Tetley Tea Bag

Hello Steepsterites!

We were in the UK this weekend to attend a family wedding. To make a lot of things a lot easier we had booked local accomodations for the night. It was… Well, it was a bed, anyway. In the room there was also the luxury of the possibility of making a cup of tea or coffee, according to ones preferences.

This was the tea available.

Well. I shan’t go into too much detail because I remember only these few things about it. Either this was all there was to remember or I’ve simply surpressed the rest of it. To put it down in a few keywords, this is what it was like,

It smelled strongly like wet cardboard and tasted faintly like ashes.

And when I say ashes, I don’t mean that it was in way smoky or at one point had been smoky. It was just bad.

But it was all there was, and I was in need.

Drinkable. Just.

Backlogging from Vacation #1:

I spent a week at my fiance’s father’s house with him. It was a nice vacation. I really like his father in some ways and not so much in others. I think it is like that for everybody. He is a fantastic cook though and I learned how to make a stuffed zucchini. That was yummy.

We went out to breakfast one day with his grandmother to Perkins. I got this and put honey and half & half in it. It stood up to the extra additions fairly well and warmed me up. I did taste it plain and it was fairly standard. I could see this being used like Lipton is used in our family. The standard tea that you grow up with. Not drop dead amazing but not half bad either.

Standard, basic black tea. I take six teabags with some agave at one time and make iced tea overnight. Comes out pretty good. Can be found easily at local supermarket.

This is the standard tea for iced tea in my house. It does the job, and there is always a pitcher of it in the fridge.

For me, too malty, too sharp, too heavy … though, oddly, if you steep it to death, it develops sweet notes. I will drink it if nothing else is available, and I’ll drink it and like it if visiting a friend and this is what they have. My biggest problem with Tetley is how I associate with being hospitalized. A covered cup of warm water and a Tetley tea bag would come up on the tray, and I would steep the Tetley a good 15 minutes and then knock it back, trying to get a clearer head and fight back the stupid-making effects of pain meds.

This was my everyday tea for a really long time. Still kind of is. Decent, quick, convenient. Unfortunately, I rarely, if ever, drank this for the tea taste, I always added milk and sweetener because it was to wake me up and get the morning going.

I always oversteeped this, I was definitely looking for a darker tea here.

Had this a couple of days ago. 2000 perforations let the flavor out all right, before you even make the tea. Bland and flavorless, like Lipton.

This is the UK version – I’ve experienced the difference in tea sold in the US and in Ireland and the UK!

I have this every morning and afternoon – 2 tea bags in the pot, 5 minutes’ steeping, bunch of (soy) milk and I’m alive. It’s not great in itself, but is much better than most of the supermarket teas that you can afford to drink in quantity. Most of those are too weak for me, with the occasional strong but bitter type.

I don’t know why I continue to order tea at a diner, because I always end up with this. And it’s awful. I force myself to drink it, bitter taste and all, because it’s sitting in front of me. And forget getting a second cup out of it. It’s weak and bitter, and not enjoyable in the slightest.

I guess it’s better than coffee, at least. (That… isn’t saying much.)

You can never say “no” to a good Tetley tea!

Hmm really rather disappointing for me. Certainly a popular tea here in the UK, but me thinks they are somewhat relying on good marketing etc because, for me at least, the tea leaves quite a lot to be desired. Not enough Assam in there for my liking. Think im going to stick with my Kenya and Assam blend in Punjana. Yet to be beaten!

Black in a hot pot. Smells kind of like a sweet garden; I don’t know, it’s 2 in the morning. Accidentally got locked out of my room and when I got back in it was still warm but nasty-tasting. Oh well.

Average. Not offensive – not memorable. Mildly astringent without much else going on. Workplace tea – Tetley’s is to tea, what the Blue Riband biscuit is to confectionary – a very minor pleasure.

Here’s the thing you have to understand about Tetley: you are not buying this tea to get a gourmet experience. But, like PG Tips, Barry’s, or Red Rose, builder’s teas hold a special place in my heart. They are my comfort tea in the mornings, and a lovely staple basic in my tea’s closet. At the moment, Tetley’s Premium Blend is my go-to cuppa, and I drink it with half & half and sugar — I can’t imagine drinking it without, and imagine it’d otherwise be much too acidic for my tastes. What’s your morning cup?

Normal everyday tea with a dash of milk and teaspoon of honey.

A decent, cheap black tea. I normally don’t drink this one on its own, but add it to the cup when re-steeping a flavored tea. Tastes great combined with strong fruit teas.

Uhm, what can you really say about the steadfast standard brew that greets you every morning before you don your armour for the battle that is the coming day.

The drink that we stop at the wee service station in the bitter cold because R. needs a ‘hug in a cup’.

That charming mug that lets you sit down, have a moment, a breath before regrouping.

I am from a land of sunshine and coffee. We worship at the altar of Starbucks and have more flavors of coffee in our grocery stores then Britians have even dreamt existed (and don’t get me started on the amazing creamer flavors — like we could replace all food and drink with creamers in their flavor).

Despite all that I moved abroad, met a Yorkshire man who taught me how to make a proper cup. I am a changed tea-fairy, and all but the coffee flavored candies have seen my back turned to them. I am sorry coffee, where you are a sweet bitchslap to the face every morning, tea is that ‘hug in a cup’ …and we all know which I’d choose. ;)

We went to the Perkins at the location of our honeymoon and got a tea basket. Went to the one back home, and all they had was Tetley black, though it wasn’t in the round bag described above, but a regular tea bag. Tasted decent with a packet of Splenda, but I don’t care for unflavored black. Maybe I’d like a full leaf one?

I love it, if nothing more than the comfort of childhood tradition. :-)

Admittedly not the worst i have tasted, but not really up to standard for me. Love those Tetley tea folk! but unfortunately theyre not picking good enough teas for me!