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====British Tea Ritual====
Even very slightly formal events can be a cause for cups and saucers to be used instead of mugs. A typical semi-formal old-fashioned British tea ritual might run as follows(Note that the steps of this 'ritual' may and often do vary with regional and personal preference):
# The kettle is boiled and water poured into a tea pot.
# Water is swirled around the pot to warm it and then poured out.
# Teaspoons full of loose tea or tea-bags are then added to the pot. The traditional quantity is ''one per person and one for the pot''.
# Water is added to the pot and allowed to brew for severala few minutes while a tea cosy is placed on the pot to keep the tea warm.
# Milk may be added to the cup either before or after the tea is poured.
# A tea strainer is placed over the top of the cup to catch tea leaves and the tea poured through it.
# The straight black tea is then given to guests and they are allowed to add milk andcan sugar to their taste.
# The pot will normally hold enough tea so as not to be empty after filling the cups of all the guests. If this is the case, the tea cosy is replaced after everyone has been served.
Whether to put milk into the cup before or after the tea has beenis a matter of some debate and has traditionally been seen as a class divide. Working classes who could not afford good quality crockery would add milk first to ensure thatIn the suddenearly increasedays inof heat would not crack the cupstea-drinking, whereas middle and upper classes who did not need to worry about this would add milk afterwards so that guests would be ableadded to take the teacup asfirst theyto personallyavoid preferredthe it.thermal Thisshock latterof traditionhot hastea been consideredcracking the correctdelicate one according to [[etiquette]]porcelain. However, some hold that addingAdding milk second tends tomay scald the milk. when Thispoured affectsinto itsthe tastehot andtea so, for best taste,before the milk shouldcools bethe pouredmixture, first.something Overallavoided however,by whetherpouring to addthe milk first or second is a matter of personal taste and one cannot be said to be more beneficial than the other.
There is also a proper manner in which to drink tea when using a cup and saucer. The cup and saucer should be lifted together from the table with the left hand on the saucer and the right on the handle of the cup. The right hand should then lift the cup away from the saucer to be drunk before replacing it. This rule is relaxed when having tea at a dining table, as opposed to having tea in arm chairs etc. Drinking tea from the saucer (poured from the cup in order to cool it) was not uncommon atover fithy oneyears timeago but is now almost universally considered a breach of etiquette[http://www.steepedintea.com/teablog/PermaLink.aspx#afcf59ccf-fdf7-4a92-b7ae-0887927487a9].
Note however that the formal drinking of tea is a vast minority compared to the informal drinking of it as a beverage, and is a staple part of most Britons' lives. Indeed, often the first thing that a man or woman (Or even child) does after getting in from a hard day at work is to put the kettle on and make a cup of tea.
====Tea as a meal====
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