A man without a mustache is like tea without sugar.

Framed as a proverb, the saying treats the mustache as an essential “finishing touch” to masculine appearance, in the same way sugar was long treated as the expected complement to tea. Its humor depends on a domestic, everyday comparison: tea without sugar is still tea, but (to those who prefer it sweetened) it feels incomplete or less satisfying. Read historically, it reflects periods—especially in the 19th and early 20th centuries—when facial hair signaled maturity, virility, or social style, and when sweetened tea was a common norm. The line also hints at how cultural tastes can be presented as natural necessities.