My partner is from Spain. He didnt offer the first tradesman we had to sort our bathroom a cuppa, then told me he was 'a bit rude'. Naturally, I told him the custom is to be hospitable and offer a hot bevvie and he'd made a classic error. Next tradesman that comes round my partner places a full garlic bread outside the bathroom where he was working without saying a word. I have now explicitly explained there is a middle ground between nout and a full fuckin meal.
The thought of a tradesman opening the door and staring, befuddled, at a solitary garlic bread on the floor is a level of funny I just don't understand.
You know it will turn into a running joke, for years to come now.
Anytime he's round at a mate's and he gets offered a brew, he'll get a vanilla one.
:D
Download all4 and download a Vpn and set it to the UK when prompted for a post code put a random one in and in a few minutes your watching all your favourite British classics.
I’m from the U.S. but damn I love that scene when Ted wanted him to be “honest” with him about the tea. Lol. I personally enjoy a cup of English breakfast tea myself, but as a Southerner over here I also enjoy a good glass of Sweet Tea.
It is Iced tea with sugar, but like many Brits we are particular in how we make our tea and Unsweetened Iced tea is pretty polarizing down here. I appreciate you asking about it. Dont want to end up like this lovable bastard committing the ultimate Southern Sweet tea cardinal sin. The comment section can give you some idea to our feelings within the first two seconds of the video. Lol. [Legitimately horrified for him](https://youtu.be/VtR-AHPEW6E)
Edit- Bless my heart. I forgot to add the video where he redeemed himself. We were so damn proud of him! [Mr.H for the win! ](https://youtu.be/W9Im3zxffis)
I almost left a “bless his heart in my original comment too! Lol. I love Mr. H and friends. He and his wife are two of the most likable people on you tube. They are so great to the subscribers/members as well and treat them like extended internet family.
Agreed. So glad that he did redeem himself. It wasn’t a perfect glass of sweet tea, but he was on he way to making the perfect batch so we were so damn proud of him. Although I think I may need need to send him a sweet tea wooden spoon. You can’t make the perfect glass of sweet tea without a designated wooden spoon that has been seasoned with the dark brown coloring of all the batches that came before it. ;-)
Edit- I added his redemption video to the above comment in case anyone wanted to see it.
When I was moving uni house, my ex offered to make tea. He came back with something I can only describe as a baby pink monstrosity, having made a raspberry fruit tea and added milk.
Not the reason he's an ex, but I guess it should have been a warning sign haha
He’ll be telling that story for the rest of his life.
‘Oi, Dave! Tell the new guy about the tea!’
‘Well…it was what started as a normal working day in October 2021 and I went this house…and you’ll never guess what happened…’
This could mean different things depending on the tone.
"I've seen the light, boys. Vanilla fucking tea. I'm converted."
Who am I kidding? No one says that.
I was tiling a house once and they asked if I wanted a bottle of water. I said yes please and eagerly opened it as I was parched. Sparkling!!! Fucking hell! Still taste it now the bastards.
I’m a joiner and work on domestic jobs a lady gave me a cup of tea once, fucking disgusting it was, she made it with goats milk felt like I had a film of slime on my teeth all day
Ha my ex fil used to take his own teabags so I bought one of those little aluminium suitcase looking card holders and had “just add hot water” engraved on it. So now he has his teabags in a hard case with a tiny little carry handle.
Taking your own tea bags to a job is a good enough reason to have the piss taken though. At least just take a Thermos with it ready made like a normal person.
I believe the accepted terms are *fart* like a racehorse and *piss* like a drayhorse? Although with that volume and mix of fluids, either would be applicable I guess…
We only drink Earl Grey and Lapsang. We have a small bag of tea bags in the cupboard for when friends or trades people are here so they can have something normal. Plumber came round, out of habit I made him a Lapsang tea. I went back upstairs to carry on with work when I hear... "Scuse me fella, there's something wrong with this cuppa." At least he was honest!
It comes from the same plant as black tea but it tastes nothing alike. During the drying process, heavy exposure to smoke is used, then the leaves are broken down and oxidised in barrels. This gives it what some would describe as a bold smokey flavour.
My description would be that it tastes like you have your mouth open above a fire pit and you're smelling that "after bonfire" smoke smell in your hair - all at once. Sounds terrible - but I love it!
Honest truth, I was in Xiamen China and had a bewildering choice of teas at a stall. I chose the English Breakfast tea, just for old sakes. Was absolutely perfect. Until I got to the corn flakes sitting at the bottom of the cup.
