Thank you for sharing this groundbreaking research. I live abroad and Yorkshire tea is always top of the request list for visitors. Have also been caught short at the station and made do with M&S own brand everyday bags - a worthy contender. I did briefly go through a Clipper tea phase, but who’s got the time to sustain that habit?
I have thought about this deeply and I think this is where I would place the two:
Liptons: This is in a liminal space outside of class because I'm not sure anyone ever willingly buys this and the only time I've ever seen it is in cheap hotels and in foreign supermarkets. I think it is an export of Britishness but does not actually have a place in British society, like royal family memorabilia.
T2: I have never heard of this but it's giving millennial yuppie. All cultural capital, very little actual capital. Earning six figures at a big four consultant firm but unable to purchase a home and still house sharing. If you turned up to a posh person's house with it they'd make a BIG FUSS over how posh and nice it is and how they couldn't possibly allow themselves such an indulgence but they'd quietly judge you for it and call you "nouveau" behind your back. I would place it around Fortnum & Mason tea.
Oh my god tea pigs, I'm sorry but no one wants a cup of black tea with actual loose leaves if they are going to put milk in it. I am always so disappointed when I order a cup of tea in a cafe and they come back with some fancy tea bag. No babe, give me the scrapings off the tea factory floor.
One tea missing from here is the Welsh classic, Welsh Brew (Paned Gymreig). It lives outside of the normal borders of poshness as you can't buy it in England as the English are so xenophobic about the Welsh, however it's easy to get in the rest of the world (my brother who lives in California manages to buy it at his local grocery store). I buy massive boxes of it every time I'm in Wales, it's top notch!
On his own volition, my husband would just drink Yorkshire tea. I find all of them too bitter, and insist on the fancy teashop looseleaf earl grey or the Pukka bags. Although the Waitrose own-brand earl grey (hangs head in middle class shame) is very good and cheap in comparison to fancy tea shop, so that's my office tea.
Obsessed, best piece of writing I’ve read all week, and I’m currently on a full time MA comparative literature course. Loved the PG tips twist at the end: will walk triumphantly into my in-laws house tomorrow wielding this robust study and the absolute proof that PG is the holy grail (as long as they’ll still let me drink their tea pigs Earl Grey free of charge).
100% - once had a colleague with the financial balls to invest in M and S Empress Grey. As a person, they weren’t for me, but you’d best believe I kept them on side just so they’d let me steal a tea bag every now and then.
Love this!! I search and search for the best Earl Grey, and truthfully its twinings. Even tho I try all the Whole Foods organic varieties from time to time. Tho I wish they made a double
Bergamot tea. And yogi teas is my second fav. I LOVE their Egyptian licorice, the chai rooibos is the best caffeine free chai.
I just made my sister bring a jumbo box of Yorkshire tea, Bisto gravy, and Boots cold+flu medicine from London to Berlin as a condition for staying in my spare room 🫡
I could write a whole other thing about how Boots is the best thing in the UK. When I’m abroad I’m so lost bc where do I go if I want to get a concealer, a meal deal, some film developed, and some canesten cream, all at once??
Yes!! Someone needs to speak up about Boots meal deal supremacy. Given how utterly **obsessed** Germans are with sandwiches, I’m floored that they haven’t adopted meal deals here.
I think the excitement of being able to buy paracetamol, cheap makeup, a sandwich, a small bag of crisps, and green juice all in the same shop would kill the average German person
I almost exclusively drink Twinings English Breakfast. I'm American, but I don't think it's posh, it's just my solid, reliable, twice-daily cup of tea. I have some fancy loose tea blend in the pantry that is lovely, but I still would rather drink Twinings.
You've missed out Marriage Frères. Admittedly, they're French and the French are, usually, really terrible at tea. So bad that ordering a cup of tea in France can induce PTSD. But if you're into the kind of teas that aren't brewed with boiling water and should never be served with milk, then Marriage Frères teas are fabulous.
Do I drink them? Hell, no. I'm a builder's strength Yorkshire Tea with milk drinker. But I recognise game and I think that in terms of snob appeal, Marriage Frères have got to be up there with the poshest of the posh.
I think this is outside my scope of poshness as I’ve never heard of them but I’ve been on their website, saw the “free shipping for orders over £150”, and I feel that’s all I need to know to agree with you
Thank you for sharing this groundbreaking research. I live abroad and Yorkshire tea is always top of the request list for visitors. Have also been caught short at the station and made do with M&S own brand everyday bags - a worthy contender. I did briefly go through a Clipper tea phase, but who’s got the time to sustain that habit?
This entire list is sorely missing Liptons at one end and T2 at the other.
