What's the best tea you can get in UK supermarket?

Hiya,

You Limeys and other foreigners are funny as hell when the subject of tea comes up. Each with your own schtick, why a certain method's the best to make it and also what's the best tasting one.

I can easily imagine me judging the different teas y'all have mentioned here. Having a bunch of cups to sample.....yeah I can see that. Going to the first cup, taking a good sized sip, and then spitting into something. Like a judge. After a short deliberation my thought was it tasted like weak, insipid, mildly scented hot water. Crap, in other words.

Same result all down the line, no matter the method or variety. All crap in mostly the same way. Still tasted like tea, which is just not good. Ok wait, some Chai can be tasty if it's doctored up properly with ingredients that taste like something plus sugar. Oh, that includes whipped cream of course.

So it's amusing to see all the tea butterflies flittering around in this thread...always is. Like there's anything worthwhile at all in the stuff. Nothing that I can see.

I might be in the TSR minority on this subject,

Martin
 
dodgy said:
Hiya,

You Limeys and other foreigners are funny as hell when the subject of tea comes up. Each with your own schtick, why a certain method's the best to make it and also what's the best tasting one.

I can easily imagine me judging the different teas y'all have mentioned here. Having a bunch of cups to sample.....yeah I can see that. Going to the first cup, taking a good sized sip, and then spitting into something. Like a judge. After a short deliberation my thought was it tasted like weak, insipid, mildly scented hot water. Crap, in other words.

Same result all down the line, no matter the method or variety. All crap in mostly the same way. Still tasted like tea, which is just not good. Ok wait, some Chai can be tasty if it's doctored up properly with ingredients that taste like something plus sugar. Oh, that includes whipped cream of course.

So it's amusing to see all the tea butterflies flittering around in this thread...always is. Like there's anything worthwhile at all in the stuff. Nothing that I can see.

I might be in the TSR minority on this subject,

Martin
Click to expand...

Your thoughts on tea are always guaranteed to make me chuckle, Mart!
 
My advice to Cristobal would be to not bother with teabags (if you have the time). Get a teapot, strainer and tea leaves.

The different in taste between tea leaves and tea bags (which I understand to contain mainly dust compared to tea leaves) is vast.
 
Tall_Paul said:
My advice to Cristobal would be to not bother with teabags (if you have the time). Get a teapot, strainer and tea leaves.

The different in taste between tea leaves and tea bags (which I understand to contain mainly dust compared to tea leaves) is vast.
Click to expand...

Actually, when it comes to making tea with leaves (quite rare to me), since I haven't got a teapot, I use a very unorthodox method that consists of using a French press... The one I use for my latte macchiato.
 
This might upset a few folks, but the long and short of it is that you will struggle to find the best quality teas in UK supermarkets.

Waitrose stock Tea Pigs and the Rare Tea Co. teas, and whilst these are good enough daily teas they're not top-drawer teas.

To get the best teas you will need to go online and order loose leaf teas from speciality sites such as Canton Tea Co. and Jing. They do provide some of their loose leaf teas in bags (in the same way Tea Pigs do) for convenience.

They source them direct from growers around the world and can provide providence of manufacture. They ain't cheap but the difference in quality is marked and, in most cases, the premium can be worth paying.
 
...but which one tastes like Typhoo?

Look it's good advice but we are not dealing at the higher levels of chai here, the OP wants a slightly better breakfast blend with his milk that he can easily find not a top grade oolong.
 
Another vote for Yorshire Gold, If you want a full bodied loose tea full of flavour buy a pack of Tippy assam from Bettys tea room, you don't need a tea pot to brew tea a Cafetiere will do the exact same job and much easier to clean out and you don't need a strainer I've used a cafetiere for years.
 
Last edited:
Yorkshire Gold is rather good as is plain old Yorkshire Tea but as has been mentioned, get the loose leaf variants. They are better by far. My own favourite is Ringtons Northumbrian Blend which although not available in supermarkets, is similarly priced to blends found there. Ringtons have a fortnightly/four-weekly home delivery service which calls round much like the 'fish man' if any of you still get such things. See here: http://www.ringtons.co.uk/
 
Greetings

Having listened to your advice I purchased a small box of Yorkshire Gold tea and I am now on my third cup. I have to say the jury is out, it is a certainly a strong tea but as Carl said it does have a strange aroma. I poured my first cup into the sink in the erroneous belief there was some dishwasher residue in the cup but no that is the unusual flavour!

In the belief that one should never give up too soon I will finish the box and see what I think then but my initial view is that it is odd!

Regards
Dick.
 
dodgy said:
Hiya,

You Limeys and other foreigners are funny as hell when the subject of tea comes up. Each with your own schtick, why a certain method's the best to make it and also what's the best tasting one.

I can easily imagine me judging the different teas y'all have mentioned here. Having a bunch of cups to sample.....yeah I can see that. Going to the first cup, taking a good sized sip, and then spitting into something. Like a judge. After a short deliberation my thought was it tasted like weak, insipid, mildly scented hot water. Crap, in other words.

Same result all down the line, no matter the method or variety. All crap in mostly the same way. Still tasted like tea, which is just not good. Ok wait, some Chai can be tasty if it's doctored up properly with ingredients that taste like something plus sugar. Oh, that includes whipped cream of course.

So it's amusing to see all the tea butterflies flittering around in this thread...always is. Like there's anything worthwhile at all in the stuff. Nothing that I can see.

I might be in the TSR minority on this subject,

Martin
Click to expand...

Martin , its our Eastern European roots. You need to try it with a slice of apple. None of this lemon, sugar or milk!
 
dodgy said:
Hiya,

You Limeys and other foreigners are funny as hell when the subject of tea comes up. Each with your own schtick, why a certain method's the best to make it and also what's the best tasting one.

I can easily imagine me judging the different teas y'all have mentioned here. Having a bunch of cups to sample.....yeah I can see that. Going to the first cup, taking a good sized sip, and then spitting into something. Like a judge. After a short deliberation my thought was it tasted like weak, insipid, mildly scented hot water. Crap, in other words.

Same result all down the line, no matter the method or variety. All crap in mostly the same way. Still tasted like tea, which is just not good. Ok wait, some Chai can be tasty if it's doctored up properly with ingredients that taste like something plus sugar. Oh, that includes whipped cream of course.

So it's amusing to see all the tea butterflies flittering around in this thread...always is. Like there's anything worthwhile at all in the stuff. Nothing that I can see.

I might be in the TSR minority on this subject,

Martin
Click to expand...


Hi Dodgy,

Its a fair point, but posting this on a site when we're all doing the same about razors, brushes, soaps, balms and aftershaves seems a bit redundant.
 
Another vote for Yorkshire Tea, sometimes I get M&S Earl Grey. I recently had to grab Sainsburys Red Label late at night and it wasn't that bad...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom