builder's tea
nounEtymology From builder + -'s + tea, from its supposedly being the preferred type of tea of British builders and construction workers.
1
UK Black tea, brewed strong and served in a large mug with milk and often sugar.
- It has got the lot, this, underneath its hinged awning: eggs any way, sausage, old-fashioned burgers and builders' tea.2001 March 30, Stephen Moss, “Meals on wheels”, in The Guardian:
- I ate a kebab in a Cypriot cafe with the freezing rain spatting in the doorway and I was poured a soup-like cup of builder's tea.2005, Barbara Bailey, An eccentric marriage: Living with Jim, →ISBN, page 185:
2 more examples
- The meal should be taken with milky "builder's tea" steeped strong in the mug.2008, William Morrow, Beef: The untold story of how milk, meat and muscle shaped the world, →ISBN, page 177:
- Armed with a cup of Alison's strong, thick, builder's tea, Mrs Jamal started falteringly into the story she had told countless times to sceptical police officers and lawyers.2010, M. R. Hall, The Disappeared, →ISBN:
2
UK A serving thereof.
- Related terms
- builder's breakfast, builder's mug