La chanson du thé par Yorkshire Tea
Ever heard of the Tea Song? It’s an ode to a proper brew – and you can watch it here and find out more about why we made it. Of course, most of the time we’re busy making tea rather than daft music videos (but the daftness does sometimes make its way into our tea range too – who doesn’t want a brew that tastes like biscuits?).
How did the Tea Song happen?
What’s hot, tasty and perfect for surviving a zombie attack? Tea of course!
So, we decided to make a song about that very thing. It’s a tuneful celebration of the wonders of tea, shining a spotlight on the many different tricky situations it helps to fix.
We’re sure the problems will be familiar. We’re talking about grazes, debris injuries, arrow wounds to the knee, smog stains on your window, relationship break-ups and Mondays.
Oh, and zombies. If you ever find yourself in a tight spot, you can always hit them over the head with your mug.
But how did we come up with it? Well, the truth is, we just wanted to create a video that lots of people would watch and get some new people to notice us (and maybe buy our brew). But rather than make a boring advert, we liked the idea of making something that sang the praises of tea, and that people might actually enjoy. And so, the Tea Song was born.
Behind the scenes
Get the lowdown on what it was like to make the Tea Song. Featuring chats with the cast (actors and Yorkshire Tea staff) and info about props and the filming. Oh, and look out for the cricket bat!
Casting the video
Here’s Dom Dwight from Yorkshire Tea (who you can see at the end of the behind-the-scenes video):
“Casting was a mixture of trying to feature real members of staff as much as possible, with just one or two roles allocated to professional actors and singers.
“For staff, we did a call out via emails and posters and interviewed everyone to choose who would get to star in the video. We had people from all over - production, HR, finance, sales, and marketing, of course.”
Shot in one take
Dom Dwight was there on the day, too – he even had a part in the video:
“Filming in one shoot was actually pretty painful, even though the end result was a lot of fun. It required serious ingenuity on the part of the production crew, who were incredible. And I think it made an already funny video into something that was actually worth watching several times to catch every little gag.
“I think we did 17 takes, which meant our ‘zombie’ lady had to have a fake mug smashed over her head rather more times than anyone would wish for.
“I played the racing driver and did 16 takes with my face showing… But the successful take was the 17th, when I had my visor down and had to slosh tea over myself – so sadly, my mum didn’t get to see I was definitely in the video!”
Despite how tricky it was to make, we’re very glad we did. Over half a million views later, we can look back on it and say it’s something we’re really proud of.
After all, everything can be solved with a cup of tea. And now there’s a song that proves it.
Our favourite Tea Song reactions
‘Refreshingly insane’
Yep, that’s how actual Russell Crowe put it, and we couldn’t be prouder.
Timing your brew
@daearanion: “I just realized this song is 3 minutes long and therefore can be used to properly time your tea.”
We’d love to say we did that on purpose…
Messy breakup
@Thomas-lv9se: “Instructions unclear... Started drinking Yorkshire Tea after a messy breakup and now I drink loads of cups of it daily... but I still haven't fully recovered.”
Just keep buying tea and eventually everything will be fine.
An unexpected reaction
@TheSkyIshBlue: “This is so British that I vomited corgis by the end of it”.
Please report to A&E immediately.
Brew up, Dad!
@jezza17: “I put this on so my dad would make me a tea”.
This is a very sensible use of YouTube. Well done.
