The belief that a cup of tea can make things better is supported by both, longstanding cultural traditions and scientific research into its chemical properties. The combination of caffeine and the amino acid L-theanine in tea helps to reduce stress, boost mood, and improve cognitive function. For many, sitting with a cup of tea is not only for the physical benefits, but can serve to be meditative and therapeutic, and the sound of hot water pouring into a favourite mug can whisk you away into a trance.
It can’t be underestimated just how important tea is to many people in Britain (and beyond of course). There is even an annual National Tea Day, this year on 21 May 2026.
We love our tea here at York Racecourse, so much so we even serve Yorkshire Tea on all our events, and the office consumption, well don’t tell the boss, but our cuppas are on a grand scale.
Our conference and meeting options provide for a working lunch and three servings of refreshments within our great value packages, with prices starting from just £32.55 per person (inc VAT). These refreshment breaks include water, coffee, infusions and yes, you guessed it, Yorkshire Tea of course – a black tea blend produced by the Bettys & Taylors Group since 1977 and becoming the best-selling tea brand in Britain in 2019.
And as a nation we’ve all got our little quirks haven’t we. Is it milk first, or tea first ? Everyone makes tea differently – but if you popped round to our place for a visit, this is how we’d make you a brew:
Choose your weapon – be it a mug or a cup, or a teapot.
Treat your water kindly – run the tap a little so the water’s nicely aerated, and only boil it once (this keeps the oxygen level up. Oxygen in water helps flavour)
Select your favourite tea – pour over the hot water and stir briefly.
Wait patiently – Tea needs time to unlock all its flavour, so give it 4-5 minutes to do its thing. This is a perfect time to munch a sneaky biscuit or daydream about holidays.
Give it a squeeze – Before removing the tea bag, gently squidge it against the side of the mug. Just the once, mind – if you really mash it, it’ll taste bitter.
Customise your brew – We like a splash of semi-skimmed or whole milk, you may like sugar, honey, lemon or nothing at all.
Your brew is ultimately unique to you – so most importantly, enjoy!
Dunking
Let’s turn our thoughts to dunking biscuits in tea, a deeply divisive topic. Origins date to 16th-century sailors, who soaked hard tack biscuits to make them edible, evolving into a popular, relaxing, and flavourful teatime ritual by the 19th century. A cherished British tradition by some that enhances flavour and softens texture by soaking, with an optimal dunk time of 3–10 seconds depending on the biscuit. The best biscuits for this practice are sturdy, such as Chocolate Digestives (4–5 sec), Rich Tea (4 seconds) Ginger Nuts (3 sec), or Hobnobs (5–9 sec), which resist collapsing into the cup.
Key Dunking Tips
- The Technique: Dunk for 3–5 seconds to allow for absorption without complete structural failure.
- Temperature Matters: Hotter tea dissolves biscuits faster, requiring a shorter dunk.
- Stability: Choose biscuits with high fat or oat content (e.g., Hobnobs, Digestives) to avoid a “soggy bottom” or premature breakage.
- The Perfect Cup: A cup wider than the biscuit allows for easy, proper submersion.
- Etiquette: It is generally considered a casual, at-home activity rather than a formal, public one.
That’s all for now, off to pop the kettle on for a brew ….
