REVEALED: The disgusting secret lurking in your office tea mug

Tea. The aromatic, caffeinated, good stuff. So ingrained into British office culture, that in some offices ‘a cuppa’ is a currency in itself. ‘Getting the teas in’ helps colleagues bond and, crucially, relax.

Whilst those who offer to get a round for their colleagues are held in high regard, those who don’t – or, even worse, those who don’t drink it – can be subject to suspicion and disdain.

However, those non-tea-drinking renegades might be onto something…

A recent study has found that 20% of office tea mugs are contaminated with something disgusting: faecal matter. Those who have a go-to work mug are actually harbouring particles of poo. The study, conducted by a Professor of Environmental Microbiology at the University of Arizona, found that 90% of office mugs carry dangerous germs with two in 10 containing germs that are more at home in a toilet.