After what feels like a debate that’s been dragging on for a lifetime, with just about everyone from your Grandad and Auntie, to even a ‘professional tea taster’ chucking their opinion into the mix, actual proper research has revealed what everyone in Manchester already knew anyway.
That us Mancunians make the best cups of tea, and everyone else is just doing it wrong.
It’s as simple as that.
Now, we know that talking to Brits about brews is a very delicate business, because simply put, Brits love a brew, and it was even found last year that we’ve been buying tea more than ever during lockdown – with an additional £24 million spent on the stuff in a four week period.
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Basically, we’ll pop the kettle on at any chance we get, but this new research has confirmed that if you’re going to want anyone to pop the kettle on for you, it’s us Mancs.
So, how has this obvious conclusion come about then? Well, it’s all about strength.
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A survey of 2,000 UK adults – commissioned by watch and sunglasses specialist, Tic Watches – found that the time an average person leaves their tea to brew is just one minute and ten seconds, but experts actually advise leaving the teabag in for between four and five minutes to make sure you “unlock all its flavour”, and it was found that just one in 50 – or 2% – of UK tea-drinkers actually follow this guidance.
In fact, Brits are three times more likely to remove the teabag in under 10 seconds (6%), than they are to brew for the recommended length.
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Across the UK, us Mancunians make the best brews, with 5% of us listening to the experts by waiting at least four minutes for their drink – which is the most of any city – and we also have the longest average brewing time too, at one minute and 26 seconds.
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As the only northern representatives on the top five list, Manchester is joined by other places such as Nottingham and Norwich.
And then at the other end of the spectrum, Bristolians were found to make the weakest tea – also known as the worst – with an average time of just 47 seconds.
So you really can’t argue with that.
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The UK cities making the strongest tea are:
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Manchester – 1 minute, 26 seconds
Southampton – 1 minute, 20 seconds
Nottingham – 1 minute, 14 seconds
London – 1 minute, 14 seconds
Norwich – 1 minute, 10 seconds
UK average – 1 minute, 10 seconds
The UK cities making the weakest tea are:
Bristol – 47 seconds
Birmingham – 56 seconds
Newcastle – 59 seconds
Glasgow – 59 seconds
Leeds – 1 minute, 2 seconds
The age of the tea brewer was also found to be a factor too, with millennials having the strongest tea (1 minute, 17 seconds), while baby boomers brew up the the weakest cup (1 minute, 6 seconds), and it also appears that tea is gradually becoming less popular, as each new generation is drinking less of it.
While 91% of over 65s say they enjoy a brew, this drops to 85% among Gen Z, with a steady decline in between.
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On a slightly more shocking and controversial note though, when it comes to whether to add the milk first or last, 30% of Mancunians are most likely to opt for the milk-first method apparently, with us only being beaten to the top spot by 31% of Londoners.
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What’s that all about?
Do you agree with that claim Manchester?
Wading in on the findings, Danny Richmond – Managing Director at Tic Watches – said: “The length of time that someone brews their tea for is an incredibly personal thing and everyone is different, but our study showed that many people are not following the expert suggestions for brewing,
“But as long as it tastes good to you, that’s the only thing that matters.”
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Social media unite in search for ‘crazed’ fan who stole drum from AO Arena gig last night
Thomas Melia
This past weekend, people online began pulling together to try and find a fan after they stole a drum from a major music artist’s concert at the AO Arena on Sunday night.
When you say the words, “I’ll never forget that gig”, it usually means you had a really great night and, for this fan in particular, we think it’s fair to say that they be forgetting this night anytime soon – you know, many because they took a piece of the set home with them.
That’s right, following Twenty One Pilots’ massive Manc gig at AO Arena as part of their ongoing world tour, some fans were practically frothing at the mouth as the alternative duo did what they do best.
In fact, one individual clearly loved the concert so much that they just had to claim a keepsake, to such an extent that they want as far as steal band member Josh Dun’s drum directly from the stage.
