PG Tips

I hit a wall with my other english breakfast tea (Mr. St. James repackaged as the London Transport Museum), jumping through dangerous internet hoops of fire to find the origin of this recent morning bagged favorite. In a slight panic mode to find a worthy kick-start replacement, I purchased PG Tips. I figured if this is one of the top breakfast teas in England, then the blend might be very similar as I have all but given up hope of finding this tea. It’s the pyramid PG tips bag. At first when I poured the boiled water over the bag the water was very light. I thought, “Uh oh” I might have to double up. Then a minute later the water transformed into a beautiful deep dark coppery color signaling the robust flavor I had been searching for. The mix is indeed similar, with a little bit more weight on the assam (at least to me, does anyone know of the traditional blend has equal parts Ceylon, Kenyan, and Assam leaves for the formula?). I decided to stop at 3 minutes of steeping fearing the bitter would set in, and might double dare myself to try 4 minutes next time. Caffeine kick on one bag at 3min. is impressive – even with milk and sugar. The flavor shines right through. Although bagged tea is a rough 2nd choice to loose leaf, I am beginning to see that with a “Great” quality bagged tea, I can still get a pretty decent flavor, I just need to make sure I don’t drown the tea bag in too much water.

I love this tea. It is my number two bagged tea after Barry’s Classic Blend (I just like the stronger Irish blends more). I know PG Tips is popularly viewed as one of the best blends out there, but I just can’t get into it. It is OK, and if there is nothing else to sip on I don’t feel too terribly dissapointed, but the Special Blend is worth the extra cost as it blows the normal way out of the water. It is smoother and bolder at the same time, and the aftertaste is strong and clean, but not bitter.

It is one of the best black teas in a teabag I have ever had.

reminds me of the hotel I stayed in outside of Windsor, England. milk and sugar please.

Second try with my PG Tips Pyramids. This time I only steeped in for two minutes, but the flavor was still very, very bitter when left alone. Much more tolerable than my first steep, but still with a very strong kick. The tea steeps to a very dark hue, with a surprisingly strong veggie smell. My bag smelled like stewed vegetables when I sniffed it wet. The tea does contain this aroma. It’s not a bad smell, but it’s sort of odd for me from a black tea.

This tea is definitely more complex than a lot of the other bagged varieties out there. The pyramid shape probably lets the tea grow a bit, even if the pieces are somewhat small already. I added some milk again (soymilk, around 3 tsps), and the taste infinitely improved. This tea would probably rank higher for me if I didn’t have to doctor it up with additives. I hate putting anything in my tea, but I really can’t imagine drinking this one without first smoothing it out with either milk or some lemon juice. It was designed to be drunk that way, and I’m having a difficult time accepting that. I drink Irish Breakfast without putting anything in it, so…

That being said, I think I’ll try and do a really short steep of this one and taste the results at a later date, to see if this can indeed be had neat. Someone recommended online using a large amount of water and just pouring off the excess. I might do that.

I’m not going to rate this one quite yet. I drank half a cup today, mainly because I messed up on the steeping time. The pyramid bags are quite cute! But because of their shape, they probably release a lot of juicy, tea flavor at a much faster rate. Well, I sort of wasn’t paying attention, and I let my bag drift around in the cup for a good five minutes. The resulting brew was extremely bitter! I could barely drink it.

I added a bit of milk (a teaspoon, literally), and the tiniest pinch of sugar, but it was still very, very bitter. I could taste some interesting, complex notes, but I really couldn’t get a good read on them, because the entire thing just tasted overcooked.

How long should I steep these guys? There really isn’t much information out there. I’m thinking more like 2 minutes, tops…

I know this tea is tremendously popular, but honestly, I think I’m just not a fan of English Breakfast as a blend.

Wait a minute — perhaps those iffy bags I recently spoke abut were just flukes. Today, I grabbed bags from the middle of the box and the tea came out GORGEOUS. Even though the bags in my box are all individually wrapped, I wonder if some of the leaves are from another blend or harvest than the good ones of today. Either that or I was abducted by aliens in my sleep and they changed my taste buds through an evil experiment and then returned me to Earth before I woke up.

Last night, I opened up a new box of rectangular PG Tips bags (which is the only kind I can get here in the Greater Philly area) and noticed that the bags seem to be smaller than previously. The tea is also a bit weaker and flatter, so I’m brewing it longer. Perhaps I just got a bad box. Usually, this is a predictably brilliant everyday tea.

I think Jillian mentioned that Lipton took over the distribution rights for PG Tips in America, but I think both companies are owned by Unilever, which owns about one-fifth of all goods in the world. I really hope this isn’t a preview of things to come. Right now, I’m looking forward to having a Red Rose rather than another cup of PG Tips from this box.

I like to add a few spoons full of sugar and some 1% milk!

PG Tips in pyramid bags taste better than PG Tips in regular bags. I have no idea why. The pyramid bags are also strong enough to make two cups of tea. I like to take milk and sugar in mine, but others like to put in lemon juice. This is a good tea to wake you up. I’m convinced that PG Tips has more caffeine in it than other brands, but I can’t prove this. Sadly, pyramid bags are not available in my part of America. They are one of the teas that I miss about my years in the UK. Went really well with a bakewell tart, too – which you also can’t get in America.

This is the best tasting of the PG Tips line if you want a solid caffinated cuppa. The leaves are very strong, so you will usually need less than you think you’ll need. Expect to waste a couple of teaspoons while figuring out the right amount and brew times for you. Personally, I think it’s best brewed in a brown pottery-like teapot, but that’s just me. I’ve also had good results from a French press (cafetire, usually for coffee). The leaves are great for tasseography (reading the future by looking at tea leaves).

Ahhh PG. You may not have the quality of some of the better loose teas but with a bit of milk you are the perfect accompaniment for dunking ginger biscuits.

This is my everyday tea. I carry a big travel mug of it around, iced. Delish!

Back to the basics this morning. A nice little reminder of the difference between of bagged and loose tea.