16 October 2025 | Eden Springs UK
The Great British Tea vs Coffee Divide: How Your Office Choice Reveals Deep Cultural Differences
A steaming investigation into the beverage preferences in British workplaces and how to keep everyone happy!
It is one o’clock, and the office crowd is gathering in the kitchen for a lunch break, a recharge, a friendly chat, and a work catch-up. Watch now as, amid the chatter, people separate into streams. The tea-leaning gather around the kettle, selecting teabags and checking that there is enough milk in the fridge. The coffee-inclined flock towards the bean-to-cup coffee machine, queuing for their midday caffeine shot.
Utensils clink, steam curls, grinders work hard and tiny rituals unfold - stir, sip, nod. In these brief migrations and quiet preferences, we see the social order of a habitat: how a workplace, like any ecosystem, reveals itself in the smallest of daily choices, and how the two tribes - tea lovers and coffee fans - coexist in the workplace environment.
From Boozy Lunches to Bean Counters: A Brief History
The story of Britain's office beverage culture follows a surprisingly orderly succession. When workplace drinking declined in the 1990s, those infamous "pints at lunchtime" finally relegated to Mad Men nostalgia, tea naturally stepped forward to fill the social void. It was, after all, the nation's drink, and the office tea round had been quietly building workplace bonds for decades.
This was the era of the shared teapot and loose leaves, when someone's mum might send in a tin of "proper" tea from home. But convenience soon took over. Tea bags replaced loose leaf, instant coffee appeared alongside them, and suddenly the office kitchen had its first divide: the tea versus instant coffee crowd. Both camps shared the same humble kettle, but their brand loyalties ran deep.
Then came the coffee shop revolution. Between 2008 and 2014, the number of UK cafés nearly doubled - a remarkable feat considering the economic recession was simultaneously crushing other retail sectors. Suddenly, employees who spent £3.50 on a flat white each morning weren't content with a jar of Nescafé at work.
This is where the office coffee machine entered the scene. First came basic filter systems, then pod machines promising "café quality," and finally the bean-to-cup machines that could rival the high street. What had once been a simple kettle-and-jar operation transformed into a dual-track system: traditional tea-making rituals on one side, high-tech coffee brewing on the other.
Mapping Britain's Beverage Territories
Beverage preference in Britain is not just a matter of personal taste. Geography plays a surprisingly powerful role in determining whether you're team tea or team coffee, often more so than age.
Recent research of 6,000 Britons reveals that Yorkshire Tea reigns as the undisputed national champion¹, while regional loyalties tell a more complex story. Tetley dominates in Scotland and Northern Ireland, PG Tips holds court in London¹, and these are deeply ingrained cultural inheritances.
Nearly half of Britons (48%) report that their preferred tea was central to their family's daily routine growing up, with this sentiment particularly strong in the East of England and East Midlands (55%)¹. It's a form of liquid heritage, passed down through generations like family heirlooms or Yorkshire accents.
Meanwhile, urban centers tell a different story. London, with its staggering 112 cafés per 100,000 residents², has created a coffee-centric ecosystem where tea drinkers are notably "least picky" about brands¹. The capital's cosmopolitan palate reflects its role as a global city where traditions mix, merge, and sometimes get steamrolled by the next big trend.
Regional Breakdown:
The Tea Heartlands: East of England and East Midlands show the strongest tea loyalty (55% citing family routine importance)¹
The Coffee Capitals: London leads in café density and coffee culture adoption²
The Brand Loyalists: Yorkshire dominates nationally, but Scotland and Northern Ireland remain stubbornly devoted to Tetley¹
The Etiquette Experts: Yorkshire residents are most likely to find biscuit-dunking impolite¹
What Your Team’s Choice Really Reveals
Your office beverage preference goes far beyond mere taste, it's workplace code, signaling everything from your work philosophy to your generational allegiances.
The Tea Tribe: Masters of Sustainable Energy
Tea drinkers, research shows, favour "steady focus over spikes" and approach work with "sustainable ambition." The lower caffeine content combined with L-theanine creates a smoother, more sustained energy lift, which is ideal for those who view their career as a marathon rather than a series of sprints. These are the colleagues who tackle complex projects with methodical persistence and rarely seem frazzled by deadline pressure.
Tea culture also preserves one of Britain's most democratic workplace traditions: the tea round. This "necessary ritual" creates what researchers describe as "a reflection of the democracy of a working environment" where everyone from the CEO to the newest intern takes their turn making brews for colleagues. It's a powerful social contract that coffee machines, for all their technological sophistication, simply cannot replicate.
The Coffee Cohort: High-Octane Achievers
Coffee, meanwhile, attracts those who thrive on "bold caffeine kicks" and deadline-driven intensity. No surprise that journalists and company executives rank among the UK's heaviest coffee consumers. These are professionals who see work as a series of high-stakes sprints, powered by espresso shots and sustained by the ritualistic precision of proper coffee preparation.
The rise of office coffee culture also reflects a broader shift toward what researchers term "corporate gentrification", transforming workspaces into products designed to attract and retain talent by mirroring high-street consumption experiences.
The Generational Divide
The generational shift becomes most apparent in beverage preferences. While recent YouGov research shows that 52% of Britons overall prefer tea³, the coffee revolution is gaining momentum. Current data reveals that 63% of UK adults now drink coffee regularly compared to 59% who drink tea marking coffee's official overtaking of the traditional British brew⁵.
The numbers among younger demographics tell an even more dramatic story. Just 11% of Gen Z drink tea daily compared to 8% who drink coffee every day, while among Baby Boomers, 32% drink tea daily versus 32% coffee³. This younger cohort shows markedly different preferences: 54% of Gen Z favour caffè lattes and 40% enjoy iced lattes, compared to only 30% and 7% of Boomers respectively³.