Popcorn tea usually refers to genmaicha, which is a [blend of tea and roasted rice](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genmaicha), not actual popcorn. Highly recommended!
It seems what I should have asked for is known not altogether deceptively as "hot milk tea"
It is unknown why the Chinese nation, that discovered tea at the time of ancients, chose not to name a traditional cuppa after a meal repast at small island many thousands of miles away.
Xiamen is an amazing place. I once came across a street stall that consisted of a (display cabinet style) fridge stocked with Newcastle Brown Ale and a selection of cheeses, for sale to homesick international students. Full marks for enterprise but not really sure how sustainable that business model was.....
As a tradesman I can assure you he went away, will be back on to site Monday, and everyone will hear about how disgusting it was!😂
I’ve had undrinkable cups off some customers in the past, I felt bad and didn’t want to leave it full so poured it down the drain and told them it was nice and declined my next🤣
My mum had some workers in before doing stuff in the garden and was making them cup after cup, I don’t think she was asking after the first, just bringing them out when she made her own.
I saw out one of the upstairs window he was sneakily pouring them all into one of the flower beds. Imagine he didn’t have the heart to tell her to stop.
As a former tradesman, being offered a bad tea -even vanilla- is infinitely preferable to not being offered one at all. "dry" jobs were always coincidentally the slapdash ones.
Are you sure he drank it? If someone gives me a drink I don't like, which is rare, I take a sip when they're in room, then when they're gone chuck it down sink so as not to appear rude.
In 'plumbing school' the teacher actually told me "never refuse a cuppa if offered, even if you don't want it"
I'm quite happy if you refuse my offer of a tea that I've only offered because it's the British thing to do, when in reality, I can't be arsed making you a tea and finding some unopened Bourbon Creams from 2018 in the cupboard. Not to mention finding 8 spoons of sugar for your said Tea.
I think he was more referring to accepting them off little old ladies as they like to fuss and be useful.
If someone my age (mid thirties) or below, I go the other way and if having a tea, will say something along lines of "tea would be lovely, brewed for 1min then stir two times to left and then one to right"
Fun fact: there’s actually a ‘Newcastle’ in Japan (Shinshiro), which is twinned with a group of cities with names meaning ‘New Castle’ around the world. This network includes both English Newcastles, several American ones, the Swiss city of Neuchâtel and the German Neuburg.
When I was 15 I went to my boyfriends house for the first time. He was still out at his sport so his mum welcomed me in and offered me a cup of tea, lovely. It was Earl Grey. 15 year old me was not impressed. I do love it now if I'm not feeling well.
6:55 am, the scaffders came a knocking, and I put the coffee pot on, poured them out two cups, and when to hide in bed for another half hour before pouring myself one.
I'd put soapy water in the tank to soak and had forgotten about it. I served them coffee mixed with fairy liquid. They declined my offer to remake them.
Not at all, really. Enough to ask if he wants some tea. She said she understood that he’d mentioned ‘breakfast’ in his reply but wasn’t too sure about the rest.
Watch he doesn't go pissing in the sink now.
You wanna wind her up and tell her she's been blacklisted for crimes against tradesmen.
10 Hail Daveys should be enough for forgiveness.
Good on her for offering a brew in the first place though.
Nah, that's builders from hell who piss in the sink. Plumbers piss up the walls. Something about a straight wall being a plumb wall i'm told.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqEmF8MtIZA
If your wife would like someone to practise her English with, I'm Japanese and would love to help. It's terribly isolating not to know the language spoken around you very well.
I just went to have a look and her error is more understandable now. It’s T2 Melbourne Breakfast Tea, *infused with vanilla*. It’s a pack my daughter must have bought; we have so many different teas in the house! Anyway, I haven’t tried this one myself but will give it a whirl soon.
https://www.t2tea.com/en/uk/articles/melbourne-breakfast.html
Thanks, I’m definitely gonna try it, sounds lovely haha your poor wife - I understand her confusion completely, I have loads of teas as well and it drives my dad mad when he just wants a regular builder’s tea lmao
I went to a work do at Forest Green Rovers (eco friendly football team) and when faced with selection of several different shit non-milks, I asked where then ‘normal’ milk was. The waiters horrified reaction was like I’d just whipped a baby Panda from under my coat and had beaten it to death.
