Tea Tea was a drink made from the dried leaves of the tea plant , " Camellia " , created by brewing the leaves in hot water . Tea leaves were sometimes encased in porous bags , making it easier to dispose the leaves after steeping . ( TV : " The Invasion of Time " , " The Lodger " , PROSE : " The Dying Days " ) The Fifth Doctor once described tea to Will Chandler as " a noxious infusion of oriental leaves containing a high percentage of toxic acid " . Will thought it sounded vile , to which the Doctor replied , " Personally , I rather like it " . ( TV : " The Awakening " ) According to Samuel Johnson , the proper use of tea was to relax the studious , a claim the Fourth Doctor quoted while in the Morovanian Museum . ( AUDIO : " The Renaissance Man " ) Milk and sugar were often used to flavour tea . According to Professor Litefoot , ladies should add only one lump of sugar to their tea . ( TV : " The Talons of Weng - Chiang " ) Lemon was also often used to flavour tea . ( PROSE : " Fallen Gods " ) According to the Eighth Doctor , one should " never turn down tea if it ' s offered . It ' s impolite , and that ' s how wars start . " Although at first claiming this to have incited at least fourteen different wars , he admitted that he may have been exaggerating when pressed . ( AUDIO : " Memory Lane " ) When tea was not served with a meal , it was often served with biscuit s and jam . ( TV : " The Power of Kroll " ) The Second Doctor once requested a patty cake with his tea . ( TV : " The Invasion " ) The Eleventh Doctor was particularly fond of Jammie Dodger s with his tea . He once fooled the Dalek s into believing that the biscuit was the TARDIS self - destruct control . He claimed that he brought the biscuit since he was promised tea . ( TV : " Victory of the Daleks " ) Tea was prominent in British culture and was often drunk for comfort . When offered a cup of tea by her mother , Jackie in the middle of an alien invasion , Rose Tyler sarcastically referred to tea as " the solution to everything " . Shortly afterwards , Mickey Smith dryly said to Rose that Jackie ' s offer of tea was the equivalent of " having a picnic while the world comes to an end " and " very British . " ( TV : " The Christmas Invasion " ) Rose said to a parallel universe version of Jackie that her Jackie would not go to bed until she had a cup of tea , with two sugars . The parallel Jackie did the same as the one from Rose ' s universe . ( TV : " Rise of the Cybermen " ) Serving tea . Tea room s were businesses that primarily served tea . ( PROSE : " The Splintered Gate " ) The Doctor considered the ability to make tea important . The Fourth Doctor once asked Romana I if she knew how to make tea . As she didn ' t know what it was , he claimed that the Time Lord s no longer taught anything useful . ( TV : " The Ribos Operation " ) When Professor Litefoot attempted to educate Leela on the etiquette of tea , the Fourth Doctor told her that the only thing she really needed to know was how to heat a teapot . ( TV : " The Talons of Weng - Chiang " ) During his time with UNIT , the Third Doctor drank a lot of tea . Tea was so important to him that the tea lady was allowed in his lab , which was off limits to anyone except the Brigadier and his staff . ( TV : " Terror of the Autons " ) The Doctor also profited scientifically from his fondness of tea . When Sergeant Benton offered him a cup of tea , it helped jog his memory that the leaves inside the beverage were the linchpin necessary to finish construction of a functional time flow analog . ( TV : " The Time Monster " ) Tilda and Tabby attempted to trap Mel by serving her tea . ( TV : " Paradise Towers " ) Deadbeat performed odd jobs for Captain Cook , including making Cook ' s special blend of tea . ( TV : " The Greatest Show in the Galaxy " ) Dalek s , posing as man - made machines called Ironsides , had a variety of duties including serving tea . ( TV : " Victory of the Daleks " ) After Owen Harper was relieved of his duties with Torchwood Three , he was tasked with providing tea . ( TV : " A Day in the Death " ) Types of tea . According to the Seventh Doctor , tea made in a hotel room tasted worse than any other kind of tea . ( AUDIO : " The Shadow of the Scourge " ) The Second Doctor once memorised a detailed map of London in a desperate attempt to not think about the " execrable tea " the Brigadier served him and Jamie McCrimmon . This was AAFI tea , atrociously strong and thick with sugar , but the Brigadier