this post was submitted on 14 Jan 2026
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Casual UK

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[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 3 points 21 hours ago

Who comments on other’s liquid level in a mug?

[–] moopet@sh.itjust.works 2 points 21 hours ago

When it's a little less than this, my mother and grandmother would call it "curate's tea" or "vicar's tea" because of the white collar in the mug, and pass it back for us kids to sort it out.

[–] ruuster13@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Brits talk about everything rounds to the nearest 10 in metric and then use 1.5cm for asinine shit.

[–] AnnaFrankfurter@lemmy.ml 6 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

Would you prefer 15mm or 0.5906"

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 1 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

Can confirm. Btw, this is bean tea.

[–] KarlHungus42@lemmy.world 23 points 1 day ago (2 children)

TIL that people get ragged on for not having enough tea in their cup.

_Well, well, look at ol two sips over ere. Twice as many cups as the rest of us today. Looks like the tide's all the way out on this one. _

[–] CXORA@aussie.zone 7 points 1 day ago

A fundamental law of the universe is Brits will take the piss out of anyone for any reason. It is a sign of affection, and also a sign of intense dislike.

[–] fakeman_pretendname@feddit.uk 10 points 1 day ago

"Are you feeling a bit pessimistic?"
"Pessimistic?!?"
"Your cup's half empty :) "

[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

This reminded me of the worst thing about getting tea at a cafe, which is that if you ask for a splash of milk with your breakfast or earl grey tea they bring out a jug with an entire udder’s worth of milk, which then sits there turning sour. I suppose they must have once had a customer who wanted some tea with their milk.

[–] AnnaFrankfurter@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You underestimate my power to spill

[–] TonyTonyChopper@mander.xyz 2 points 19 hours ago

I never fill a mug without 3 cm of clearance

[–] ruuster13@lemmy.zip 18 points 2 days ago (7 children)

TIL Brits put a little tea in their milk

[–] azertyfun@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 day ago (3 children)

They also just drink "tea" and don't conceptualize the different kinds thereof. English Breakfast vs Earl Gray vs an Oolong and all the aromatic teas... AFAIK they traditionally just drink English Breakfast black tea, which is why the Lipton yellow bags aren't even labelled.

The more I learn about British tea culture the more confusing it gets. Drinking unlabeled black tea in a bag is disgusting bottom-of-the-barrel type stuff. No wonder they drown it in milk.

[–] filcuk@lemmy.zip 3 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

As someone with 2 cupboards full of different teas, herbs and infusions, I'm almost offended when guests reply "just regular tea?", like there only is the one.
Not everyone likes a ton of milk though, people often prefer but a 'splash'.

On the other hand, I do also buy 600 x breakfast tea bags pack...

[–] tetris11@feddit.uk 2 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

It's the tannins in british tea that help it mix with the milk. All those black teas you get in europe and asia just turn milk into a swirly mess.

British tea is legitimately its own thing

[–] azertyfun@sh.itjust.works 3 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (1 children)

The color of my mug after a (admittedly high-end) black tea leads me to believe it's not lacking in tannins. I've not tried to put milk in it since I was a kid at my grandparents' who always had some good teas as well.

My understanding is that the "default" British tea is English Breakfast tea. Which is not a bad tea at all, but it's not "special", it's unflavored black tea. I don't refute that the tea culture is unique over there but I don't think it has much to do with the leaves themselves which famously don't even grow in England lol

[–] tetris11@feddit.uk 1 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (1 children)

Of course, but the type that we import tends to be of the high tannin Assamica variety from China/Sri Lanka, whereas the european varieties tends to be lighter and more aromatic as you say, making it harder for the milk to bind

[–] azertyfun@sh.itjust.works 1 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Since we don't have a tea culture I don't know that it's possible to generalize European tea in any way. Feels like half the time when I ask for tea someone pulls out a box with a bunch of aromatic leaves but literally not a single tea leaf (not exaggerating, I've had to drink some herbal mix because I didn't want to be impolite). If they do have some actual tea, it's either litpon yellow (tasteless and inoffensive) or English Breakfast/Earl Gray (actual proper tea that I suppose you could mix milk in just fine).

Habitual tea drinkers such as myself do have the good stuff though, aromatic or not, and we don't put milk in it. That behavior eludes me, if you don't like the taste but want caffeine just drink coffee and milk, and if you do like the taste why dilute it with some hyper-caloric stuff? I posit that's what makes British tea culture, y'all put milk in your black tea because you don't like the strong taste but still you drink it for cultural reasons.

[–] tetris11@feddit.uk 1 points 18 hours ago

It tastes good though! It's a hot morning broth almost.

When I was living abroad, I genuinely missed having a nice creamy tea to tide me over. Tea instead became this meditation thing I now had to "sip" whilst inhaling the steam. That's an alien thing in of itself!

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[–] i078@europe.pub 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yeah, first they make it super strong by just leaving the bags in. Then they add milk because it’s too strong.

I love them anyway

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[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You leave enough room so that the marshmallows don't cause it to overflow. 🤷‍♂️

[–] fakeman_pretendname@feddit.uk 20 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Please do not introduce fun to our national drink. Thank you.

[–] Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz 3 points 23 hours ago

Hot Toddy is pretty fun

[–] ABCatMom@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] fakeman_pretendname@feddit.uk 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Unfortunately, I'm afraid we'd have to categorise that as fun.

[–] tetris11@feddit.uk 4 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Also, you're now banned from the British Isles, and all of Her Majesty's overseas territories

[–] ThePyroPython@lemmy.world 2 points 16 hours ago (1 children)
[–] fakeman_pretendname@feddit.uk 1 points 11 hours ago

Ooh no. Proper traditional British passports are Burgundy, like they've always been in my lifetime.

I'll be having none of that new fangled "special racist blue passport" nonsense.

[–] SurfinBird@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I remember being bullied about some weird random things growing up, but are people really out there talking smack about the not-quite-fullness of your cup of tea?

[–] yakko@feddit.uk 3 points 22 hours ago

Feels like the pettiness is the bit

[–] synapse1278@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

I will have it filled to the tipitop and spill some on my way to the computer thankyouverymuch

[–] apotheotic@beehaw.org 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Gonna be real, if someone is petty enough to comment on how much tea is in my mug I'm never talking to them again

[–] mech@feddit.org 1 points 1 hour ago

What about people who don't comment but tut disapprovingly?

[–] TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago

I fill it to the absolute brim and just walk slowly from the kitchen to my living room.

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