builder's tea

From builder +‎ -'s +‎ tea, from its supposedly being the preferred type of tea of British builders and construction workers.

builder's tea (countable and uncountable, plural builder's teas)

1. (UK, uncountable) Black tea, brewed strong and served in a large mug with milk and often sugar.

   Alternative forms: builders' tea; builder's, builders' (ellipses)

   Synonym: builder's brew

   Hypernyms: tea < beverage, drink

   Coordinate term: husband's tea (weak tea; archaic)

   • 2001 March 30, Stephen Moss, “Meals on wheels”, in The Guardian:

     It has got the lot, this, underneath its hinged awning: eggs any way, sausage, old-fashioned burgers and builders' tea.

   • 2005, Barbara Bailey, An eccentric marriage: Living with Jim, →ISBN, page 185:

     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.

   • 2008, William Morrow, Beef: The untold story of how milk, meat and muscle shaped the world, →ISBN, page 177:

     The meal should be taken with milky "builder's tea" steeped strong in the mug.

   • 2010, M. R. Hall, The Disappeared, →ISBN:

     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.

2. (UK, countable) A serving thereof.