London :

What’s the first thing you did when you arrived in the office this morning? You probably had a cup of tea.

Around 165 million cups of tea are consumed in the UK a day, accounting for 40 per cent of the country’s fluid intake. Given its long working-hours culture, that means an awful lot of tea is drunk in the office. And according to dietician Dr Carrie Ruxton, who has studied the impact on health of the consumption of black tea, this is no bad thing.

“Tea contains polyphenols that mop up the free radicals that can damage blood cells,” says Ruxton (favourite tea: Assam, lots of milk, no sugar). “Three cups of tea a day is associated with an 11 per cent decrease in the risk of heart attack. That’s a pretty significant statistic. And tea flavonoids can also help control surges in blood pressure.”

Both tea and coffee are beneficial to hydration. “You’d need to drink about five cups of tea within an hour for it to have a diuretic effect,” explains Ruxton. “Drinking tea is a legitimate way of getting the recommended one-and-a-half to two litres of fluid a day.”

Stuart Payne runs the celebrated website NiceCupOfTeaAndASitDown.com. “Making a cup of tea is that excuse you need to get away from your computer screen and have a break,” he says. “I think that wise employers recognise that people aren’t actually wasting their time at work when they go off for a cup of tea. Whatever hectic stuff is going on around you goes on hold for a minute while you go through what is a familiar and comforting routine.”