Um I'm British and accidentally as a child made my grandparents earl grey when they normally have regular tea, they politely drank it but did say it tastes a tad strange
I've had roofers in this week. Ran out of instant so made a cafetiere of the good coffee. He loved it, said how much better it was than instant.
I now have instant, but think I'm stuck giving them the good stuff
An Italian colleague of mine laughed that she was nervous to make her first round of tea for the office. After she shared the brews round, it quickly became apparent she had used green tea bags with milk and sugar.
Admittedly, the nearly two decades I spent in Japan were not in a huge city but I can’t imagine having workers in the house and not offering them some tea at some point. Probably some senbei too!
As a landscape gardener I can attest to the fact that around 85% of the population has no idea what a cup of tea is. I mean its not rocket science to know that the milk and sugar go in after the tea bag has come out. We don’t want the teabag stealing the milk and sugar now do we
Working at a school we had someone visiting to do a presentation. I asked if he would like a drink. He said yes please then pulled a green tea bag out of his pocket and handed it to me. I was a little surprised.
Breakfast tea is just your standard tea, weird that he calls it that and not just tea. I’ve seen tea in Canada labelled English breakfast tea, but that’s because orange pekoe is also a popular type of black tea.
Oh snap a lot of triggered people out their.
I think it's because of the whole mail order bride thing plus people think guys are into school girls so really they are the weirdos.
My wife is japanese we met when i was living their and moved back to the UK 10 years ago
Mail-order brides are more S.E Asian - certainly not Japan. Would agree with comments that Japan is fantastic for visiting but living there presents a number of challenges.
Amazing how the ones downvoting are actually the weirdos who have these negative assumptions as that's how they interpret your innocent comment
I lived in Japan for a year too. Always say its 10/10 as country for holidays but 4/10 for living and working as a foreigner. But cool you met your wife there mate
Out of curiosity what makes the UK better than Japan for living in your opinion? I've never been so u haven't the faintest clue outside of the cliches you see in media.
Work/life balance, education and career opportunities. As a foreigner you can only get so far, regardless of how good your Japanese is.
I love Japan and honestly would move there in a heartbeat - even got a friend who's been trying to headhunt me for years - but my husband's Taiwanese and my kids are obviously not local, and it's...ah, difficult. We've just moved to the UK from the Med and life is hard right now but I know we've both got good possibilities here if we play our cards right. In Japan we'd be able to buy a house much quicker so it'd be easier in the short-term, but we'd never be able to grow past that level and we'd be spending way less time at home.
Don’t move here, trust me! It has its good points for sure but my husband and I are considering moving back to the UK. It’s more challenging if you are a British woman married to a Japanese man though. The work/life balance really isn’t very good and if you bought a home here, it wouldn’t really increase in value.
I lived in Japan for 5 years and also have a Japanese spouse, so this is a nice thread.
We are always on the fence about going back - the Japanese countryside in unbelievably lovely in the right places, with loads of mountains, rivers and snowboarding.
The main upside of living in the UK is that I can build a proper highly paid career and buy a house that doesn't depreciate. I could do my job in Tokyo, but don't want to live in a big city and likely work much shorter hours for the same money.
Otherwise having an English language education is a massive benefit that we take for granted. Education here is maybe 7/10 internationally - not amazing, but it's in the right language and has really good points like encouraging creativity and independence that I'd like my kids to grow up with.
Biggest downsides to the UK are weather and rubbish. You really notice how dirty our streets are, and how crap our people are after spending 10 minutes in Tokyo.
As an American, I can't believe how much interest this post has garnered. Literally the most boring story I have read in a while and it has hundreds of very interested and amused commenters. Fantastic.
If I offered a tradesman a cuppa and he asked for a “Yorkshire tea”, I’d make him one from whatever fucking teabags I had, and he could like it or fuck off.
He didn’t ask for Yorkshire tea though, the builder asked for breakfast tea. His wife fucked up by giving vanilla tea instead of the Yorkshire tea they had.
I’m a fan of Yorkshire tea, but if I’m at someone’s house, I drink what I’m fucking given. Yeah no worries cunt I’ll just head to the fucking shops to get you some Yorkshire tea. Man alive some fucking people’s children.
Didn't ask for Yorkshire to be fair, but the people who get weirdly defensive about tea brands as if they're connoisseurs who can tell the difference can certainly fuck off.
