Line #114 Main/TeaIsClassy


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8	[[quoteright:350:[[Manga/BlackLagoon https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/omake_4_anime_01.jpeg]]]]
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10	WineIsClassy, and so is tea.
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12	Whether it is a group of [[BritsLoveTea Victorian-esque ladies and gentlemen]] sipping their afternoon tea out of fancy china cups while taking dainty bites of finger foods and desserts, or the elaborate ceremonies performed by accomplished masters garbed in expensive-looking kimonos in Asian cultures, the very practice of tea drinking is presented as a sign of wealth and privilege--contrasting the "working-class" coffee.[[note]] While the inexpensive "cuppa joe" at the diner or truck stop is a working-class drink, coffee has become a high-class beverage in posh BourgeoisBohemian circles, where espresso aficionados drink costly shots of shade-grown beans, chat in pretentious SommelierSpeak about the "tasting notes" and buy thousand dollar stainless steel espresso machines. [[/note]] The ConspicuousConsumption signifiers of costly teapots and fine china cups, and the ritual of steeping and pouring the tea add to the high-class ambiance.
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14	This is not surprising. In China, where UsefulNotes/TeaAndTeaCulture originates, high-quality tea was often used by the nobility as a symbol of status, while offering tea was traditionally mandated as a show of respect: during important events, the younger/lower-class members of the family/society are expected to serve tea to the elder/upper-class members. When tea eventually made its way to Britain in the 17th century, it was six to ten times more expensive than coffee, making it a luxurious commodity associated with [[BlueBlood aristocracy]]. Naturally, as prices began to fall, this led to the middle and working classes taking up tea drinking as well, wanting to emulate the upper class's new tea culture.
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16	Even as tea becomes more widespread and "common", and with diners selling "to go" paper cups of tea, the connotation of tea drinking as a sign of sophistication and wealth still persists. Posh characters--most likely TheOjou, the PrincelyYoungMan, TheBeautifulElite, or the BourgeoisBohemian couple in their expensive home--will often be seen drinking tea during their spare time ([[IdleRich which they have plenty of]]), and might even be seen carrying a teacup and a saucer even when it's inappropriate. Meanwhile, middle-class characters may take to drinking tea in order to look more classy, and little girls role-playing [[PrincessPhase as princesses or rich young ladies]] may include [[TheDreadedPretendTeaParty tea parties]] as an essential part of their act. There's also a NoTrueScotsman aspect; to someone who pours their tea from a silver teapot into a porcelain cup and saucer, a working-class Brit with a mug of "builder's brew" doesn't actually ''appreciate'' tea.
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18	A SubTrope of DrinkBasedCharacterization (in which tea reflects the drinker's prestige) and obviously a SisterTrope to the aforementioned WineIsClassy. See also BritsLoveTea and AsiansLoveTea, where tea is used as NationalStereotypes rather than a sign of class, though the two can overlap if tea is a hobby of high-status traditionalists from those regions.
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20	!!Examples:
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22	[[foldercontrol]]
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24	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
25	* ''Manga/AkumaNoRiddle'' has Isuke Inukai and Sumireko Hanabusa, both of whom are rich young ladies who enjoy drinking tea as a part of their wealthy lifestyle.
26	* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'''s Levi Ackerman is a ManOfWealthAndTaste whose TrademarkFavoriteFood is black tea, itself considered a luxury item due to the CrapsackWorld of the setting limiting agricultural resources.
27	* The last panel of ''Manga/BlackLagoon'''s GenderFlip {{omake}} shows a female Garcia--the heir(ess) of the prominent Lovelace family--sporting RegalRinglets and dressed in a fancy gown, calmly sipping tea from an ornate china cup served by a male Roberta.
