PG Tips

I picked some of this up today because I’ve been on a bit of a black tea kick lately (which is strange for me), and I no longer have any loose-leaf blacks in the house. I had heard that this was the best black tea you could get in a grocery store. While I obviously didn’t have high expectations, I thought it would be better than this. I smelled it and thought “this smells like any other grocery store black – dull, flat, and uninteresting.”. And when I brewed it and tried it at different temperatures, it didn’t get much better. Still dull. Still flat. Still uninteresting. But along with that, I was also greeted with a bitter punch it the face. So yeah, I guess it is a little more “bold” than most grocery store brands, but I didn’t find it any better.

Funny story, I drink this tea almost every day and have done so for about 7 years now. It’s odd to review it for a couple reasons: first, it’s not the most glamorous tea to start off with and second, it almost feels like judging an old friend. Nevertheless, I imagine my familiarity with this tea makes it a perfect candidate for my first review.

Preparation:
195 degree water
1 tsp sugar
1 dash of milk
3ish minutes steeping

For all of my time drinking this tea, you’d think I’d treat it a little more nicely than I do. However, one of my favorite things about PG is that it’s hard to over steep. This of course is a virtue of it’s being a bag tea without those fabulous little tea LEAVES to burn. I usually add my tea bag and sugar to the steeping receptacle and then water and let it steep while I’m getting ready to leave for work in the morning. On the weekends, I’ll leave the tea bag in the cup. A note: this tea CAN be oversteeped and it will taste like a mouthful of liquid brass.

I like PG because it has FLAVOR and BODY. I imagine this is because it’s an English Breakfast tea that English people actually drink. The American interpretations of this staple often end up tasting like crappy, tarry unsweetened sweet tea. It’s great with and without milk and is even good cold. You can definitely tell that the blend has a fair amount of assam given the red wine-like flavor and it’s reddish liquor. It’s very smooth and not overly sweet. It leaves a nice tannin-y after flavor, which of course, is not for everyone.

It’s expertly blended. In my times as a tea hawker, I tried to find a loose black tea that could replace my dirty little tea bag secret to no avail. The keemun was too weird, the assam too sweet, the darjeeling delightful, but not the same.

In all, I love PG Tips. There’s a reason why it’s one of the most popular teas in Britain. It’s reasonably priced, easy to make, and more flavorful than most bag teas. It’s obviously not the finest or highest grade tea, but for everyday consumption, I can’t think of anything else I’d rather drink.

I’ve been fighting a bad head cold the last couple of days….this tea has saved my life! lol The 5 or 6 times I spend with this tea a day makes the cold almost bearable. It’s like a nice warm blanket.

Great with milk!

I drink this daily, if I have it. Drink with milk or half and half. It is stout and rich.

My paternal grandmother is an English lady and she turned me on to this tea. This is my everyday tea and WOW is it ever good. I like my tea strong and this stuff is very strong. With some sugar in the raw and splash of milk…mmmmmmmm
If you want a good British cuppa, this is it.

I have several British friends, all of whom insist that American teas are appallingly weak. Since I’m searching for a good coffee replacement, I decided to take them at their word and bought a carton of loose PG Tips at the supermarket (my local market has a whole section of British teas – perhaps I should try Barry’s next?)

This was not the best morning. I woke up 30 minutes before I had to leave the house, it was raining in a very ominous way, and I couldn’t find where my husband had parked the car (several blocks away, it turns out.) I quickly brewed this tea. Luckily, I got a new electric kettle to replace my old one last night, so I didn’t have to wait ages. I steeped for 2 and half minutes in boiling water, then dumped in my usual amount of milk and splenda before running off to class. I didn’t actually get to try this until I was actually in my British literature class, discussing our term paper (so, an appropriate tea choice for the day!)

My verdict? I see what my friends meant. This tea is strong and dark, but by no means bitter. It held up to milk and sugar, and had a nice dose of caffeine. It’s very drinkable. I may have to make it my standard tea to go – I find that I don’t enjoy more subtle teas in a travel mug, as I can always taste the plastic. Not in this tea! On another note, I love the commercials with the monkey (just saw a few on Youtube!)

monkeeeeeey! my favorite british tea by far- you can never go wrong with the PG tips

It’s fascinating to find this thread!

I have emailed – via their website – Unilever, twice now abut their decision to remove PG Tips Special Blend from sale. The first was ignored; I have slim hopes of a reply to the one I sent today.

That wonderful tea was like no other we can find – strong and smooth at the same time; such a fine prominent aroma – and such a super-clean taste: beautiful – just what tea should be. I so wish it was still available but we bought all that our local Sainsbury’s had a few months back at a bargain price.

