The Irish are the heaviest tea drinkers per capita in the world. They average four to six cups per day! Some consider tea to be necessary because of the cold and rainy weather year-round.
Should you be invited into an Irish household, you can be sure that as soon as you cross the threshold you’ll be offered tea as an icebreaker. It is actually a cultural faux pas to not drink the tea! In fact, if you are offered a cup of tea while in someone’s home, it is expected that you say “no” to the first ask. Even if you’re dying for a cup of tea, just say “No, thanks” and wait. You will be offered again, and then you may say yes!
"In America, someone asks you if you want a cup of tea, you say no, and then you don't get any damned tea. I liked the Irish way better.” ― C.E. Murphy, American Author"
It is not uncommon to offer tea to your electrician, plumber, or construction worker. Sometimes they will even sit and have a biscuit at the table!
Here are two comedic sketches from Father Ted, a popular Irish sitcom, displaying this cultural phenomenon!
When most people think of tea, they think of English afternoon tea with dainty china cups and a tiered tray with quaint finger sandwiches and tiny tea biscuits.
However, Irish tea is called "high tea," and it is known as the workman's tea. High tea was practical, it was filling, and it was a reward for a hard days work. The hot tea comforted and warmed while the food fed hard-working men and women. It may not have been fancy, but it became a solid tradition. When tea was first introduced to England via colonialism and the Dutch East India Company in the eighteenth century, the aristocratic English created a tradition of taking tea in the afternoon, at roughly 2-4 pm. When the English shipped tea over to Ireland, the Irish, a working-class people, would have been working at that time. So, high tea became a tradition of dinner, in which tea is accompanied by cold meats and potato salad, typically occurring at 6:00 pm.
Further, colonialism is the reason why English tea and Irish tea themselves are different. The British would use the highest quality tea and ship the lesser quality tea over the Irish sea. So, in order to make up for the poor tasting tea, the Irish would pour almost 2/3 of the cup with milk. Because the milk dilutes the strength of the tea, the Irish began the tradition of making their tea much stronger than the British. This is a tradition that still exists today.
Here is a video explaining Teaology with the Masterblender at Barry's Tea Company.
In the 1980's, Irish tea companies (Such as Barry’s, Lyon’s, Bewley’s, etc) cut out the English middleman and decided to buy their tea from India and Sri Lanka themselves. By doing so, they crafted what is now known as Irish Breakfast tea, which is a blended brew of Assam tea from India that is very robust and Ceylon tea from Sri Lanka, which is a lighter tea.
There is a very specific etiquette for tea drinking in Ireland. Irish tea is traditionally brewed in a teapot. Typically, the teapot must be scalded before adding the tea by swirling hot water around and then emptying it in order to clean it. However, making tea in the mug is also common.
Then, one seeps the tea bags in the water that has just been brought to boil. In order to have true Irish tea, a drinker must have milk. And quite a bit of it too!
Tea must always be available in the house, and an Irish household never runs out.
If you make yourself a cup of tea, you have to offer to make tea for everyone in the house.
Irish hospitality requires that as soon as a guest walks in to the house, the host must offer the visitor a cup of tea!
Some superstitions still exist from reading tea leaves (the traditional way to make tea is using tea leaves and not using a tea bag): floating tea leaves and rising bubbles predict the arrival of strangers, and bubbles that rise to the top mean money is coming.
Some foods that are typically served with Irish High tea include:
sandwiches of dill cream cheese and cucumber
roast Irish beef with horseradish and tomato
Irish oak-smoked salmon
buttermilk fruit scones with clotted cream and homemade strawberry jam
Victoria sponge cake
chocolate and brandy
sticky date and walnut
Fun Fact: Irish pubs are legally required to serve tea!!