28	* ''Anime/GirlsUndPanzer'' combines this with BritsLoveTea. The St. Gloriana team is an AristocratTeam based on the UK and has a tea set as its coat of arms. The school's creed is "Be elegant at all times", and the students (most of whom have tea-based EdibleThemeNaming) are often seen drinking tea even during matches. Their team commander, [[ProperLady Darjeeling]], who epitomizes the school's promotion of dignified elegance, is also the most prominent tea drinker. Her character page's image even shows her holding a teacup and a saucer.
29	* ''Manga/HoshinEngi'': Chokomei is a flamboyant man who enjoys luxury and while he's more often seen enjoying AGlassOfChianti, he occasionally drinks tea as well.
30	* ''Anime/KillLaKill:'' Satsuki Kiryuin, heiress of the REVOCS Corporation and the mastermind of Honnouji Academy and the AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil that runs it, often has her butler have a pot of tea at the ready for when she relaxes. All throughout the series, she compliments her butler for the deliciousness of the tea, but near the end of the series, reveals that she really doesn't think it's all that special, but continued to compliment her butler for the sake of it.
31	* ''Manga/KOn'' has Tsumugi "Mugi" Kotobuki, a TokenRichStudent who serves as TheTeamBenefactor for the eponymous band by providing them with expensive tea and snacks, which distracts the band from their practice more often than not.
32	* ''Manga/MissionYozakuraFamily'': The eponymous Yozakura family is considered an elite in the spy world, but the ones who reflect their refined prestige the most are Kyoichiro (who, outside of his obsessive siscon, is a reserved PerpetualSmiler who dresses in a formal suit and tie to match) and Futaba (the most responsible of the siblings who is almost always seen in ElegantGothicLolita dresses). Their favorite drinks are black tea and green tea, respectively, and when they are called to serve as examiners for the silver-ranked exams, they are shown to be drinking tea. In fact, Futaba's exam revolves around tea ceremony.
33	* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'':
34	** Momo Yaoyorozu is TheOjou, a well-mannered and sweet young lady from a very rich family. Fittingly, she is an avid tea drinker. When she first offers her mansion for a study session, she asks her classmates what type of tea they like and mentions that her family prefers luxury tea brands Harrods and Wedgwood. After the school converts to dormitories, she is seen preparing and serving tea for her classmates when they are all together.
35	** Saiko Intelli, a student at rival hero school Seiai Academy, has a quirk called IQ which allows her to boost her intelligence by drinking tea. Most of her screen time sees her sitting in her team's fancy HQ primly in a chair as she drinks the tea from a delicate china cup.
36	** The ArcVillain of the School Festival Arc, Gentle Criminal. While not wealthy himself, he is a well-groomed man who fancies himself a GentlemanThief. He also has a fondness for tea and favors the same exclusive tea brand Yaoyorozu had previously served the class.
37	* ''Anime/MyHime'': Both Shizuru Fujino and Reito Kanzaki, the [[AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil Student Council President and Vice President]], respectively, are avid tea drinkers. Shizuru speaks with a Kyoto-ben, [[BrilliantButLazy tends to delegate authority]], and even in situations that call for action prefers a SlowWalk and a NonchalantDodge. [[spoiler:And she named her CHILD Kiyohime after a Japanese fable]]. Reito tends to be easy-going (Haruka often chides him for his "Now, now..." responses to various situations), is polite and encouraging to Mai, definitely a ChickMagnet, and lives in a BigFancyHouse. [[spoiler:He's also been RaisedAsAHost for the BigBad, the Obsidian Prince.]]
38	* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
39	** Galdino and Marianne, a.k.a. Mr. 3 and Miss Goldenweek of Baroque Works, fall under this category. The sophisticated Mr. 3 drawls about the taste akin to a food critic, while the laid-back Miss Goldenweek associates tranquility with a pleasant tea party.
40	** Brook's personality is an even split between a mild-mannered gentleman and a crass, childish pervert. He's often shown drinking tea, and the SBS confirms that it's one of his favorite things to eat or drink.