We’ve since tried all of the obvious supermarket brands – most recently the FairTrade Darjeeling. We threw the bags away – oh dear, so weak and tasteless despite the fine aroma from the dry teabags that reminded us of the PG Tips Special blend.

No Twining’s has yet truly pleased us, even the 1706 Strong Breakfast; so far the tea we’ve liked best is the Yorkshire Gold Assam Season’s Pick. This has a very good strength but lacks taste; what taste there is, is clean though but the drink lacks that fine aroma of the PG Tips Special blend.

If anyone has found an alternative, please do tell!

I love green tea. I love that Earthy taste. It’s simple & it’s good. And this tea is just that. Don’t over think it. Green tea isn’t for everyone…so if you don’t appreciate a good cuppa green tea, then pass on this one.

I bought a box at my local supermarket (Raul, I got it at Waldbaums because I know you’re going to ask….but I’m sure Fairway has it too). They were on sale. $2 for a box of 40 teabags. I figured it was worth a shot.

Turned out to be good. Better than I expected for a teabag.

I ran out of my Extra Strong Black Tea by Marks & Spencer, and since importing it is ridiculously expensive — I’m switching over to PG Tips (available much more easily in the US, and can be purchased at World Market to add to my explorer points).

I’ve been having my A&D’s assam with milk for my afternoon tea, but since I’m travelling for the next few weeks I decided it was easier and just as tasty to snag a box of PG Tips. <3

PG Tips, you dirty beast of awesome.

This tea takes me friggin’ BACK. I love this. It is a powerhouse of British glory and reminds me of the year I lived in England. I could drink this all the time. It’s really awesome, the flavour is powerful and bold but not overpowering by any means. Really, pretty much a perfect tea.

This stuff is good with anything. I don’t usually drink tea black but it’s even awesome like that. Very good with milk, good with cream if you’re fancy like that, and epically awesome with lemon juice and sugar. As Wallace from Wallace & Gromit might say, “This stuff goes down a treat!”

Do yourself a favour and go buy a box of this now. You’ll probably punch yourself in the face with shame once you realize you should have been drinking this for years. This was at the top of my tea cupboard hiding for a while but I just moved it down to eye-level so I can drink it more often.

Probably not ideal for an evening tea due to the caffeine, but truly glorious for breakfast or especially when the clock strikes 4. It’s tea time, baby!

This is what I drink 90% of the time. We’ve ended up buying the bulk catering bags because I get through the standard boxes so quickly. It’s also the tea they put in the machines in work, so it’s a good thing I enjoy it so much!

I’m back at work, and trying to be productive. I have a cup of this to start the day and try to get myself going earlier than I have for the past two (I think I slept in until 1030 both days!!)… hopefully I’ll get a lot of (decaf) tea in today as I try to get myself back in gear.

Yum! I had a big mug, and didn’t really get a good cup of tea yesterday, so I decided to double up and have a large cup today. I was able to fish out one tea bag, but the other sank to the bottom and stayed there for a while. I couldn’t bring myself to drink the last half of the cup because it was so over steeped, so I really ended up with one extra strong cuppa instead. It was still good, just not quite what I had planned on. :)

finally! this is the cup of tea I’ve been waiting for all day!!

I finally got a box of this last evening. So though I typically like to brew a pot of loose leaf tea on weekend mornings, and I just got several other fun teas from Tealuxe, I was excited to start the day with this one.

So now begins the experimentation to determine how I like this brewed. I started with a 3 minute steep and I’m having it plain. The flavor is exactly what I want out of a breakfast style tea, but stronger than I expected. I’m probably going to experiment with a shorter steep next time. I will definitely be experimenting with the milk/sweetener as well.

Yay for tea related projects!

backlogging. So, call me crazy, but somehow I had never had this before. I went to a friend’s house last night and had several fun options. This and something from my shopping list, included. The other one required a specific brewing time and temperature (as best I recalled), and I couldn’t believe I still hadn’t had this, so I gave it a go.

Good stuff! It reminded me a lot of my precious Brattle Street Blend, and was a good strength. I think I’m going to get a box of this as my go to tea bag option in the future. (And will probably replace my Twinings with it.)

Another morning cup of PG Tips. This tea helps me start the day off right.

This is my favourite cup of “comfort” tea. Any time I’m feeling blue, a mug of hot PG Tips is sure to make me feel better!

Something I’d drink every morning, here it’s so easy for me to get these it’s very usual to drink it. It’s just a nice cup of tea. Don’t steep for too long, it is perfect for around 1 min.