I have thought about this deeply and I think this is where I would place the two:
Liptons: This is in a liminal space outside of class because I'm not sure anyone ever willingly buys this and the only time I've ever seen it is in cheap hotels and in foreign supermarkets. I think it is an export of Britishness but does not actually have a place in British society, like royal family memorabilia.
T2: I have never heard of this but it's giving millennial yuppie. All cultural capital, very little actual capital. Earning six figures at a big four consultant firm but unable to purchase a home and still house sharing. If you turned up to a posh person's house with it they'd make a BIG FUSS over how posh and nice it is and how they couldn't possibly allow themselves such an indulgence but they'd quietly judge you for it and call you "nouveau" behind your back. I would place it around Fortnum & Mason tea.
✔️ A+ Your work is complete
Sharing immediately with my English husband. :-)
Ditto
Oh my god tea pigs, I'm sorry but no one wants a cup of black tea with actual loose leaves if they are going to put milk in it. I am always so disappointed when I order a cup of tea in a cafe and they come back with some fancy tea bag. No babe, give me the scrapings off the tea factory floor.
One tea missing from here is the Welsh classic, Welsh Brew (Paned Gymreig). It lives outside of the normal borders of poshness as you can't buy it in England as the English are so xenophobic about the Welsh, however it's easy to get in the rest of the world (my brother who lives in California manages to buy it at his local grocery store). I buy massive boxes of it every time I'm in Wales, it's top notch!
On his own volition, my husband would just drink Yorkshire tea. I find all of them too bitter, and insist on the fancy teashop looseleaf earl grey or the Pukka bags. Although the Waitrose own-brand earl grey (hangs head in middle class shame) is very good and cheap in comparison to fancy tea shop, so that's my office tea.
A very useful guide. I'd have put Yorkshire in the number one spot, but we can probably still be friends.
Obsessed, best piece of writing I’ve read all week, and I’m currently on a full time MA comparative literature course. Loved the PG tips twist at the end: will walk triumphantly into my in-laws house tomorrow wielding this robust study and the absolute proof that PG is the holy grail (as long as they’ll still let me drink their tea pigs Earl Grey free of charge).
This is the best compliment thank you so much! And yes absolutely the best tea is actually the expensive kind scrounged from someone else’s kitchen
100% - once had a colleague with the financial balls to invest in M and S Empress Grey. As a person, they weren’t for me, but you’d best believe I kept them on side just so they’d let me steal a tea bag every now and then.
Love this!! I search and search for the best Earl Grey, and truthfully its twinings. Even tho I try all the Whole Foods organic varieties from time to time. Tho I wish they made a double
Bergamot tea. And yogi teas is my second fav. I LOVE their Egyptian licorice, the chai rooibos is the best caffeine free chai.
Yes
I just made my sister bring a jumbo box of Yorkshire tea, Bisto gravy, and Boots cold+flu medicine from London to Berlin as a condition for staying in my spare room 🫡
I could write a whole other thing about how Boots is the best thing in the UK. When I’m abroad I’m so lost bc where do I go if I want to get a concealer, a meal deal, some film developed, and some canesten cream, all at once??
Yes!! Someone needs to speak up about Boots meal deal supremacy. Given how utterly **obsessed** Germans are with sandwiches, I’m floored that they haven’t adopted meal deals here.
I think the excitement of being able to buy paracetamol, cheap makeup, a sandwich, a small bag of crisps, and green juice all in the same shop would kill the average German person
My American experience is preventing me from understanding a lot of this but I love the passion!
I almost exclusively drink Twinings English Breakfast. I'm American, but I don't think it's posh, it's just my solid, reliable, twice-daily cup of tea. I have some fancy loose tea blend in the pantry that is lovely, but I still would rather drink Twinings.
had to hold back my rage a few times as i struggled to remember you are ranking poshness and not bestness
You've missed out Marriage Frères. Admittedly, they're French and the French are, usually, really terrible at tea. So bad that ordering a cup of tea in France can induce PTSD. But if you're into the kind of teas that aren't brewed with boiling water and should never be served with milk, then Marriage Frères teas are fabulous.
Do I drink them? Hell, no. I'm a builder's strength Yorkshire Tea with milk drinker. But I recognise game and I think that in terms of snob appeal, Marriage Frères have got to be up there with the poshest of the posh.
I think this is outside my scope of poshness as I’ve never heard of them but I’ve been on their website, saw the “free shipping for orders over £150”, and I feel that’s all I need to know to agree with you
I'll raise you one scoup of lapsang souchong to two of dahjeeling and resurrect my mother to tell me how it's spelt.
Yorkshire is my favorite.