41	** When he is sent to the frozen island of Baldimore, Franky runs out of his cola reserves, and the doctors end up replacing it with earl grey tea. This has the side effect of turning [[HotBlooded Franky]] into a posh, polite gentleman who has no taste for violence, which disappoints the young boy who found him and [[WeWantOurJerkBack liked the loud, flamboyant Franky better]].
42	* While ''Manga/PandoraHearts'' has a cast full of {{blue blood}}s, with many of the characters hailing from noble households, [[TheOjou Sharon Reimsworth]] is the one who behaves most like a stereotypical highborn lady, and she's usually seen having tea when not in action.
43	* ''Manga/RozenMaiden'' has Shinku, a beautiful Victorian-esque doll who acts as the noble [[MistressAndServantBoy Mistress to Jun's Servant Boy]]. She would frequently order him to bring her tea, which she considers SeriousBusiness as she demands it to be made to her specifications.
44	* ''Manga/SakuraNoIchiban'': Invoked by the Sakura Blossom Club, which is where rich young ladies spend time having tea parties.
45	* In ''Manga/TokyoMewMew'', the wealthy heiress Mint Aizawa enjoys drinking tea, and would often take a self-imposed break to have her afternoon tea even while the café is busy, much to Ichigo's annoyance.
46	* ''Anime/ValvraveTheLiberator'': A-Drei. According to the [[AllThereInTheManual first databook]], black tea is his favorite drink. It's something that he takes pride in because he's a part of the royal family.
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49	[[folder:Fan Works]]
50	* ''Fanfic/PastSins'': "A Secret Between Friends" has Rarity talking about being a proper lady and drinking tea. Implying that the concepts are related, but not explicitly saying so.
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53	[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
54	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'': The Matchmaker interviews Mulan to assess how bride-worthy she is. A critical test of this involves pouring tea for guests. Justified in that China has a number of formal ceremonies that involve tea service, where decorum and precision are paramount, and some traditional Chinese wedding ceremonies even involve the bride pouring tea to her in-laws to symbolize her marrying into their family and having to respect and listen to them like she does her own parents.
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57	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
58	* ''Film/JimmyTheGent'': Part of the Wallingham company's pretensions to class and style involves everybody, absolutely everybody, drinking tea out of fancy china cups. When he's waiting in the anteroom to Joan's office Jimmy watches four guys in suits drink tea in unison. Later, after Jimmy starts trying to class up his operation in imitation of Wallingham, he makes everyone in his office drink tea too.
59	* In ''Film/{{Moonraker}}'', ManOfWealthAndTaste [[BigBad Sir Hugo Drax]] invites Bond to afternoon tea at their first meeting, calling it England's "one indisputable contribution to western civilization".
60	* In ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd'', Lord Cutler Beckett is frequently seen sipping some tea, including while a slew of pirate sympathizers are being hanged, or on the deck of the ''Endeavour'' while sailing toward the final battle. Besides the BritsLoveTea stereotype, it also serves to portray him as WickedCultured, in contrast with the scruffy pirates he detests.
61	* Weaponized in ''Film/RedCliff''. On the eve of the final battle, Xiao Qiao buys time for the wind to change so that her husband's fire ships can be deployed by walking into Cao Cao's camp and distracting the enemy general with a tea ceremony.
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64	[[folder:Literature]]
65	* ''Literature/TheCaseFilesOfJewelerRichard'': Richard is so rich, classy, and just plain ''weird'' that he's obsessed with his royal milk tea and serves it to his wealthy, upper-class clientele. The fact that he's a quarter [[BritsLoveTea British]] also helps.
66	* Parodied in ''Literature/InterestingTimes'', where the Asian concept of elaborate tea ceremonies is exaggerated to the point where an Agatean Tea Ceremony for a senior court official can take up to ''two hours'' to complete before anyone actually gets to drink any tea. When Cohen the Barbarian takes the throne at the end of the book, he shows off his unrepentant lack of class by telling his servants that he just wants them to brew him a pot of tea and bring it to him.
