RESIDENTS at Westbury Court Care Home joined 8,000 others across the UK in the biggest known tea-tasting event to mark National Tea Day.

Wednesday's (April 21) event was staged by Four Seasons Heath Care Group across all 180 of its care homes, including Westbury Court, in a bid to find a new tea blend by residents’ popular vote.

Having sipped their way through nearly 12 million cups of tea during the pandemic year, the Group’s residents are connoisseurs of a good brew.

Westbury Court's chief tea taster and connoisseur, resident Patricia Algeo, 90, said: “A good cup of tea is all you need to lift your spirits. We drink tea all day long and we’ve lived long enough to know there’s nothing it can’t make better.”

Home manager Jane Jones said: “Our residents love a cuppa morning, noon and night. Tea brings us all together and by creating our own special blend, chosen by our residents, it brings new meaning to our special tea moments and celebrates coming through the pandemic.”

The popularity of the tea round led Four Seasons Health Care Group to introduce the tea- tasting initiative to give residents the power to choose what goes into their tea chest.

On the tasting menu were three blends specially crafted for the care home by family-run business, Tea From The Manor, including a caffeine-free Chamomile & Rose, alongside more traditional black teas Blue Lady and Rose Congou.

The humble brew has proved to be a source of comfort during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to more than 2,000 of the nation’s tea drinkers who were surveyed by Four Seasons Health Care.

It found that nearly two thirds (63 per cent) turned to a good cup of tea to help them through the three national lockdowns while more than a third (38 per cent) found themselves making a cup more often to help them through the tough times.

The winning blend from the tea- tasting event will be announced shortly and launched across all homes in the Four Seasons Health Care Group.

National Tea Day celebrates the British people's love of a good cup of tea. A spokesman said: "There is nothing more classically British than afternoon tea, which makes National Tea Day a wildly popular occasion in the country."