The simple answer to the question of why British people dunk biscuits in tea is easy; it tastes great and makes teatime more fun.
To dunk or to dip a biscuit or some other food, usually baked goods, means to submerge it into a drink, especially tea, coffee, or milk. Dunking releases more flavour from confections by dissolving the sugars, while also softening their texture.
Of course, the Brits call them "biscuits" and dip primarily in tea, while we are more promiscuous and are willing to plunge our treats into coffee, hot chocolate or even milk.
“We should never dunk anything into our cups of tea. If you dunk a biscuit in your tea, it will change the flavour of the tea, you will get some biscuit at the bottom of it, and it will be all soggy. You don't want to be doing it. The idea of a cup of tea is that you sip and enjoy it.
It was the Romans who started the tradition. They dunked their hard, unleavened wafers in wine in order to soften them. These wafers were known as “bis cotum” leading to the word biscuit.
A biscuit is porous, with interconnecting hollow channels between the crumbs. When the biscuit is dunked, capillary action draws the liquid into these channels: a similar process occurs when a piece of blotting paper is dipped into ink, or when ring stains form from dried liquid drops1.
And because flavor is made up of both taste and aroma, dunking your cookies in milk can improve the flavor by helping the fresh-baked scent reach your nasal passages more quickly. This is especially true if the milk is warm, as wet, hot aromas travel faster.
Scientists say the most dunkable biscuit for your cup of tea is a Hobnob. The oat biscuit came out ahead of digestives, rich tea and shortbread. The British Medical Journal reports that oat biscuits have the best 'structural integrity'- meaning they're less likely to quickly fall apart after dunking.
An Italian treat: Biscotti is one of the most popular foods to dip in your coffee. What's more being a double baked biscuit it is perfectly designed for dunking.
American biscuits are small, fluffy quick breads, leavened with baking powder or buttermilk and served with butter and jam or gravy. They are close to what the British would call scones.
Scone (UK) / Biscuit (US)
These are the crumbly cakes that British people call scones, which you eat with butter, jam, sometimes clotted cream and always a cup of tea.
Serving your crumpets with a good hot tea is a must, in my opinion.
They feature a number of holes in the biscuit surface to allow steam to escape during the baking process and giving the biscuit its distinctive snap when broken.
Biscuits are versatile and can accompany several types of foods. When brushed on right after baking, melted butter soaks into the biscuit for an especially rich texture.
This is despite the fact that 71 per cent of people admit to being “dunkers”.
Shortbreads are also perfect for dunking, as they are a rich flavour with a meltingly crumbly bite.
Digestive
The hardy brother of the rich tea, the digestive is a sturdy biscuit that will soak up a lot of coffee before breaking up.
The classic Chocolate digestive biscuit has been topped king of the biscuit tins, a study has disclosed. More than 2 thirds of Brits aforesaid it had been their afternoon tea treat of alternative with butter cookie in second place and Chocolate Fingers third.
Tea biscuits and scones are both baked treats, but they're not the same. Regarding tea biscuits vs. scones, the main distinction is in the texture. Biscuits are flaky and buttery, while scones are dense and crunchy.
Rich Tea Biscuits are quite light, sweet, crunchy and a much healthier than a lot of their biscuit contemporaries. A fair measure of sugar, fat and sodium with small if any fiber content implies that indulging in these biscuit is to be seen as more of a treat rather than an excellent nutritional alternative.
Who came up with milk and cookies? There's no clear answer on who the first person was to dunk their cookies in milk (but whoever they are, we surely thank them). However, we can trace back the act of dunking itself. It's believed to have started with the Romans, who dunked hard wafers in wine to soften them.