and Jamie enjoyed their cups quite happily . ( PROSE : " The Invasion " ) He expressed a desire for Assam for its " particularly agreeable flavour " and Lapsang souchong . ( PROSE : " Downtime " ) Tibet ans drank hot yak butter tea to fortify themselves against the cold of their native land . ( COMIC : " Yonder . . . The Yeti " ) The Second Doctor and Professor Travers enjoyed it as the monks served it : Unsweetened , milkless , and with yak butter . ( PROSE : " Doctor Who and the Abominable Snowmen " ) The Seventh Doctor was particularly fond of Lapsang souchong , Earl Grey , and Arcturan tea . He disliked peppermint tea , but drank some because it was a gift from a friend . ( PROSE : " Original Sin " , " Lucifer Rising " , " Notre Dame du Temps " ) Captain Cook created a special blend of tea made from tea leaves located in the Groz valley on Melogophon . ( TV : " The Greatest Show in the Galaxy " ) The Eighth Doctor enjoyed darjeeling tea with lemon . ( PROSE : " Fallen Gods " ) Healing properties . Tea was considered a healing substance . According to the Tenth Doctor , the free radicals and tannin in tea made it ideal for " healing the synapses " . At the time , the vapour from a spilled flask of tea had helped the Doctor recover from his recent regeneration . ( TV : " The Christmas Invasion " ) The Sixth Doctor drank tea to recover from Sancreda ' s psychic attack . ( AUDIO : " The Spectre of Lanyon Moor " ) The Eleventh Doctor used a large amount of very strong tea to save the life of Craig Owens , who had been adversely affected by a ceiling that had been altered by a time ship ' s attempts to find a pilot ; the Doctor claimed that it " reversed the enzyme decay " . ( TV : " The Lodger " ) Aliens . While tea was a human creation , it was enjoyed by alien s as well . Davros enjoyed sweet tea . ( AUDIO : " Guilt " ) Turlough expressed a fondness for tea , or as he called it , " that brown liquid . " ( TV : " The Awakening " ) Vilgreth was fond of tea and took some with him when he left Earth in his spaceship . ( AUDIO : " Last of the Titans " ) Skagra , when attempting to read the mind of Professor Chronotis , experienced the taste of tea and found it " faintly unpleasant " . ( PROSE : " Shada " ) After hypnotizing Pete Lomax , the Master stole Pete ' s shortbread biscuit and dipped it in his tea before leaving . ( PROSE : " Harvest of Time " ) The Doctor . The Third Doctor took his tea with milk and four sugar s . ( TV : " Invasion of the Dinosaurs " ) He had a habit of stirring his tea with whatever was available , such as a silicon rod . ( TV : " The Three Doctors " ) The Brigadier was once confused when the Third Doctor did not put milk or sugar in his tea . In fact , he was not having tea with the Doctor , but with the Master , who had temporarily stolen the Doctor ' s body . ( PROSE : " The Switching " ) The Emperor of China once gave the Doctor a gift of tea . During her travels with the Fifth Doctor , Nyssa gave the tea away , unaware of its origins . ( AUDIO : " Spare Parts " ) The Fifth Doctor took his tea with two sugars , ( AUDIO : " The Eternal Summer " , PROSE : " The Comet ' s Tail " ) as did the Ninth . ( TV : " The Unquiet Dead " ) The Sixth Doctor took his with six . ( AUDIO : " Project : Lazarus " ) The Fourth Doctor once asked for tea with " just eight " sugars ( COMIC : " The Star Beast " ) and the Twelfth Doctor was seen shovelling at least seven into his cup . ( TV : " Death in Heaven " ) An attempt on the Sixth Doctor ' s life was made by poisoning his tea with soluble aspirin . The Doctor counteracted the aspirin by eating chocolate . ( AUDIO : " The Condemned " ) The Seventh Doctor once met a potential future version of himself who had a particularly great interest in tea . ( COMIC : " Party Animals " ) Sometime before his ninth incarnation , the Doctor pushed boxes of tea at the Boston Tea Party . ( TV : " The Unquiet Dead " ) The Tenth Doctor drank tea at the Warp Hotel on Askenflatt Minor , which he found to be " the best cuppa in the known universe — and at least half of the unknown universe " . He thought the coffee on Askenflatt Major was better , but not the tea . ( PROSE : " The Hero Factor " ) Whilst in possession of Davros ' wheelchair , the Twelfth Doctor enjoyed a cup of tea . ( TV : " The Witch ' s Familiar " ) While serving as assistant to the Doctor at St Luke ' s University , Nardole brought tea to his office , adding " bit of coffee " to " give it some flavour " . ( TV : " Thin Ice " )