Residents at Luton’s Little Bramingham Farm care home celebrate National Tea Day

To celebrate the quintessential, classic British tradition of a ‘good cup of tea’ and to mark this year’s National Tea Day, at Little Bramingham Farm, the Luton-based residential care home run by Charity, Friends of the Elderly - which is celebrating its 120th Anniversary this year – residents have taken part in a poll and voted for their favourite cuppa.

“In the United Kingdom, National Tea Day is observed every April to celebrate the time honoured tradition of drinking of tea,”said Karen Charity, the Activities Coordinator at Little Bramingham Farm. “As the residents thoroughly enjoy our regular afternoon teas and like to sit together chatting over a ‘proper’ cup of tea, I thought it would be a good idea to do a fun poll to find out, once and for all, their favourite brew, tea likes, dislikes and tea habits.”

Karen asked the residents a series of tea-orientated questions, to put ‘all things tea’ to the vote. “I put together 11 questions for the residents to answer and we had a voting session over, of course, a cup of tea,”said Karen. “The results of ‘The Tea-riffic Tea Poll’ were quite interesting and some, quite surprising.”

The residents voted English Breakfast Tea as their number one favourite, with Earl Grey taking second place. “Without a shadow of doubt, tea bags were preferred to loose leaf tea, with 100% of the residents voting for tea bags. However, answering the all-important question of whether it should be milk first or tea first in a cup, the residents were split, 50/50. There was a little debate as some residents said it had to be tea first so you could make sure it was the right colour as you added the milk,”continued Karen.

Other answers to the ‘Pot’ quiz included ‘China Cup and Saucer vs Mug?’. “It was no surprise that most of the residents voted for having their tea in a China cup and saucer,” added Emma Lawrance, the Registered Manager at Little Bramingham Farm. “As they do like their afternoon teas served in the proper way, but what did surprise me was that when it came to a choice of either sugar or sugar lumps, again the results were split 50/50, but one resident did say she didn’t need sugar as she was sweet enough.”

The residents also voted Yorkshire Tea™ as their preferred tea brand and that a biscuit was the best accompaniment to go with a cuppa. “Whilst half the residents voted for biscuits, surprisingly 75% of residents said no to dunking in their tea,” continued Karen. “However, when asked the question ‘When was the best time of day to have a cup of tea – First thing in the morning? At breakfast? Elevenses or at Afternoon Tea?’ First thing in the morning or at breakfast took the top position.

“The residents had a fun time talking ‘Tea Shop’ and did agree that a good, proper cup of tea can really be enjoyed at any time of the day, as long as it’s in good company, having a chat and a giggle, which they like to do every day,” concluded Karen.