UK employees spend an average of 24 minutes each working day bonding with colleagues by either fetching or sharing a cup of tea with them – and drinking a total of about 46 million mugs of the stuff.
According to a survey among 5,000 UK workers conducted by Travelodge, the great British tea break is alive and well, with the most popular times to indulge being 10am and 3pm.
On average, those questioned drank three cups of tea each during their working day, with only 35% preferring coffee. Some 49% preferred a ‘builder’s brew’ which included sugar, but only 15% liked a milky cuppa best.
A further 11% said that they drank more tea when they were stressed at work, while 27% made themselves a cup to help make an important decision because drinking it was comforting (43%).
On the other hand, although two out of five respondents said that they continued to beaver away through their tea break due to work pressures, 34% considered it a key time to catch up on the latest gossip, particularly now that so many had given up smoking.
Nonetheless, it appears that office politics have a key role to play in the niceties of the tea run. Just over a quarter of those questioned said that they regularly kept score on whose turn it was to make a warm beverage, while 14% acknowledged that they felt hostile towards those who tried to either dodge their duty or hint to them that it was their go.
Despite this, one in 10 respondents admitted that they deliberately made a poor brew to get out of having to do it again, while the same number expressed dissatisfaction with their colleagues’ tea-making abilities.
