O'Canada

This is the first of a series of posts about what having a cuppa looks like on Irish soil versus Canadian soil.

The tea culture is a strong one in Ireland, to put it mildly! We’ve heard tell that the Irish drink more tea than the British, in fact. According to Lyon’s tea web site,  there are 4.24 million people in Ireland, and 3 million of them drink tea, giving us one of the highest tea consumptions in the world.

And this culture has been epitomized through characters such as Mrs. Doyle in Father Ted, as is explained in this “Mad About Tea” Daily Spud post. Her existence would lack a whole lot of meaning if it weren’t for the daily ritual of making the Fathers’ tea. And when, in one episode, they think they are doing her a big favour by giving her a tea maker, the audience realizes soon that she is literally devastated to have one of her favourite occupations threatened by a machine. And as such, she destroys said machine!

So when at home, odds are in most Irish households, a lot of tea is being consumed at any one time, and that the tea on offer would be one of two brands (the two big tea giants of Ireland). If household occupants hail from Southern parts, especially Cork, odds are they will be consuming a cup of Barry’s tea (established in Cork and still owned and operated there), and if from Dublin or its environs, the tea of choice is Lyons tea (taken over by Unilever in 1996, but originally a company with Dublin owners). And elsewhere it could be one or t’other.

In Canada, a “regular” tea, manufactured on home turf, is often Red Rose. It’s orange pekoe, which seems to be the staple, “normal” tea for many Canadians. Compared to an Irish brew (which can involve up to three teabags a pot), it’s a rather timid brew. But nonetheless, very palatable!

Canadians, while very partial to a cup of tea, the authors find, are by no means in a league with the Irish, and on average would tend to drink more coffee relative to tea, when compared with the Irish. But we give credit to Canadians, who seem more inclined to drink herbal (note h silent in Canadian English, but not in Irish English) tea. But in recent years, perhaps as a result of recent Celtic Tiger yuppiedom (hey remember one of the blog authors is Irish, so can say this!), the herbal variety is much more common now in Ireland too.

Barry's, a brand of tea, manufactured in Cork, Ireland.	Red Rose. A Canadian brand, that is a staple in many Canadian homes.
Lyons, manufactured in Dublin, is a very popular brand of tea in Ireland.

Red Rose is famous in Canada for its advertisements with the line “Only in Canada? Pity.” This 1989 TV ad shows one of the usual English stereotypes: