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Went to my usual local Indian grocery store to get the basics, tea and chocolate.
PG tips pyramid 240 in a new style and colour box and lo and behold they taste like shyte. Got hold of an old style box, no problem. Something has changed?
Also if I purchase the biggest Cadbury bar it tastes not great but ok. Get the smaller ones taste well dodgy. These are the imported bars not the ones made by Hersheys that you can also get here.
Aldi's Earl Gray are much cheaper than Twinings, not as good but passable at half the price.
When I worked in Fleet Street we were always in Twinings getting free cups of tea (North Bank card) and chatting to the staff about tea, they had this loose leaf Kenyan one (since discontinued sadly) that was at the time the strongest so I bought a packet when they had a deal on as I got 25% off on top. F'k me was it strong, you only had one pot a day. Delicious, I wish I could remember the name.
Beer and Beef has made us what we are - The Prince Regent
For a general daytime tea I find it hard to beat Yorkshire. If I'm being poncey, I like a quality Darjeeling, which has a well-deveolped, but slightly more subtle taste than Assam, which being more robust, is better for the breakfast kick.
Then of course, we come to coffee. I'm sure all you coffee drinkers have your favourites, but these days it's hard not to be faddish, with so many varieties available. This probably deserves its own thread, but anyway, here goes: for years I've ground my own coffee, usually Sumatran beans that I get from the Coffee Plant in Portobello Road. They provide a delicious, rich, deep chocolaty-flavoured cup. However more recently I have been converted to Waitrose Colombian medium roast 100% Arabica, which is simply delicious.
Yeah Poundland et al are well know for selling shite versions of branded products
PG tips had defo got shite! Had one at work the other day. Barry’s tea can’t be beaten for my money, been buying boxes of 600 at a time. They even do 2 sizes of bag one with an extra half a gram
Who wouldn’t want half a gram extra off of ol’ Baza?
Ditched PG after years as the bags keep breaking, believe it or not I've gone to Sainsburys red label, strong and as cheap as chips.
Aldi's Earl Gray are much cheaper than Twinings, not as good but passable at half the price.
When I worked in Fleet Street we were always in Twinings getting free cups of tea (North Bank card) and chatting to the staff about tea, they had this loose leaf Kenyan one (since discontinued sadly) that was at the time the strongest so I bought a packet when they had a deal on as I got 25% off on top. F'k me was it strong, you only had one pot a day. Delicious, I wish I could remember the name.
Just bought some loose leaf tea recently, much more consistent
Agree.
I use bags (Yorkshire Tea) but I also have a container of their loose tea in the cupboard which I will sometimes have and I find that loose leaf tea gives a much brighter cup/mug of tea than a bag which sometimes can be a bit flat/dull tasting in comparison.
Just bought some loose leaf tea recently, much more consistent
You get a far better cup with loose leaf. Tea bags will be the what's left after the better stuff has been used, and often dust and all sorts get included.
But it wasn't until I spent a couple of hours in a tea merchant's shop while lost in a Beijing hutong a few years back, that i learned how to brew properly.
I also stopped adding milk as a result and enjoy a less stewed brew.
My current poncey brew of choice, F&M rose pouchong. You can replicate by throwing rose buds in with leaves of a not too strong black tea.
'Always In Motion' by John Honney available on amazon.co.uk
A guy in the Duke of York in Hanwell sidled up and asked if I wanted to buy some ‘teabags’.Thinking that was code for cocaine or something I said no. Turns out he was actually selling PGTips. Who buys teabags from a bloke down the pub. For coffee you can’t beat Algerian coffee stores in Soho. Great selection and much cheaper than elsewhere.
A guy in the Duke of York in Hanwell sidled up and asked if I wanted to buy some ‘teabags’.Thinking that was code for cocaine or something I said no. Turns out he was actually selling PGTips. Who buys teabags from a bloke down the pub. For coffee you can’t beat Algerian coffee stores in Soho. Great selection and much cheaper than elsewhere.
Thank goodness - thought it might have been something else to do with teabags....
I buy Yorkshire Gold here in Brisbane. Great tea. Proper strong.
Which, for the OPs benefit, I can confirm you can get on Amazon in the US.
I am partial to their "malty biscuit brew" in the morning, then onto the regular stuff later in the day. Appreciate true tea fans may look down on that but I don't care
Agree that PG pyramid tea bags are suddenly garbage, Something is going on in the state of tea in the UK No more discounted prices for boxes of 240 or 160 bags from any supermarket, because they are hardly ever stocked on the shelf now, even empty shelves in Waitrose. The suppliers are definitely downgrading the product, most tea now tastes like washing up water unless you go for Twinings or Clipper. I agree that Yorkshire tea is the only branded tea that is still strong stuff - but even they no longer say where their tea leaves come from, just "black tea leaves from various countries"
No strong tea and no strong strikers .. the end of the world is nigh.
[Post edited 14 Nov 2023 20:07]
Why does it feel like R'SWiPe is still on the books? Yer Couldn't Make It Up.Well Done Me!
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