As far as merch and memorabilia go, that might just be the biggest souvenir we’ve ever seen someone swipe from a rock show.
In terms of the night itself, the highly anticipated return to Manchester was a huge success, with the band playing out to flurries of red, orange, yellow and black, thanks to fans sporting the same colours as Twenty One Pilots‘ latest album cover, Clancy.
In the video, the drum – which features the band’s logo on a red-splattered drumhead in the Clancy aesthetic – can be seen being carried out of the venue by a fan from the general standing floor area.
As a result, not only did people on social media quickly begin sleuthing and trying to find the drum thief, but they’re also questioning why fans near the culprit weren’t doing more to get it back to the band.
One user wrote, “Ok but like I would have stopped her?” while another commented, “So I was scared to even take too much confetti with me and she casually STOLE THE DRUM??”
The fan who originally uploaded the video online aid in a subsequent post, “Guys, please, don’t put us to blame for not stopping her, we did all we could but literally no one around us cared about it.” They went on to add: “You’re not putting the blame of her stealing the drum on us, I’m sorry but I’m not having it.”
As you can see, the instrument was eventually located, with Twenty One Pilots’ videographer Sax uploaded a picture to his Instagram profile along with the caption, “We have the drum”, thanking fans for all their efforts in helping track down its whereabouts.
Featured Image –Ashley Osborn (publicity picture /@tillitaint (via X)
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Life-sized animal puppets to be paraded through Greater Manchester this summer
Emily Sergeant
Dozens of life-sized puppet animals are to embark on a journey through Greater Manchester this summer.
From the team behind The Walk with Little Amal – the Syrian refugee child puppet who made the journey across the world, and our borough, back in 2021 – comes a new life-sized spectacle called THE HERDS, which will visit Manchester as part of the opening of this summer’s Manchester International Festival (MIF).
The hugely-ambitious new public artwork is set to transform Greater Manchester into a ‘breathtaking untamed spectacle’ as a way of vividly dramatising the climate crisis.
Life-sized animal puppets travel will be travelling through the city centre, Heywood in Rochdale, and Pennington Flash in Wigan this July as part of their 20,000km journey from the Congo Basin to the Arctic Circle.
This is a public artwork on a scale never attempted before.
The animals are visiting Manchester as part of an epic journey – which began on 9 April from Kinshasa in the Congo – and as they cross different continents, the herd will grow in numbers and species including elephants, giraffes, antelope, lions, and others local to the area they are travelling through.
To help further highlight the scale of the climate crisis and the collective effort needed to fight it, the puppets are set to operated by local participants in each city – including in Manchester.
Because of this, Factory International and The Walk Productions are looking for amateur makers and DIY enthusiasts to join the puppet build, as well as 100 local people to help operate the puppets in Manchester, Heywood, and Wigan.
Life-sized animal puppets are being paraded through Greater Manchester this summer / Credit: Ant Strack
For the opening event of MIF25 on Thursday 3 July, THE HERDS first arrives in Manchester city centre and will scatter through the city’s main streets, so if you happen to find yourself between Cathedral Gardens and Market Street on the day, then you might just stumble upon them.
After opening MIF25, the animals are then abandoning the bustling city for the residential streets of Heywood in Rochdale on Friday (4 July).
For the final stop on their Greater Manchester journey, THE HERDS find a fleeting refuge in the wild beauty of Pennington Flash Country Park in Wigan on Saturday 5 July, and visitors are invited to explore the park’s winding trails and quietly observe as 70 life-sized puppets appear amid the trees and wetlands.
Amir Nizar Zuabi, who is the Artistic Director of THE HERDS, calls it a ‘a living breathing call to action that stampedes across continents’.
“THE HERDS is an urgent artistic response to the climate crisis,” he added. “Through the beauty and ferocity of these life-size creatures, we aim to spark dialogue, provoke thought, encourage engagement and inspire real change.”
You can see THE HERDS in Greater Manchester from Thursday 4 – Saturday 5 July.
Featured Image – Berclaire (for The Walk Productions)