67	* ''Literature/OldKingdom'': In ''Clariel'', the title character gets unwillingly enrolled in a posh finishing school that teaches the etiquette of high-society tea parties. With her rural background, Clariel is very much a fish out of water there, but even the blue bloods in the course find it a bit insipid.
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70	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
71	* ''Series/{{Forever\|2014}}'': Henry not only drinks tea, he brews it ''properly'' whenever possible, rather than using a tea bag. When Dr. Farber wants to put Henry at ease for their first therapy session, [[CalmingTea he serves Darjeeling tea]] with the full tea set in a sort of low-key ceremony.
72	* Mr Finch of ''Series/PersonOfInterest'' is noted to drink sencha green tea, befitting his high-brow personality as a reclusive billionaire software genius.
73	* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': As befits his OfficerAndAGentleman personality, Captain Picard is always sipping on his beloved tea, Earl Grey, hot.
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76	[[folder:Roleplay]]
77	* In ''Roleplay/HeroCityCapitalOfJustice'', the posh Tabitha and Constance are constantly seen drinking tea.
78	* {{Roleplay/IDROCR}}: Everyone drinks tea--most notably Ludger, Mei, Yumiko, and Sora--but others share in it if it is presented to them. Yes, this is a very classy cast.
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81	[[folder:Video Games]]
82	* ''VideoGame/ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura'': Gar comes from a noble family and is especially fond of Earl Grey. The player needs to debate with him on the merits of green tea over Earl Grey before he'd be willing to join the party.
83	* ''VideoGame/{{Arknights}}'': Rosa's preference for tea helps emphasize the split between her image as a refined noble and the other members of the Ursus Student group who are commoners, especially Zima who doesn't care much for the drink. It's noted that she has several dozen different boxes of tea in her quarters at Rhodes Island.
84	* ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'':
85	** [[ElegantGothicLolita Elegant Gothic]] [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Vampire]] Rachel, the heiress of the noble Alucard house, practically obsesses over tea. Her most common entrance has her enjoying a cup before battle. She belittles Hakumen by ordering tea at the start of their BossBattle. Her console story mode begins with a cup of tea and ends with [[spoiler:the same]] one in her Ragna Ending.
86	** Also, [[TheOjou Trinity Glassfille]] can apparently summon a whole [[MidBattleTeaBreak tea party spread out of nowhere]], and often does so to [[CalmingTea calm down]] the more hotheaded characters around her.
87	** In Arc System Works' other mainstay ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'', Ky Kiske--a high-ranking soldier who eventually becomes a King--is shown to greatly enjoy tea and even collects tea cups.
88	* ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'': Celestia Ludenberg is actually a Japanese girl named Taeko Yasuhiro who puts on airs of being an elegant, gothic European woman. She resents people finding out that gyoza is her favorite food since she goes around telling them it's tea.
89	* ''VideoGame/DeathSmiles'': Princess Tiara is a spoiled young royal who enjoys having tea parties.
90	* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSinII'': The wealthy, well-connected Lady Kemm has unique teas that serve as PowerUpFood. She [[SpoiledSweet hosts tea parties]] for the less-fortunate citizens of the city and goes through a large amount of the stuff in the course of a single conversation.
91	* ''VideoGame/DragonFable'': As a elegant, noble lady, Celestia is extremely fond of tea.
92	* ''VideoGame/EmperorRiseOfTheMiddleKingdom'': The most high-quality housing in your city requires a steady supply of tea to keep its inhabitants happy, on top of all lesser amenities.
93	* ''Videogame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' allows the player character to invite others to a tea party to increase their RelationshipValues. To enable the Tea Party social activity, the player needs to complete a side-quest given by Ferdinand von Aegir to find a fellow tea connoisseur worthy of the rare tea set he's giving away, with that person being Lorenz Hellman Glouecester. Both are aristocratic characters who take the most pride in their noble status and have tea as their particular likes.
