An article in the Guardian titled 'Tea is a National Disgrace,' has caused uproar and sparked a stream of semi-serious vitriol from angry tea-drinkers.
In a piece published on Wednesday, journalist Joel Golby branded Britain's favourite beverage "boring and beige".
In no uncertain terms he said: "Liking it is the worst possible English trait, up there with colonialism and the class system and thinking dentistry is bad."
He even goes on to brand it - brace yourselves - "shit".
Now the people of the internet are angry, and not just at Golby. They're at mad coffee-drinkers, people who add milk to their tea first, people who add any milk at all and people who add sugar. They're mad at grandmas and builders and students. They're mad... because they love tea.
Golby, it seems, has opened up Pandora's box, and the astonishing reaction has led to over 13000 comments on the article.
The brew-lovers have spoken...
Some of the commenters heroically standing up for tea said:
- "Coffee is a fair weather friend - the cat of the beverage world. Tea is always good, at any time in any situation. It always makes you feel better. The mutt of beverages."
- "A good cup of tea is one of life's great pleasures; milk or no milk. It's a warm brown hug, like heroin, but more acceptable in the vestry."
- "This is the first time I have ever been moved enough to comment on an article. This sort of article is why, after 50 years, I now hate the Guardian."
- "Tea is wonderful. 'The drink that cheers, but does not inebriate.'"
Obviously, the active discussion was littered with comments saying: "This article is not my cup of tea," with many more simply just calling it "bollocks".
This isn't the first time the Guardian have shunned one of our most-loved traditions. In January, they said good riddance to brown sauce, claiming that Britain had finally come to its senses when HP sales fell 40 percent.