Recent statistics suggest that as a nation we are now drinking more coffee than tea, something which does not hold true in Persephone books in which many, many refreshing and/or consoling cups of tea are brewed, poured and enjoyed. Tea is respectable - it is the one form of 'trade' Miss Matty will countenance in Cranford - and is drunk by everyone, no matter what their background. The brilliant opening scene of The Village centres on a pot of tea, the last to be shared by two women who, just for the duration of the war, have put their social differences to one side.