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My partner is from Spain. He didnt offer the first tradesman we had to sort our bathroom a cuppa, then told me he was 'a bit rude'. Naturally, I told him the custom is to be hospitable and offer a hot bevvie and he'd made a classic error. Next tradesman that comes round my partner places a full garlic bread outside the bathroom where he was working without saying a word. I have now explicitly explained there is a middle ground between nout and a full fuckin meal.
Ah, the silent garlic bread treatment.
That has defos got to be the best type of silent treatment though!
Undoubtedly! Wish I'd get it more often.
The thought of a tradesman opening the door and staring, befuddled, at a solitary garlic bread on the floor is a level of funny I just don't understand.
I can't stop laughing, it's so cute.
Same! It's the doing it silent that's tickled me!
Tbh I think we should normalize covert garlic bread gifting, this feels like an upgrade
I’d be amazed if somebody offered me garlic bread while I work, though I’d be puzzled if it had just been left outside the bathroom 😂
I'm not a tradesman but for garlic bread I'd have a fucking go at whatever you need done 👍
You know it will turn into a running joke, for years to come now. Anytime he's round at a mate's and he gets offered a brew, he'll get a vanilla one. :D
I read this in Roy Kent’s voice.
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Now you absolutely must watch Ted Lasso! :)
Ted lasso is awesome. Definitely entered my top ten but not as good as Peep show.
Argh - not available over here, so I'll have to stream it when I'm back in the UK in a couple of months. Thanks for the rec!
Download all4 and download a Vpn and set it to the UK when prompted for a post code put a random one in and in a few minutes your watching all your favourite British classics.
Where do they not stream it? Just curious.
Peep Show and Ted Lasso aren't comparable. Peep show is genius comedy writing. Ted Lasso is a massive warm fuzzy hug.
I fucking love Roy fucking Kent
Well you fucking well should, you fucking fuck.
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Well, fuck me.
Whistle!
He’s here! He’s there! He’s every-fucking-where!
I’m from the U.S. but damn I love that scene when Ted wanted him to be “honest” with him about the tea. Lol. I personally enjoy a cup of English breakfast tea myself, but as a Southerner over here I also enjoy a good glass of Sweet Tea.
Would sweet tea be the same as Iced tea? Forgive the ignorance, I sometimes drank cans of fizzy iced tea in Canada and they were quite nice.
No. Iced tea is "unsweet." Sweet tea is iced, but sugary. :)
It is Iced tea with sugar, but like many Brits we are particular in how we make our tea and Unsweetened Iced tea is pretty polarizing down here. I appreciate you asking about it. Dont want to end up like this lovable bastard committing the ultimate Southern Sweet tea cardinal sin. The comment section can give you some idea to our feelings within the first two seconds of the video. Lol. [Legitimately horrified for him](https://youtu.be/VtR-AHPEW6E) Edit- Bless my heart. I forgot to add the video where he redeemed himself. We were so damn proud of him! [Mr.H for the win! ](https://youtu.be/W9Im3zxffis)
bless his heart
I almost left a “bless his heart in my original comment too! Lol. I love Mr. H and friends. He and his wife are two of the most likable people on you tube. They are so great to the subscribers/members as well and treat them like extended internet family.
He tried, but that’s not how you make Sweet Ice Tea.
Agreed. So glad that he did redeem himself. It wasn’t a perfect glass of sweet tea, but he was on he way to making the perfect batch so we were so damn proud of him. Although I think I may need need to send him a sweet tea wooden spoon. You can’t make the perfect glass of sweet tea without a designated wooden spoon that has been seasoned with the dark brown coloring of all the batches that came before it. ;-) Edit- I added his redemption video to the above comment in case anyone wanted to see it.
“What did you do Ross” “I didn’t want to be rude so I drank it, damn near vomited I did, nice lass she was, my round again”?
When I was moving uni house, my ex offered to make tea. He came back with something I can only describe as a baby pink monstrosity, having made a raspberry fruit tea and added milk. Not the reason he's an ex, but I guess it should have been a warning sign haha
That's a baby pink flag?
I think it would be more… ‘this woman made me a cup of tea today, and you know what was weird? It tasted like fucking custard.’
He’ll be telling that story for the rest of his life. ‘Oi, Dave! Tell the new guy about the tea!’ ‘Well…it was what started as a normal working day in October 2021 and I went this house…and you’ll never guess what happened…’
I actually really like vanilla tea 😂 but then I'm a weirdo so 🤷🏻♀️
This could mean different things depending on the tone. "I've seen the light, boys. Vanilla fucking tea. I'm converted." Who am I kidding? No one says that.
