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For a country of morning-and-night tea drinkers, even the suggestion of a shortage of the household staple can elicit a nervous gulp.

So there might have been more than a few people spooked when signs in some Sainsbury’s grocery stores this week warned customers that supply issues had affected the “nationwide” availability of black tea, as Houthi attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea caused shipping delays.

The largest share of tea imports to Britain from outside the European Union comes from sub-Saharan Africa, followed by Asia and Oceania, according to Statista, a market research provider.

The attacks have left long-haul shipping companies with a difficult choice: Either reroute around Africa, adding two to three weeks to the journey, or continue through the Suez Canal, which handles about 12 percent of global trade, via the Red Sea and deal with the risk of coming under attack, as well as added insurance premiums.

Expensive to buy at the time, it became a trendy drink among the wealthy in Britain, eventually spreading more widely to coffeehouses in the nation and then to supermarket shelves.

Even how the drink should be prepared caused a trans-Atlantic bristle recently, after an American chemistry professor suggested adding a pinch of salt when brewing a cup.

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