33. How do you take yours?

We quite like making cups of tea in our office and we have a bit of a joke in the office about Jo’s tea-making skills. She hasn’t quite got it right yet and is still, after years of being at Kingston University, in training! … or so Richard says! 

A cup of tea is good for starting the day off but it’s so much more than that. It’s the strength of the tea and whether that matches what the person wants because each of us is different in what we like. Some people like tea weak. Some people like it strong like builders’ tea. Some like it with milk. Some like it without milk. Some like it with sugar and some people like it without sugar. It’s a tiny snapshot portrait of us and what we like in life. 

And then there’s the mug or cup that it goes in. Some people have their special mugs, some are happy with whatever it comes in. Some like a china cup as apparently it tastes better! Do you have it with biscuits or not? 

So it seems that tea-making is also about the ritual. Handing over the milk for people to add themselves. Starting a conversation. It’s a process of making connections. It’s a smile, a laugh, a gentle hand on the shoulder as we pass it to the person we are making it for. It says, you matter to me.  

Actually it doesn’t have to be perfect in how it’s made (though it helps Richard says!) It’s about being together. Talking and listening. Showing someone you value them. It’s leaning in with curiosity. It’s the exchange between two humans. It can be a moment of sharing banter, but also a tender moment breaking bad news, sharing tears, stories or previously unspoken feelings.  

At the end of the day, a cup of tea can solve a lot of problems. And, of course, we use the term ‘tea’ loosely. Some people in our office have hot water with spices, coffee or water. In our office people have cow’s milk and some people have oat milk. 

Whatever is preferred, we think its important for people to choose and decide and say what they want because those choices represent so much more than just a ‘cuppa tea’. 

We are curious … How do you take yours? 

Written by Richard Keagan-Bull and Jo Giles, Research Assistants at Kingston University London.