Tea shortage: This is the message from Lancashire Tea over supply problems

Gasp! Brits have been warned of a potential tea shortage because of supply issues.

Social media has been flooded with pictures of empty shelves in supermarkets, and Sainsbury's has even taken to putting notices on aisles, warning shoppers of a national problem.

Check out this outrageous Tweet from Lancashire Tea

A sign in one Sainsbury’s store read: “We are experiencing supply issues affecting the nationwide supply of black tea. We apologise for any inconvenience and hope to be back in full supply soon.”

What's going on?

There have been shipping disruptions in the Red Sea - traditional routes are under attack by Houthi forces and ships are being forced to undertake longer, more costly journeys to get their cargo to Britain.

According to Reuters, The British Retail Consortium said it had seen "temporary disruption" to some black tea lines, and an industry source said there had been some delays to flavoured lines.

Will it affect me?

Major brands including Yorkshire Tea and Tetley are said to be monitoring the situation daily.

Lancashire's own company, Lancashire Tea, however, says it's "in good shape", and has ressured customers. A spokesman told the Post: "It is fair to say there are some supply related challenges currently, not least caused by the impact of global events surrounding the Red Sea which can impact on delays to receiving raw materials as ships take longer routes. We are however in good shape currently on Lancashire Tea in terms of our availability to supply and don’t see that changing at the moment."

It is said that the UK as a whole consumes over 165,000,000 cups of tea every day, which means the average person consumes two to three cups a day.