Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down
Encyclopedia
Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down is a website which mainly discusses tea
and biscuit
s, with content including news and reviews of biscuit brands. It is owned and maintained by Stuart Payne and his wife Jenny Payne, who live in Cambridge
, England
, and has spawned a spin off book of the same name.
on the launch of the leading American Oreo
cookie into the UK.
, biscuit
s, cake
, sit downs
, and a running joke about the Wagon Wheels
brand name biscuit. The website has been featured on the BBC website and their weekly technology TV programme Click
,
The Times
, The Daily Telegraph
and The Guardian
newspapers, as well as the Richard & Judy
chatshow. In September 2006, the British Library
proposed that Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down should be archived along with other socially significant websites.
As a spinoff from the website, the couple produced a book on the subject. It has the following sections:
Starts with "My worst cup of tea ever" and reviews the different sorts of tea and methods of making them, including discussion of teabags, teapot
s, kettle
s and mugs.
The main part of the book, includes the technical definitions of all sorts of biscuits from the simple Rich Tea
to the complex such as the Penguin
, with advice on storage, dunking and enjoyment. These are mostly British, with a final section on foreign ones which have entered the UK market such as Tim Tam
or Choco Leibniz. A Venn diagram
shows the distinctions and overlaps between the categories biscuit
, cake
, bread
, crackers
, chocolate biscuits and chocolate bars.
Covers Jaffa Cake
, wedding cake
, fairy cake
s, packet cakes, ginger cake and Battenberg, with discussion of icing
and glacé cherries
.
Sitting down in a comfy chair is advised, but advice is given on other tea situations, including in moving vehicles, and in public places such as cafés. Caution is advised with vending machines, and the Christmas season is discussed.
Tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
and biscuit
Biscuit
A biscuit is a baked, edible, and commonly flour-based product. The term is used to apply to two distinctly different products in North America and the Commonwealth Nations....
s, with content including news and reviews of biscuit brands. It is owned and maintained by Stuart Payne and his wife Jenny Payne, who live in Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and has spawned a spin off book of the same name.
"Nicey" and "Wifey"
The website's creators, Stuart and Jenny Payne, are best known under their pseudonyms "Nicey" and "Wifey". As the website increased in popularity, Nicey found himself a media darling, attracting interviews and much publicity. He is regarded as a sought-after biscuit critic and biscuit manufacturers from across the globe deliver him free samples in hope of a good review. Nicey's views were sought by the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
on the launch of the leading American Oreo
Oreo
Oreo is a trademark for a popular sandwich cookie by the Nabisco Division of Kraft Foods. The current design consists of a sweet, white filling commonly referred to as 'cream' or 'creme', sandwiched between two circular chocolate or golden cookie pieces....
cookie into the UK.
Website
The website takes a humorous look at quintessentially British topics. The most common topics are teaTea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
, biscuit
Biscuit
A biscuit is a baked, edible, and commonly flour-based product. The term is used to apply to two distinctly different products in North America and the Commonwealth Nations....
s, cake
Cake
Cake is a form of bread or bread-like food. In its modern forms, it is typically a sweet and enriched baked dessert. In its oldest forms, cakes were normally fried breads or cheesecakes, and normally had a disk shape...
, sit downs
Leisure
Leisure, or free time, is time spent away from business, work, and domestic chores. It is also the periods of time before or after necessary activities such as eating, sleeping and, where it is compulsory, education....
, and a running joke about the Wagon Wheels
Wagon Wheels
Wagon Wheels are a snack food sold in Australia, Canada, Iran, United Kingdom, Russia, Malta and the Republic of Ireland. They are biscuits topped with marshmallow and covered in a chocolate flavoured coating. The biscuit itself is round to represent the wheel of a wagon .Wagon Wheels were created...
brand name biscuit. The website has been featured on the BBC website and their weekly technology TV programme Click
Click (TV series)
Click is a weekly BBC television programme covering news and recent developments in the world of consumer technology, presented by Spencer Kelly....
,
The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
and The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
newspapers, as well as the Richard & Judy
Richard & Judy
Richard & Judy was a British magazine/chat show which was presented by married couple Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan. It originally aired on Channel 4 from 2001 to 2008 but later moved to digital channel Watch in October 2008. It featured the world's most famous stars, along with their Book Club...
chatshow. In September 2006, the British Library
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
proposed that Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down should be archived along with other socially significant websites.
