction of the cost and part of me wants to go back to it.

A side joke is private dentists are different prices here and the expensive ones often have an expensive single cup coffee machine next to a giant fish tank! My current dentist has none of this, does a fine job and is much cheaper!

When i lived in Canada 30 years ago it was all about different roasts and flavours, mostly brewed rather than espresso style. Price-wise it was cheaper than mpst Canadian beer, and similar price to Yorkshire beer. That makes sense, since the costs of running a pub and a coffee shop are quite similar apart from alcohol duty

Unfortunately at the time Starbucks were taking over the west of Canada with their absolute filth, and Second Cup were starting to clean up in the east with their only-slightly superior take. The upshot was a rapid rise in prices, a precipitous fall in quality, and part of the overall move from loving coffee to spending hours cooing about frothy milk. Meanwhile the muffins went from a delicious fluffy homestyle treat to mass produced garbage.

I mostly drink instant or lattes at the minute, because the filter option in most of the world is a barrel-scraping horror show, but filter is a much better way of making coffee generally.