Tea is generally considered to be the UK’s favorite hot drink, but a fresh survey has found coffee to be marginally more popular among Brits – at least for the time being.
Specifically, a survey of 800 Britons by Regatta – an English family-owned outdoor and leisure clothing brand – found coffee to be the favorite warm drink of 39 percent of Brits, while tea’s respective share was just 0.37 percent smaller.
Noteworthily, the results of the survey showed that people living in the south of the country are more likely to be a big fan of tea than those living in the north.
As for how Brits refer to a good cup of tea, “cuppa” is unsurprisingly the most popular phrase by a big margin, with “a brew” coming in second place. Specifically, 66 percent of respondents said they refer to a cup of tea as a “cuppa”, while just 17 percent said “a brew”.
Interestingly, there was significant variation by region, due to different dialects and accents in different parts of the United Kingdom. For example, “brew” is mostly used in the north of England, while “Rosy Lee” – which four percent of respondents picked as their preferred way of referring to a cup of tea – is pretty much only used in the capital. Another example is “paned”, which is exclusively used in Wales.
Keeping Warm Without Burning Money
Regatta’s same survey also asked the same 800 participants about their preferred way of keeping warm in the winter.
With most respondents saying they usually layer up instead of turning on the central heating or using a hot water bottle, it’s clear to see that most Brits are quite frugal and prefer to keep warm without burning money.
Specifically, around 60 percent said they layer up to keep warm, while around half of respondents said they would sit next to a radiator in their home. Sitting by an open fire or using a heated blanket are two other reasonably popular methods Brits use to stay warm, with about 15 percent voting for each one of these options.
‘It’s Freezing’
Another segment of the survey which had results varying considerably from region to region is how Brits say it’s cold. “It’s freezing” is by far the most popular phrase throughout the UK, but there are many alternatives – such as “it’s nippy” and “it’s frosty” – which weren’t too far off.
There were several other phrases which are quite unpopular on a national scale but are the preferred phrase in some parts of Britain.
For instance, in certain parts of London, “it’s taters” is commonly used to refer to cold weather, while “it’s parky” is exclusively used in Scotland.
With the UK set to enter its coldest part of winter in just a matter of weeks, we can expect the usage of all of the above phrases to surge.
Have anything to add to the conversation? Tell us what your favorite hot drink is and your preferred method of keeping warm on Twitter. Be sure to include #AFrostyDebate in your tweet so we can check out your post.