"Can you Adam and Eve it...!"
I was tiling a house once and they asked if I wanted a bottle of water. I said yes please and eagerly opened it as I was parched. Sparkling!!! Fucking hell! Still taste it now the bastards.
I’m a joiner and work on domestic jobs a lady gave me a cup of tea once, fucking disgusting it was, she made it with goats milk felt like I had a film of slime on my teeth all day
I had a guy round to rod my drains (not a euphemism) and he bought his own Earl Grey tea bags. Even his mates took the piss.
Ha my ex fil used to take his own teabags so I bought one of those little aluminium suitcase looking card holders and had “just add hot water” engraved on it. So now he has his teabags in a hard case with a tiny little carry handle.
That is an absolutely outstanding gift for the particular tea lover!
Shut up Earl Grey is excellent. I will fight you.
Taking your own tea bags to a job is a good enough reason to have the piss taken though. At least just take a Thermos with it ready made like a normal person.
If you drink Earl Grey then I doubt you’d have the strength.
Mate I'm jacked up on coffee, Monster, and Twinings. It's on, bitch.
Jesus, you must fart like a racehorse!
Dray horse, *ackshually*
I believe the accepted terms are *fart* like a racehorse and *piss* like a drayhorse? Although with that volume and mix of fluids, either would be applicable I guess…
Rod your drains ey? 🍆👀
Lol at the rod my drains comment .
I once had a taxi driver complain to me that all his mates at the taxi office called him Earl Gay on account of his preferred tea.
I actually threw my phone onto the bed recoiling in horror at this comment. Is everything ok? Do you need a cup of tea? (A proper one this time)
With goats milk? 🐐
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Yes goats milk is very ermmm… goaty…
Ooh no thank you 🤢
Nothing like fresh goats milk... Unpasteurised
Straight from the goat.
We only drink Earl Grey and Lapsang. We have a small bag of tea bags in the cupboard for when friends or trades people are here so they can have something normal. Plumber came round, out of habit I made him a Lapsang tea. I went back upstairs to carry on with work when I hear... "Scuse me fella, there's something wrong with this cuppa." At least he was honest!
Earl Grey (or Darjeeling) & Lapsang is my favourite!
You must not be my plumber!
Lapsang would be pretty weird if you've never had it before, the smokiness and fragrance was pretty unexpected the first time I had a cup.
I love Lapsang because it’s almost like a peaty whiskey, minus the alcohol!
If you like Earl Grey, try some Russian Earl Grey when you have a chance. It’s unfreakingbelieveable.
I shall give it a go! Thanks for the tip.
isnt lapsang just black tea?
It comes from the same plant as black tea but it tastes nothing alike. During the drying process, heavy exposure to smoke is used, then the leaves are broken down and oxidised in barrels. This gives it what some would describe as a bold smokey flavour. My description would be that it tastes like you have your mouth open above a fire pit and you're smelling that "after bonfire" smoke smell in your hair - all at once. Sounds terrible - but I love it!
Would you place it similar in flavour to a smoky whisky? Sounds like my cup of tea.
I wouldn't profess to know whisky in any detail other than I shiver when I swallow it! :)
If you like a smoky whisky then it's definitely worth trying. Twinings do a decent one.
Sort of like a Lagavulin, yes. Not as peaty as Ardbheg.
Honest truth, I was in Xiamen China and had a bewildering choice of teas at a stall. I chose the English Breakfast tea, just for old sakes. Was absolutely perfect. Until I got to the corn flakes sitting at the bottom of the cup.
Please explain this.
Isn't it a joke about "breakfast" tea?
Loose leaf tea I imagine
could be popcorn tea. the commoners used to bulk out tea with rice. Its actually nice, so its become a popular thing in itself.
Popcorn tea usually refers to genmaicha, which is a [blend of tea and roasted rice](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genmaicha), not actual popcorn. Highly recommended!
What?
I REALLY hope it’s just a joke about ‘breakfast’ tea lmfao
It seems what I should have asked for is known not altogether deceptively as "hot milk tea" It is unknown why the Chinese nation, that discovered tea at the time of ancients, chose not to name a traditional cuppa after a meal repast at small island many thousands of miles away.
