It's the tempest that's not in a teapot; younger Brits have switched to tea bags, reportedly because they can't spare the five minutes it takes to brew a pot of loose tea. Demand for loose tea is down, and sales of teapots in the U.K. have plunged by two thirds as a result.

British culture is steeped in tea, so it's kind of a shock to learn that 96 percent of the tea drunk in Britain is now brewed from tea bags. Tea consumption's actually on the rise, but those between the ages of 18 and 40 consider teapots, cups, and saucers "quaint, dainty and old-fashioned."