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For a country of morning-and-night tea drinkers, even the suggestion of a shortage of the household staple can elicit a nervous gulp.<\/p>\n
So there might have been more than a few people spooked when signs in some Sainsbury\u2019s grocery stores this week warned customers that supply issues had affected the \u201cnationwide\u201d availability of black tea, as Houthi attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea caused shipping delays<\/a>.<\/p>\n Yorkshire Tea and Tetley Tea, two of the most popular tea companies in Britain, said in statements that they were monitoring the situation to ensure they could maintain supplies of black tea, but that orders were being fulfilled.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a critical period which requires our constant attention,\u201d Tetley said in a statement. It said that it had implemented measures in recent months to mitigate any disruption to supplies because of shipping issues.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Tom Holder, a spokesman for the British Retail Consortium, which represents more than 200 retailers in Britain, said that the Red Sea attacks had led to some delays, but that he did not expect them to last long. \u201cIt\u2019s a blip,\u201d he said, adding that he expected companies to adjust their orders to account for the lengthened shipping times. He said shortages had probably been exacerbated by people panic-buying tea, somewhat like the toilet paper shortages<\/a> at the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.<\/p>\n Retailers assured customers that stores currently had plentiful supplies. Sharon Hall, the chief executive of the U.K. Tea and Infusions Association, which represents tea businesses selling in the country, said that they had \u201cgood stocks of tea.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, thoughts of the teatime break at risk caused a stir.<\/p>\n \u201cBrits left \u2018genuinely distraught\u2019 by prospect of tea shortages,\u201d a headline in the Daily Mail<\/a> read. \u201c\u2018Keep calm\u2019 scream shoppers as major supermarket warns of tea shortage,\u201d another in The Sun<\/a> said.<\/p>\n Britons drink about 100 million cups of tea each day, according to the U.K. Tea and Infusions Association<\/a>. The largest share of tea imports to Britain from outside the European Union comes from sub-Saharan Africa, followed by Asia and Oceania, according to Statista<\/a>, a market research provider.<\/p>\n Companies across multiple industries, including Ikea and the British clothing company Next, have reported the potential for delays caused by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia\u2019s attacks on commercial vessels passing through the Red Sea.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The attacks have left long-haul shipping companies with a difficult choice: either reroute around Africa, adding two to three weeks to the journey, or continue through the Suez Canal, which handles about 12 percent of global trade, via the Red Sea and deal with the risk of coming under attack, as well as added insurance premiums.<\/p>\n Eirann Carney, 23, a shopper in London who was stocking up on Wednesday for her workplace, said that tea, to her, was \u201clike a polite addiction.\u201d She had not heard the reports about the potential shortage, she said, and the shelves before her had a relatively full variety of tea boxes.<\/p>\n If an actual shortage of tea hit? \u201cIn my office, it would be outrage,\u201d she said. \u201cHonestly I think people wouldn\u2019t go in.\u201d<\/p>\n Tea has long been intertwined with British identity and trade. The beverage arrived in Britain in the mid-1600s after Dutch traders began importing it to Europe from China. Expensive to buy at the time, it became a trendy drink among the wealthy in Britain, eventually spreading more widely to coffeehouses in the nation and then to supermarket shelves.<\/p>\n Today, people in Britain drink slightly more coffee than tea, according to a recent study<\/a>, but tea is still considered a core part of the country\u2019s culture. Even how the drink should be prepared caused a trans-Atlantic bristle recently, after an American chemistry professor suggested adding<\/a> a pinch of salt when brewing a cup. (The United States Embassy in London, tongue-in-cheek, called it an \u201cunthinkable notion.\u201d)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n