Cup of tea

Tea only started to become popular in Britain during the latter half of the 17th century but now of course it is very much the national drink. After over 250 years of tea drinking, the British only started to refer to people as cups of tea from the early 20th century. This was when they first started to describe people either as their cup of tea or not. If someone is not your cup of tea, it signifies non-affinity rather than out-and-out dislike. In America, the expression is not applicable to coffee. In America, if it’s not your cup of coffee, it simply belongs to someone else.