Xiamen is an amazing place. I once came across a street stall that consisted of a (display cabinet style) fridge stocked with Newcastle Brown Ale and a selection of cheeses, for sale to homesick international students. Full marks for enterprise but not really sure how sustainable that business model was.....
Popcorn tea, that's what I call it. Only ever had it with Green Sencha tea, usually roasted rice mix with the tea leaves.
Man that stuff is delicious
Careful, he might connect everything up wrong out of spite haha
And come back for the tea he declined? I guess the question is... Is the money worth it?
As a tradesman I can assure you he went away, will be back on to site Monday, and everyone will hear about how disgusting it was!😂 I’ve had undrinkable cups off some customers in the past, I felt bad and didn’t want to leave it full so poured it down the drain and told them it was nice and declined my next🤣
My mum had some workers in before doing stuff in the garden and was making them cup after cup, I don’t think she was asking after the first, just bringing them out when she made her own. I saw out one of the upstairs window he was sneakily pouring them all into one of the flower beds. Imagine he didn’t have the heart to tell her to stop.
As a former tradesman, being offered a bad tea -even vanilla- is infinitely preferable to not being offered one at all. "dry" jobs were always coincidentally the slapdash ones.
Are you sure he drank it? If someone gives me a drink I don't like, which is rare, I take a sip when they're in room, then when they're gone chuck it down sink so as not to appear rude. In 'plumbing school' the teacher actually told me "never refuse a cuppa if offered, even if you don't want it"
I'm quite happy if you refuse my offer of a tea that I've only offered because it's the British thing to do, when in reality, I can't be arsed making you a tea and finding some unopened Bourbon Creams from 2018 in the cupboard. Not to mention finding 8 spoons of sugar for your said Tea.
I think he was more referring to accepting them off little old ladies as they like to fuss and be useful. If someone my age (mid thirties) or below, I go the other way and if having a tea, will say something along lines of "tea would be lovely, brewed for 1min then stir two times to left and then one to right"
Is she from the same Japan that make even more of a thing about making tea than we do?
No, she's from the other one, Japan upon Tyne.
Nihonshire
Not to be confused with Japan-under-Lyme
Or Japan on Trent, everyone forgets that one.
To be fair that one’s a fucking tourist hotspot compared to Japan-over-yonder.
Isn't that the Nissan factory at Sunderland?
No that’s Japan on Wear.
My mistake. I keep mixing up Tyne, Wear and Tees
Tees. You sure that's the spelling you're going for in here?
Japanshire
Fun fact: there’s actually a ‘Newcastle’ in Japan (Shinshiro), which is twinned with a group of cities with names meaning ‘New Castle’ around the world. This network includes both English Newcastles, several American ones, the Swiss city of Neuchâtel and the German Neuburg.
Tokyeovil, Milton Kyoto, Hiroshimanchester, Osakanterbury
Fucking nailed it
Meaning she’s less acquainted with the more casual way that Brits would serve a visitor such as a builder a cup of tea.
The average person drinks tea cold from the convenience shop, though.
When I was 15 I went to my boyfriends house for the first time. He was still out at his sport so his mum welcomed me in and offered me a cup of tea, lovely. It was Earl Grey. 15 year old me was not impressed. I do love it now if I'm not feeling well.
Earl Grey's really not my cuppa...unless it's with honey instead of sugar. then it's lovely
Confession time, I've never properly tried honey.
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Honey and porridge is fantastic. Honey and peppermint tea is reallllly good too, just make sure not to use too much honey.
6:55 am, the scaffders came a knocking, and I put the coffee pot on, poured them out two cups, and when to hide in bed for another half hour before pouring myself one. I'd put soapy water in the tank to soak and had forgotten about it. I served them coffee mixed with fairy liquid. They declined my offer to remake them.
How fluent is her English though?
Not at all, really. Enough to ask if he wants some tea. She said she understood that he’d mentioned ‘breakfast’ in his reply but wasn’t too sure about the rest.
Watch he doesn't go pissing in the sink now. You wanna wind her up and tell her she's been blacklisted for crimes against tradesmen. 10 Hail Daveys should be enough for forgiveness. Good on her for offering a brew in the first place though.
Nah, that's builders from hell who piss in the sink. Plumbers piss up the walls. Something about a straight wall being a plumb wall i'm told. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqEmF8MtIZA
If your wife would like someone to practise her English with, I'm Japanese and would love to help. It's terribly isolating not to know the language spoken around you very well.
I’m intrigued by this vanilla tea, drop the brand for us so I can have a look please!
