thumb|Orwell's preference was [[Indian tea culture|Indian and Ceylonese teas over those from China.]]
"A Nice Cup of Tea" is an essay by English author George Orwell, first published in the London Evening Standard on 12 January 1946. It is a discussion of the craft of making a cup of tea, including the line: "Here are my own eleven rules, every one of which I regard as golden." Orwell says tea should be poured first because "one can exactly regulate the amount of milk whereas one is liable to put in too much milk if one does it the other way round". "I maintain that my own argument is unanswerable", he writes.