Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. Aus.) a cup of tea, occas. coffee.

[1916		W. Pett Ridge Madame Prince 142: I’m simply dying for a cup!].
1934		N. Marsh Man Lay Dead 211: Taking a strong cuppa at six-thirty in their shirt sleeves.
1941		N.Y. Herald Trib. 29 June 9/2: ‘Tucker’ is food in general, any meal, while ‘cupper’ is a cup of tea.
1943		J.B. Hislop Pure Gold and Rough Diamonds 127: After a cuppa and a chat.
1953		T.A.G. Hungerford Riverslake 168: Come and have a cuppa, Bob.
1960		G.W. Target Teachers (1962) 58: Care to join us in a cupper, Mrs Southcott?
1964		P. White Burnt Ones 132: I’ll bring you a cuppa, and a slice of that pound cake.
1972		P. Fordham Inside the Und. 39: The girl made him a cuppa.
1978		A. Burgess 1985 (1980) 166: You want to raise a nice hot cupper to your lips.
1980		J. McClure Spike Island (1981) 31: ‘Any chance of a cuppa?’ asks the van driver.
1983		J. Byrell (con. 1959) Up the Cross 23: Its ways and mores weren’t really his cuppa.
1990		Beano Comic Library No. 190 22: Tea? Good! I could do with a cuppa.
2004		T. Winton ‘Small Mercies’ in Turning (2005) 94: Want a cuppa? Yeah, she said. Coffee.
2017		G. Gilmore Headland [ebook] A cuppa would be good.

2. (N.Z. prison) a temagesic [play on initial T/SE tea].

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 50/2: cuppa n. 1 a temagesic.

3. (N.Z. prison) a session of drug-taking.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 50/2: cuppa n. 2 a drugs session: 'My mates and I are coming over for a cuppa. '.