Tea

 was a drink made from the dried leaves of the tea plant, created by brewing the leaves in hot water. Tea leaves were sometimes encased in porous bags, making it easier to dispose the leaves after steeping. The Fifth Doctor once described tea to Will Chandler as "a noxious infusion of oriental leaves containing a high percentage of toxic acid". Will thought it sounded vile, to which the Doctor replied, "Personally, I rather like it".

Milk and sugar were often used to flavour tea. According to Professor Litefoot, ladies should add only one lump of sugar to their tea. Lemon was also often used to flavour tea.

When tea was not served with a meal, it was often served with biscuits and jam. The Second Doctor once requested a patty cake with his tea. The Eleventh Doctor was particularly fond of Jammie Dodgers, both with and without his tea. He once fooled the Daleks into believing that the biscuit was the TARDIS self-destruct control. He claimed that he brought the biscuit since he was promised tea.

Tea was prominent in British culture and often drank for comfort. Rose Tyler considered tea "the solution to everything" and said that her mum would not go to bed until she had a cup of tea, with two sugars. According to Mickey Smith, drinking tea while the world was coming to an end was "very British".

Serving tea
Tea rooms were businesses that primarily served tea.

The Doctor considered the ablity to make tea important. The Fourth Doctor once asked Romana if she knew how to make tea. As she didn't know what it was, he claimed that the Time Lords no longer taught anything useful. When Professor Litefoot attempted to educate Leela on the etiquette of tea, the Fourth Doctor told her that the only thing she really needed to know was how to heat a teapot.

During his time with UNIT, the Third Doctor drank a lot of tea. Tea was so important to him that the tea lady was allowed in his lab, which was off limits to anyone except the Brigadier and his staff.

Deadbeat performed odd jobs for Captain Cook including making Cook's speical blend of tea.

Daleks posing as man-made machines called Ironsides, had a variety of duties including serving tea.

After Owen Harper was relieved of his duties with Torchwood Three, he continued as their tea boy.

Types of tea

 * According to the Seventh Doctor tea made in a hotel room tasted worse than any other kind of tea.
 * Tibetans drank hot yak butter tea to fortify themselves against the cold of their native land.
 * The Seventh Doctor was particularly fond of Lapsang souchong, Earl Grey, and Arcturan tea. He disliked peppermint tea, but drank some because it was a gift from a friend.
 * Captain Cook created a special blend of tea made from tea leaves located in the Groz valley on Melogophon.
 * The Eighth Doctor enjoyed darjeeling tea with lemon.

Healing properties
Tea was considered healing. According to the Tenth Doctor the free radicals and tannin in tea made it ideal for "healing the synapses".

The Sixth Doctor drank tea to recover from Sancreda's psychic attack.

The vapour from a spilled flask of tea helped the Tenth Doctor recover from his ninth regeneration.

The Eleventh Doctor used a large amount of very strong tea to save the life of Craig Owens, who had been adversely affected by a ceiling that had been altered by a time ship's attempts to find a pilot; the Doctor claimed that it "reversed the enzyme decay".

Aliens
While tea was a human creation, it was enjoyed by aliens as well.

Davros enjoyed sweet tea.

Turlough expressed a fondness for tea, or as he called it, "that brown liquid".

Vilgreth was fond of tea and took some with him when he left Earth in his spaceship.

The Doctor
The Third Doctor took his tea with milk and four sugars. He had a habit of stirring his tea with whatever was available, such as a silicon rod. The Brigadier was once confused when the Third Doctor did not put milk or sugar in his tea. In fact, he was not having tea with the Doctor, but with the Master, who had temporarily stolen the Doctor's body.

The Emperor of China once gave the Doctor a gift of tea. During her travels with the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa gave the tea away, unaware of it's origins.

The Fifth Doctor took his tea with sugar.

An attempt on the Sixth Doctor's life was made by poisoning his tea with soluble aspirin. The Doctor counteracted the aspirin by eating chocolate.

The Seventh Doctor once met a potential future version of himself who had a particularly great interest in tea.

The Ninth Doctor took his tea with two sugars.

Sometime before his tenth incarnation, the Doctor pushed boxes of tea at the Boston Tea Party.