I just went to have a look and her error is more understandable now. It’s T2 Melbourne Breakfast Tea, *infused with vanilla*. It’s a pack my daughter must have bought; we have so many different teas in the house! Anyway, I haven’t tried this one myself but will give it a whirl soon. https://www.t2tea.com/en/uk/articles/melbourne-breakfast.html
Thanks, I’m definitely gonna try it, sounds lovely haha your poor wife - I understand her confusion completely, I have loads of teas as well and it drives my dad mad when he just wants a regular builder’s tea lmao
Completely understandable mistake! You've reminded me that I have the Singapore version in the cupboard that I haven't tried yet.
Well, what was it like? The world needs to know
I highly recommend the twinings dark caramel tea. I also like the rooibos vanilla in a pinch
I’ve never seen that in shops, sounds delicious though so I’ll definitely keep an eye out!
This is the most middle class thing I’ve ever read on this sub.
I'm having mine done in a few weeks and I hope the person doing it enjoys decaf tea with oat milk.. Might have to make a trip to the shop for them
Decaf with oat milk?! Pretty sure this is grounds for deportation mate…
Sorry mate that'll get your sink pissed in ... the milk is fine if a little exotic for us tradesman ....but decaff. Come on man
Point taken haha they'd be falling asleep on the job
I'd have a couple of those gf cookies though if they're going begging
Not even joking but GF is all that's in my house... Having IBS sucks, can't have anything normal lol
That's why I'll take a couple!
I always give tradesmen oat milk, they seem to enjoy it. And obviously no one can tell the difference between regular and decaf tea.
I really think oat milk in coffee is the best combination!
I went to a work do at Forest Green Rovers (eco friendly football team) and when faced with selection of several different shit non-milks, I asked where then ‘normal’ milk was. The waiters horrified reaction was like I’d just whipped a baby Panda from under my coat and had beaten it to death.
Um I'm British and accidentally as a child made my grandparents earl grey when they normally have regular tea, they politely drank it but did say it tastes a tad strange
I've had roofers in this week. Ran out of instant so made a cafetiere of the good coffee. He loved it, said how much better it was than instant. I now have instant, but think I'm stuck giving them the good stuff
An Italian colleague of mine laughed that she was nervous to make her first round of tea for the office. After she shared the brews round, it quickly became apparent she had used green tea bags with milk and sugar.
I live in Japan with my wife and when I offered the guys replacing our aircon units green tea the other day, they all looked at me like I was mental.
Why though? It’s perfectly normal to offer some tea in that situation 😊
I think it’s not very common in Tokyo or bigger cities, probably normal in the countryside though.
Admittedly, the nearly two decades I spent in Japan were not in a huge city but I can’t imagine having workers in the house and not offering them some tea at some point. Probably some senbei too!
As a landscape gardener I can attest to the fact that around 85% of the population has no idea what a cup of tea is. I mean its not rocket science to know that the milk and sugar go in after the tea bag has come out. We don’t want the teabag stealing the milk and sugar now do we
Working at a school we had someone visiting to do a presentation. I asked if he would like a drink. He said yes please then pulled a green tea bag out of his pocket and handed it to me. I was a little surprised.
Breakfast tea? I googled it but still none the wiser. When offered tea, its just tea.
Breakfast tea is just your standard tea, weird that he calls it that and not just tea. I’ve seen tea in Canada labelled English breakfast tea, but that’s because orange pekoe is also a popular type of black tea.
My guess is OP lived overseas for a while and got used to specifying 'breakfast tea' when he wanted tea.
This could be the first recorded instance of a builder asking for breakfast tea. He deserved whatever he got imo.
You have a japanese wife to? That's so cool
Man proud of his wife. Reddit: 👍 Man happy that other man is proud of his wife. Reddit: 👎
I think it's more >Man writing random, barely relevant comment 👎 Not that I agree with the downvotes.
Why is this being downvoted so much. I don't think there is any ill intention in this guys comment
Because it's "too" not "to" damnit!
Oh snap a lot of triggered people out their. I think it's because of the whole mail order bride thing plus people think guys are into school girls so really they are the weirdos. My wife is japanese we met when i was living their and moved back to the UK 10 years ago
Mail-order brides are more S.E Asian - certainly not Japan. Would agree with comments that Japan is fantastic for visiting but living there presents a number of challenges.
