‘Tea duelling’ might be the most British contest ever
Forget swords and pistols, if you want some edge-of-your seat action (and no dead people) tea duelling is where it’s at.
The thoroughly British competition sees pairs compete to be the last person to eat their tea-dunked biscuit without losing any bits on the way.
The ‘sport’ is particular popular with fans of Steampunk, a subgenre of science fiction that’s inspired by all things Victorian, including retro-futuristic steam powered technology.
Yesterday, a tea duelling tournament was held at Steampunks of Gloucestershire, a two-day festival in Gloucester.
A video shows pairs dressed in Victorian-esque attire duelling with what appears to be malted milk biscuits.
According to the rules, each person must submerge their biscuit into their tea for a count of five seconds, before pulling it out and eating it without the biscuit collapsing first. This is called getting a clean ‘nom’.
However, as the winner is the person who achieves a clean ‘nom’ last, competitors will try and hold their biscuit upright in front of them for as long as possible before putting it in their mouth.
If the biscuit breaks before they’ve put it in their mouth they have lost the game.
According to tea duelling rules, any kind of biscuit is allowed, although it appears yesterday’s competitors stuck to one type.
Tea duelling is just one of many, many odd competitions held in the UK. Others include gravy wrestling, nettle eating, and bog snorkling.
And yes, we’ve covered them all.
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