Why a cuppa cheers us up

In Britain it is the answer to any problem. In a crisis, there will always be a nice cup of tea on hand to ease the pain.

And now researchers have discovered that merely the promise of a hot cuppa can relieve the stress of the day.Researchers at London's City University gave 42 men and women a complicated mental arithmetic test, after which half were given tea and half water.

While the tea drinkers successfully calmed down, those who drank water were amazingly 25 per cent more stressed than at the beginning of the test.

However, it isn't so much the actual tea that settles our addled minds, but more our association with tea as a comforter.

Psychologist Malcolm Cross, of City University, explained to the Daily Mail: "Memory is cued by many things – taste, smell, images. I think we typically associate tea with relaxation and being looked after."

The experiment was backed-up by a survey of 3,000 people who confirmed that when the going got tough, it was tea and not a stiff drink that we turn to.

Dr Cross added: "The cultural meanings in which tea is anchored shape our experience of tea, evoke particular feelings, ways of relating to others and mental states, and by doing so they come to constitute our physical experience.

"This is particularly true in Britain, where tea has a rich, multidimensional and long-standing cultural significance."

Whatever the reason, with more than 165 million cups of tea being consumed every day, the cup of char looks set to continue its status as Britain's little life-saver.