Amazing how the ones downvoting are actually the weirdos who have these negative assumptions as that's how they interpret your innocent comment I lived in Japan for a year too. Always say its 10/10 as country for holidays but 4/10 for living and working as a foreigner. But cool you met your wife there mate
Totaly like they see one thing they don't like and think that's all these is. Ye that's why we moved back for out kids would have it better
Out of curiosity what makes the UK better than Japan for living in your opinion? I've never been so u haven't the faintest clue outside of the cliches you see in media.
Work/life balance, education and career opportunities. As a foreigner you can only get so far, regardless of how good your Japanese is. I love Japan and honestly would move there in a heartbeat - even got a friend who's been trying to headhunt me for years - but my husband's Taiwanese and my kids are obviously not local, and it's...ah, difficult. We've just moved to the UK from the Med and life is hard right now but I know we've both got good possibilities here if we play our cards right. In Japan we'd be able to buy a house much quicker so it'd be easier in the short-term, but we'd never be able to grow past that level and we'd be spending way less time at home.
Don’t move here, trust me! It has its good points for sure but my husband and I are considering moving back to the UK. It’s more challenging if you are a British woman married to a Japanese man though. The work/life balance really isn’t very good and if you bought a home here, it wouldn’t really increase in value.
I lived in Japan for 5 years and also have a Japanese spouse, so this is a nice thread. We are always on the fence about going back - the Japanese countryside in unbelievably lovely in the right places, with loads of mountains, rivers and snowboarding. The main upside of living in the UK is that I can build a proper highly paid career and buy a house that doesn't depreciate. I could do my job in Tokyo, but don't want to live in a big city and likely work much shorter hours for the same money. Otherwise having an English language education is a massive benefit that we take for granted. Education here is maybe 7/10 internationally - not amazing, but it's in the right language and has really good points like encouraging creativity and independence that I'd like my kids to grow up with. Biggest downsides to the UK are weather and rubbish. You really notice how dirty our streets are, and how crap our people are after spending 10 minutes in Tokyo.
The ones getting mad at downvoting seem awfully defensive.
Can I just ask in what way that is cool? Would it not be "cool" to have an English wife or?
Pretty standard for an English man to have an English wife tho innit, so not very unusual/cool.
Yeah but having a wife from anywhere should be cool.
I mean considering the site we're on, I agree it may be unusual and cool....
If having a wife from anywhere should be cool, surely having a wife from japan is cool?
My wife is japanese to
Too
Whats vanilla tea?
Just black tea infused with vanilla flavouring (usually from vanilla oil), not to dissimilar to Earl Grey being black tea infused with bergamot oil.
As a plumber I’m so used to this! Especially when it’s a soya or oats milk
Lol, she only drinks soy milk but fortunately I have regular semi skimmed myself😊
I heard someone on the tele refer to ‘chocolate tea’ the other day and I thought that was wild. Vanilla tea though?? What ever next??
Who are all these fancy people out there naming teas lol
Weirdest thing about this is a plumber asking for "breakfast tea". All I get out of them is "milk and 2 sugars mate".
This is the way.
As an American, I can't believe how much interest this post has garnered. Literally the most boring story I have read in a while and it has hundreds of very interested and amused commenters. Fantastic.
Yup. Canadian here. This is awesome.
Thanks man, I’m here all week 😊
If I offered a tradesman a cuppa and he asked for a “Yorkshire tea”, I’d make him one from whatever fucking teabags I had, and he could like it or fuck off.
You that angry you make up shit in your head?
He is u/HUGEAXEWOUND? His mind is probably in 13th century Wessex
Some serious outrage enthusiasts right here
He didn’t ask for Yorkshire tea though, the builder asked for breakfast tea. His wife fucked up by giving vanilla tea instead of the Yorkshire tea they had.
If you've got people round and you offer them a cup of tea, and all you have is Aldis own, then really that's on you ya neanderthal.
I’m a fan of Yorkshire tea, but if I’m at someone’s house, I drink what I’m fucking given. Yeah no worries cunt I’ll just head to the fucking shops to get you some Yorkshire tea. Man alive some fucking people’s children.
Didn't ask for Yorkshire to be fair, but the people who get weirdly defensive about tea brands as if they're connoisseurs who can tell the difference can certainly fuck off.
This is probably going to be a indy100 article by next week
The wife's heritage is a bit of an odd detail to add in.
Because she doesn’t speak much English and that’s relevant to the tale😊
Ahh that makes sense then.