Millennials now account for 50% of all coffee consumed in coffee shops⁵, and they expect their workplace experience to match their out-of-office standards. For this demographic, quality office amenities are basic expectations that signal whether an employer is modern, forward-thinking, and worth their time.
The Hidden Costs of Getting It Wrong
Office beverage strategy goes well beyond keeping employees caffeinated. Recent workplace research reveals that 82% of employees say access to good coffee improves their mood and productivity, while 70% highlight coffee machine chats as the most sociable moment of their day⁶.
The financial side tells its own story. Replacing a mid-level employee now costs upwards of £30,000 when accounting for hiring, training, and lost productivity - equivalent to up to 75% of a departed employee's annual salary⁷.
Evidence shows that specialty coffee in the workplace has become essential, with 98% of employers acknowledging that coffee plays a central role in workplace satisfaction and performance⁶. Studies consistently show that regular tea breaks boost workplace culture and productivity⁸, while quality coffee provision can reduce stress, improve job satisfaction, and keep employees alert and focused⁹.
Set against this backdrop, investing in quality beverage provision while pleasing all your employees looks less like an expense and more like part of the insurance against talent turnover.
Keeping All The Tribes Happy
So, how do you organise your workplace break room so that everyone from tea-lovers to coffee fans and anyone in-between finds their preferred beverage and feels seen and cared for? Smart organisations have moved beyond the either/or approach, embracing inclusive strategies that acknowledge their workforce diversity:
The Multi-Tiered Approach
Traditional Foundation: Quality tea selection including regional favorites
Modern Premium: Bean-to-cup machines for coffee enthusiasts
Inclusive Options: Plant-based milks (oat milk shows fastest growth in the UK), decaf alternatives, and herbal teas
Example setups:
Small office, small team: A sleek bean-to-cup coffee machine, such as Vitro X1 Espresso, will impress your team and serve both coffee and tea lovers, as it includes hot water options for tea making.
For a bigger team, add a mains-fed water cooler (e.g., the Unlimited Countertop) supplying chilled, ambient, and hot filtered water with touchless dispensing serving as both a hydration station and hot-water source for tea.
Multiple break corners in a big workspace catering for various preferences: For big floors with several break corners, keep queues short and everyone happy by using one compact unit per corner that covers coffee, black tea, herbal infusions, and hot chocolate via fresh packs, such as the Flavia C600 machine.
Creating Spaces
The most effective break spaces actively reinforce communication and relationship-building. Creating a variety of spaces means everyone can find what they’re looking for, and your team will be drawn to that variety when they know they’ll find their favourite beverage, people to chat with, and cosy corners to do so comfortably.
Two comfy chairs, a small round table, a soft lamp, and a high-back screen/plant for acoustic cover create a private one-to-one for quieter, more intimate conversations.
A high-back bench or small enclosed pod with a tabletop can be used for work-related discussions without booking a room.
Team tables for 4–6 people, close enough to the coffee area to be social, far enough to avoid grinder noise, are perfect for impromptu team get-togethers and brainstorming sessions.
A counter-height rail with stools encourages informal “got a minute?” moments.
When your break room signals “there’s a place for every kind of chat,” people use it. With clear zones and reliable drinks, conversations become easier, relationships stronger, and the culture calmer.
The Final Question
In a country that built an empire on tea and now has coffee shops on every high street, the real lesson is simple: the best workplaces make it easy for everyone to get the brew they love.
As you finish reading this with your favourite beverage in hand, look around your workplace break room. Does it feel inclusive or a bit divided? Are the Yorkshire Tea loyalists happy with the choice, and can the flat white crowd get what they want? Or is there a lone kettle beside a tired jar of instant, hinting there’s room to improve?
Small choices make a big difference. A decent hot drinks machine, a proper tea line-up, and access to good quality drinking water can turn quick breaks into real conversations.
If you’d like to see wha that could look like in your place, explore business coffee and hydration options with Eden Springs.
Sources and References:
Tracksuit/Retail Times (2025). "Brand Map of Britain Reveals Regional Tea Preferences" - https://retailtimes.co.uk/brand-map-of-britain-reveals-regional-tea-preferences/
Meaningful Vision (2025). "Mapping the Fast-Food Landscape: Regional and City Variances in UK Outlets" - https://meaningfulvision.com/mapping-the-fast-food-landscape-regional-and-city-variances-in-uk-outlets/
YouGov Business (2025). "Is Britain still a tea-drinking nation?" - https://business.yougov.com/content/52458-is-britain-still-a-tea-drinking-nation
MyHRToolkit (2022). "British coffee culture: the benefits for employees?" - https://www.myhrtoolkit.com/blog/workplace-british-coffee-culture
Working From Coffee Shops (2024). "Coffee Consumption Statistics UK 2024–2025" - https://www.workingfromcoffeeshops.co.uk/blog/coffee-shop-consumption-statistics-uk
Tea & Coffee Trade Journal (2025). "Specialty coffee is now a workplace essential in the UK" - https://www.teaandcoffee.net/blog/37484/specialty-coffee-is-now-a-workplace-essential-in-the-uk/
Ballards LLP (2023). "The Cost Of Staff Turnover" - https://ballardsllp.com/insights/the-cost-of-staff-turnover/
PDQ Funding (2023). "How Drinking Tea Can Help With Productivity At Work" - https://pdq-funding.co.uk/drinking-tea-at-work-packs-all-sorts-of-boosts/
Croner (2024). "Coffee Breaks & Workplace Productivity" - https://croner.co.uk/resources/pay-benefits/employee-incentives/balancing-benefits-coffee-breaks-workplace-productivity/