Ahab1973's Full Review: Pg Tips 80 Tea Bags (Pack Of 3)
Introduction - I bought this tea out of sheer curiosity. I'd read a lot about it online. And obviously, the "England's #1 tea" on the box got my attention. I paid about $7.50 for a box of 80 "pyramid bags".
The box is very attractive and has plenty of interesting info on it. If you're curious, it has the history of the brand on the box.
Brewing and drinking - This tea brews fast and very strong! I brewed the first cup I had for about 3 minutes. I took it with me to watch a movie with no milk or sugar (I don't normally add any to my tea). I got about halfway through the cup before I started to feel very nauseated.
Over the following several days, I continued to attempt to drink this tea with nothing added by simply reducing the steeping time. Eventually, I got to under a minute and it was still too strong (bitter).
I finally just gave up and added milk and a tiny amount of sugar. That did the trick. The milk apparently neutralizes the tannin. The tea is actually very tasty once this critical step is taken. It tastes very much like the dry tea smells after the bitter tannin is neutralized. Kind of tangy. Hard to describe, actually. This is probably the one thing that saves this tea for me. I've always loved the strong scent of certain dry teas. This tea has that perfect "tea smell". When you open the box, the scent is just heavenly! Anyway, this is the first time I've been able to get a tea with this certain scent to taste the way it smells.
After doing some research, I found that this seems to be the way the English typically drink their tea. Which explains a lot. I was starting to wonder how in the world anyone could habitually drink this.
What I like -
1. Pretty good value. 80 bags for about $8.
2. Fairly good taste once you get the brewing down right and add milk and sugar
3. Interesting box
What I don't like -
1. Very bitter without milk and sugar
2. The bags are loose inside the box. Once the box is opened, the bags will start to deteriorate (if they haven't already).
Conclusion - This is not a tea that's going to satisfy a picky tea connoisseur. Truly good tea is all about subtlety and it's pretty near impossible to enjoy that when you have to add a bunch of stuff to a tea in order to drink it. This is a good tea to drink for breakfast with milk and sugar. It has a good caffeine kick. It might be better to brew it in a pot. It brews very strong in a mug (even a large one). I guess none of this surprises anyone who's from England but it would be nice if they put this information on the box.
Unfortunately, drinking this tea just might get me into the habit of putting milk and sugar in my tea. I had several cups yesterday and found myself really starting to like it sweet. Hopefully, I'll still find unsweetened tea appealing when I start drinking it again.
I will probably keep buying this. I believe tetley has a similar taste and is far cheaper but I find this tea just interesting enough to keep enjoying it at least for breakfast. I don't require a tea to be refined and delicate. I find all sorts of tastes and aromas to be interesting and this one definitely fits the bill.
Pack of four 80-count boxes of England's number-one black tea (320 total tea bags) Made from a blend of Assam, Ceylon, and Kenyan black teas Pyramid-s...More at Amazon
Made in England. England's number 1 tea. Est. since 1930. Gives the tea leaves 50 percent more room to move around than a flat conventional tea bag. ...More at Amazon Marketplace
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