In Down and Out in Paris and London, George Orwell recounted life on the breadline, surviving on tea and toast. In one passage, the author recalled spending “three cents on the usual tea and two slices” for himself and an acquaintance.
Orwell would no doubt be shocked by the cost of a cup of tea today, and he wouldn’t be the only one.
A Welsh cafe that was voted the best in the country last year received an anonymous letter from an old age pensioner expressing their “shock” at being charged £4.40 for two cups of tea.
“No wonder OAPs (old age retirees) cannot leave”, the note reads.
Toast Café & Deli in Wrexham posted the letter on its Facebook page, with owners Claire and Paul Wright saying they were “disappointed and shocked” to receive it.
The husband and wife defended charging £2.20 for a cup of tea, saying the price reflected rising costs everything from bank fees to cleaning equipment and insisting that their prices were in line with other nearby cafes.
The Wrights wrote: “We know things are difficult for everyone right now and even more so for retirees, and during these difficult times we are trying not to pass the costs on to our customers, but we feel we charge a reasonable price for our food and drinks. .”
It’s not just Welsh OAPs who feel the pinch when it comes to ordering a cup of tea. The price of tea in both cafes and supermarkets has increased in recent years.
The average 250g box of tea cost £2 in December 2020, but rose to £2.64 in June this year, according to the Office for National Statistics. The increase comes after a decade of almost flat prices, with the same box costing £2.02 in 2010.
Prices have soared thanks to a combination of geopolitical shocks, supply chain disruptions and extreme weather linked to climate change.
More than half of all tea consumed in Britain is imported from Kenya and India.
Houthi rebel attacks on Western ships in the Red Sea caused disruptions to shipments from these regions, making imports more expensive and more difficult to obtain.
In February, Sainsbury’s warned of black tea shortages, blaming Houthi attacks. Both Yorkshire Tea and Tetley said they were experiencing problems at the time.
Compounding this problem are poor harvests in Kenya and India. Both countries have had to deal with increasingly unpredictable and extreme weather conditions.
India’s tea production fell to 90.92 million kg, the lowest level in more than a decade, in May this year, according to the Tea Board of India. In 2023, the price of Kenyan tea exports reached its highest level in eight years.
For small businesses like Toast Café, voted best coffee in the Best of Welsh Business Awards 2023, the cost of a cup is not just linked to the price of the merchandise itself.
Ms Wright said: “Did you know that when we buy food and drink in a small cafe, it is hardly about the cost to cover the ingredients and the salaries of the staff to create and serve the food and drink – the majority of the value of the transaction goes to cover all the overhead costs of actually having a business.
“Advertising and marketing, accounting fees, cleaning supplies, repairs and maintenance, electricity, salaries, kitchen and front of house equipment, licensing, payment processing fees, point of sale software, bank fees, phone and internet, water, waste removal, rent, loans, delivery fees, subscriptions/memberships and so on.”
Tea isn’t the only kitchen staple that’s getting more expensive. Experts have warned that olive oil is at risk of shortages and rising prices as producers across Europe battle extreme weather, inflation and high interest rates.