94	* Mint Blancmanche of ''VideoGame/GalaxyAngel'' is the sole heiress of a wealthy company, and she can often be seen enjoying her downtime at the Elsior's tea lounge.
95	* Lilly Satou from ''VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo'' is a prim and ProperLady who lives in a BigFancyHouse and is an avid tea drinker in addition to having a taste for {{wine\|IsClassy}}.
96	* ''VideoGame/{{Loopmancer}}'': The second boss, Hiroyuki, is the grandson of Kouga Industries' founder and a high-ranking executive himself, and when making his debut he's clad in ornate Japanese robes while sipping green tea. He calmly places his tea before grabbing his katana for the boss fight.
97	* ''VideoGame/{{Miitopia}}'': Princesses can have a nice tea party with one Mii ''in the middle of any battle'' to restore some MP's.
98	* ''VideoGame/Persona5'': Haru Okumura's post-All-Out Attack screen shows her sipping tea at a small table. This is a character whose graceful, gentle nobility is so prominent that she still seems classy even while swinging an axe and shooting a grenade launcher.
99	* ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles4'': Gertrude's obsession with tea seems to stem from the fact that she's nobility.
100	-->'''Gertrude:''' A lack of tea would kill me more surely than any bullet. You'd understand if you were a noble.
101	* ''VideoGame/TheWonderful101'':
102	** Prince Vorkken, as befits to an alien evil aristocrat, shares a fondness for tea.
103	** On the hero side, the head of the CENTINELS, Lawrence Nelson is often seen drinking tea during briefings. Screw up in certain [=QTEs=] and he'll do a SpitTake from it.
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106	[[folder:Web Animation]]
107	* ''WebAnimation/DingoDoodles'': Julian is the most proper and stuffy member of the party, and is always, always, ''always'' carrying a teacup and saucer with him.
108	* Silver Spoon from ''WebAnimation/InanimateInsanityInvitational'' likes to present himself as sophisticated royalty ([[MockMillionaire even if the latter isn't actually true]]), and he serves tea at the meeting he arranges for his team to decide whom to vote out in "The Overthinkers". At one point he interrupts himself to thank Tea Kettle for refilling his cup.
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111	[[folder:Webcomics]]
112	* ''Webcomic/FiftyTeaRecipesFromTheDuchess'': {{Inverted}} at the beginning of the story. Hajeong finds that the nobility of Chloé's world disdain tea as a bitter beverage only drunk by "barbarians" in far-off realms. None of her peers know how to prepare it properly, and even if they did they wouldn't want to drink it. Wine and coffee are the only drinks suitable for the upper classes (and commoners generally can't afford to buy it from the far east). It takes hard work on Hajeong/Chloé's part to overturn the stigma against her favorite beverage and turn it into a desirable product.
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115	[[folder:Western Animation]]
116	* ''WesternAnimation/BlessTheHarts'': Lower middle-class Jenny and Betty try to drink hot tea to feel more sophisticated. They spit it out, with Betty calling it "garbage water" and Jenny wondering why anyone would drink it instead of sweet iced tea.
117	* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'': Lola is the most posh of the Loud siblings, and she's commonly seen drinking tea, often while role-playing as a wealthy noblewoman.
118	* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': [[Characters/FriendshipIsMagicPrincessCelestia Princess Celestia]] [[PrincessesRule rules Equestria alongside her sister Luna]] and in "A Bird in the Hoof", she's shown drinking many cups of tea, at one point pulling a prank on the Cakes by pretending to sip, so the tea overflows when they refill it.
119	* ''WesternAnimation/TimeSquad'': In "Tea Time for Time Squad", the team goes to 1776 for the Boston Tea Party, where the Colonists are supposed to toss shipments of tea into the harbor to protest unfair taxes. Only they find them having a ''literal'' tea party while wearing powdered wigs and acting all sophisticated, not willing to resort to violence. It's only when they switch to drinking coffee that the Colonists turn into {{Fratbro}}s and begin the American Revolution as intended.
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Context Main / TeaIsClassy