Medway's warm brew scene undecided over tea vs coffee debate

KentOnline / KMTV

On International Coffee Day, we headed to Rochester to find out if coffee really has taken over tea as Kent's favourite brew.  Bartholomew Hall reports.

Transcript

00:00From the skinny decaf soy macchiato to the quad shot flat white or even just the plain old latte,

00:06coffee has become the go-to drink here in the UK over tea. So I've come to

00:11Rochester High Street to see what people here prefer.

00:16Tea, black tea most of the times.

00:19The same drink?

00:19Sometimes he has espresso but mainly we have tea.

00:23Always coffee.

00:24Either a tea or a chai latte.

00:26It's a regular latte although I think just with normal milk.

00:29I mean desperate times call for desperate measures but if there is the possibility then yeah milk.

00:35Tea is my go-to.

00:36For a nation of so-called tea drinkers it seems here the debate is still hotly tied.

00:42More widely however the stats show that tea has been ground down

00:46with four percent more Brits preferring the morning joe.

00:49In fact 553 million packets of coffee compared to 287 million packets of tea

00:57were sold in the UK between March 2022 and March 2023.

01:02But for many a cup of coffee is about more than just the morning dose of caffeine.

01:06Some would say the coffee shop experience is a treat in of itself.

01:11It's nice to have like a little community pub in a way

01:15where everyone you kind of see how people's lives develop.

01:19Usually I learn people's coffee orders as their name so I'll be like oh it's cappuccino man

01:24or something or it's um flat white with an extra shot man or something like that

01:28and it is it is nice to just be able to see them coming in already have their order down

01:33and made by the time they get to the till and they're like okay.

01:36From the cappuccino commute to the midday mocha there's a lot you can tell about someone

01:41by their favorite but scientists think you can go even further back

01:45right back to when the beans are roasted.

01:48Researchers at the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago

01:53argue a light roast drinker savors life's pleasures

01:56whereas a dark roast lover is supposedly more adventurous and willing to experiment.

02:01So whether you're a coffee drinker or a tea slurper everyone has their go-to warm drink

02:07and at the end of the day I'm sure we'd all agree it's less about the brew and more about the break.

02:13Bartholomew Hall for KMTV in Rochester.

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