The classic English breakfast cup of tea is often considered a staple of British culture with the power to solve almost any problem.
But it seems that tea is not as popular among younger generations, as Generation Z and millennials seem to be abandoning the quintessential beverage in favor of coffee, hot chocolate, and trendy matcha and chai lattes.
Last week, Typhoo, Britain’s oldest tea company, narrowly escaped administration after years of falling sales and mounting debts.
According to government figures, an average family would buy around 30 tea bags per person each week. By 2023, this figure had dropped to around 10 per person.
People ages 18 to 24 would prefer a lemonade, kombucha or juice to a cup of tea when meeting friends and family, according to a survey conducted in June 2023.
Some have even referred to this hearty beverage as a “seniors’ drink,” with people citing the taste and its “coolness factor” as a reason not to indulge in the tea craze.
Gillie Owen, 20, told bbc: “I guess there’s some sort of association with tea as an old people’s drink.” He added that he and his friends would tend to opt for water or diet soda.
And Rebecca Gibbions, 46, owner of jewelry boutique Last Night I Dreamt, told FEMAIL that while she is an “avid tea drinker herself,” her teenage children “hate” tea and “refuse” to try it.
It seems that tea is not as popular among the younger generations, as Generation Z and millennials seem to be abandoning the quintessential beverage. In the photo: Lola on TikTok says she doesn’t like tea even though she is British
Rebecca said her son Reuben, 17, finds the tea “healthy.” He also believes that tea is a drink for “older people,” which he defined as “maybe 20 to 30 years old and up.”
Both Reuben and his 14-year-old daughter Beatrice would prefer hot chocolate, with Beatrice calling tea “disgusting.”
Rebecca added: “I think it’s a generational thing as I have members of staff under 25 and only one of them drinks tea (although it has to be black).
“Generally speaking, it’s not important, but because of my positive associations with tea, linked to comfort and soul sharing, I feel like I have somehow failed to pass on my love of tea to my children!”
Meanwhile, Ruth Chipperfield, 35, a jewelery designer from Birmingham, said: “I’ve never liked tea. In fact, I recently discovered that my sister and two cousins don’t like it either. My husband drinks it and my Dad but not me.
‘I just find that the tea doesn’t taste much. It’s a kind of “nothing” taste. Although I like to drink coffee. I’m sure it’s a drink people might like, but it’s not something I’d bother boiling in the hopes that I’ll like it.
And Danielle Knights, 33, from Reading, said: ‘I don’t like hot drinks at all. I don’t drink tea or coffee, so if someone invites me out I have a water.
‘People probably think I’m boring. I tried drinking herbal tea to adjust, but hot drinks feel weird and aren’t refreshing. I don’t like normal tea at all.’
Twin singers Alex and Gregg, 24, had never had a cup of tea before and decided to do it in front of the camera for the first time.
Sam, from London, said on TikTok that he doesn’t like English breakfast tea but will drink herbal tea.
The classic English breakfast cup of tea is often considered a staple of British culture with the power to solve almost any problem (stock image)
Last week, one of Britain’s oldest tea companies, Typhoo, collapsed after 121 years, seeming to signal a change in times.
It was rescued from administration by vaporizer and battery manufacturer Supreme, which said it will pay a total of £10.2 million to buy Typhoo, in a deal that values the brand’s shares and trading debts at £7.5 million.
Typhoo generated revenue of around £20m in the year to September 30, with a pre-tax loss of around £4.6m.
Tea sales volumes have fallen 4.3 percent compared to two years ago, according to analysts at NielsenIQ, while a recent survey by Mintel suggested that less than half the nation, 48 percent, drink tea at least once a day, the BBC reported.
On TikTok, members of Generation Z have also shown that the love affair with tea may be cooling.
Paul Searing, from Maidstone, wrote in a video: “Am I the only one who prefers coffee to tea?”
Mother-of-two Rebecca Gibbions (pictured) said that while she is an “avid tea drinker”, her teenage children “hate it”.
Meanwhile, Sam from London, who runs a podcast under the username @samgeorgiaellie, said: “It’s not that I don’t like tea. It’s just that I don’t like OG tea.
‘So put tea, milk, take digestives, all that. I prefer an infusion.
It’s not very British of me that I don’t like English tea for breakfast. I’m not a fan of Earl Grey! I prefer more green tea, chamomile at night and rooibos.
Twin singers Alex and Gregg, 24, are known on TikTok as the ‘New Horizon’ twins. But even though they are British, they had never had a cup of tea before and decided to do it on camera for the first time.
However, they were not very impressed and made a disgusted face after taking a sip.
‘That?!’ they said. ‘It’s just watery. That’s disgusting. It just has nothing to do with it. It’s water and leaves.’
People aged 18 to 24 would prefer a lemonade, kombucha or juice to a cup of tea when meeting friends and family, a survey conducted in June 2023 revealed.
Almost half said iced soft drinks or juices were preferred to coffee, tea and hot chocolate, research by The Ice Co, Europe’s leading ice maker, showed.
Ruth Chipperfield, 35, a jewelery designer from Birmingham, says she has “never liked tea” because she “doesn’t know much”.
Paul Searing, from Maidstone, is one of those who prefers coffee to tea
It showed that 45 percent of Generation Z (aged 18 to 24) would choose a cold drink, such as lemonade or juice, to catch up with friends or family, compared to just 41 percent who would choose a cup. of tea, coffee or hot chocolate.
Tea first arrived on British shores in the 17th century and grew to become part of people’s daily lives; However, in more recent years, its popularity has begun to decline in favor of coffee.
The highly caffeinated hot drink has also been around for hundreds of years, but its popularity has skyrocketed this century due to the success of chains such as Costa and Starbucks.
A 2021 survey by Statista found that coffee and tea are the favorite drink in the UK in equal measure, with 63 per cent of respondents consuming both drinks regularly.