Book
- A Nice Cup of Tea
Starts with "My worst cup of tea ever" and reviews the different sorts of tea and methods of making them, including discussion of teabags, teapot
Teapot
A teapot is a vessel used for steeping tea leaves or a herbal mix in near-boiling water. Tea may be either in a tea bag or loose, in which case a tea strainer will be needed, either to hold the leaves as they steep or to catch the leaves inside the teapot when the tea is poured...
s, kettle
Kettle
A kettle, sometimes called a tea kettle or teakettle, is a small kitchen appliance used for boiling water. Kettles can be heated either by placing on a stove, or by their own electric heating element.- Stovetop kettles :...
s and mugs.
- Some Biscuits
The main part of the book, includes the technical definitions of all sorts of biscuits from the simple Rich Tea
Rich tea
Rich tea is a type of sweet biscuit, the ingredients generally include wheat flour, sugar, vegetable oil, and malt extract. The biscuits are popular in the United Kingdom, where their plain flavour and consistency makes them particularly suitable for dunking in tea and coffee...
to the complex such as the Penguin
Penguin (biscuit)
Penguin biscuits are milk chocolate-covered biscuit bars filled with chocolate cream. They are produced by United Biscuits manufacturing division, McVitie's. The Tim Tam produced by Arnott's in Australia was based on the Penguin...
, with advice on storage, dunking and enjoyment. These are mostly British, with a final section on foreign ones which have entered the UK market such as Tim Tam
Tim Tam
Tim Tam is a brand of chocolate biscuit currently manufactured by Arnott's in Australia. A Tim Tam is composed of two layers of chocolate malted biscuit, separated by a light chocolate cream filling, and coated in a thin layer of textured chocolate....
or Choco Leibniz. A Venn diagram
Venn diagram
Venn diagrams or set diagrams are diagrams that show all possible logical relations between a finite collection of sets . Venn diagrams were conceived around 1880 by John Venn...
shows the distinctions and overlaps between the categories biscuit
Biscuit
A biscuit is a baked, edible, and commonly flour-based product. The term is used to apply to two distinctly different products in North America and the Commonwealth Nations....
, cake
Cake
Cake is a form of bread or bread-like food. In its modern forms, it is typically a sweet and enriched baked dessert. In its oldest forms, cakes were normally fried breads or cheesecakes, and normally had a disk shape...
, bread
Bread
Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and often additional ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed , fried , or baked on an unoiled frying pan . It may be leavened or unleavened...
, crackers
Cracker (food)
A cracker is a baked good commonly made from grain flour dough and typically made in quantity in various hand-sized or smaller shapes. Flavorings or seasonings, such as salt, herbs, seeds, and/or cheese, may be added to the dough or sprinkled on top before baking...
, chocolate biscuits and chocolate bars.
- A Little Bit of Cake
Covers Jaffa Cake
Jaffa cake
Jaffa Cakes are a snack in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Whether a Jaffa Cake is a cake or a biscuit is debated. The product was introduced by McVitie and Price in 1927 and were named after Jaffa oranges, sweet oranges native to Jaffa....
, wedding cake
Wedding cake
A wedding cake is the traditional cake served to the guests at a wedding reception after a wedding. In modern Western culture, it is usually a large cake, multi-layered or tiered, and heavily decorated with icing, usually over a layer of marzipan or fondant...
, fairy cake
Cupcake
A cupcake is a small cake designed to serve one person, frequently baked in a small, thin paper or aluminum cup...
s, packet cakes, ginger cake and Battenberg, with discussion of icing
Icing (food)
Icing, also called frosting in the United States, is a sweet often creamy glaze made of sugar with a liquid such as water or milk, that is often enriched with ingredients such as butter, egg whites, cream cheese, or flavorings and is used to cover or decorate baked goods, such as cakes or cookies...
and glacé cherries
Candied fruit
Candied fruit, also known as crystallized fruit or Glacé fruit, has been around since the 14th century. Whole fruit, smaller pieces of fruit, or pieces of peel, are placed in heated sugar syrup, which absorbs the moisture from within the fruit and eventually preserves it...
.
- And a Sit Down
Sitting down in a comfy chair is advised, but advice is given on other tea situations, including in moving vehicles, and in public places such as cafés. Caution is advised with vending machines, and the Christmas season is discussed.