PG Tips
Edit CompanyPopular Teas from PG Tips
See All 16 TeasRecent Tasting Notes
Most mornings, I make a big pot of tea and split it with the husband. But our tea tastes differ on a few big points, the biggest being smoky teas. Recently, we picked up a few bagged teas for him to have on the days I want something smoky – I don’t have to ignore my lovely lapsangs and he doesn’t get tortured by them, so it’s a win/win. I decided that I wanted to sample and compare two of his teas – the PG Tips and the Yorkshire Gold – because really, why not? So that’s what I did this morning. The brewing parameters were identical – one teabag, 6 oz, 4 minutes in a preheated cup, first taken plain then with a bit of sugar and half & half. Of course, this will result in two tasting notes so pardon the repetition.
First up, PG Tips. Out of curiosity, I weighed the bag. 3.2g. ROT, are you paying attention? Popped it in the cup, brewed it up. It’s a lot darker than the YG – I can’t see the bottom of the cup at all and it looks a tad cloudy. The smell is nutty, starchy and a bit flat – very similar to YG’s but a little earthier. Without additives it tasted pretty much liked it smelled. Solidly chewy, a little nutty and fairly flat. It had a bitter aftertaste that made my mouth feel sticky but I was pretty much expecting it to given the fact that it is a bagged tea and I brewed it for so long. Adding sugar and half & half made it taste a bit cardboard-y – not in a bag way but not exactly the cleanest cardboard either. Still ends up fairly flat and one-dimensional but that can be tempered a bit by adding excessive sugar, artificially creating a rounder flavor with the added sweet note.
Ultimately, not really an impressive tea but that’s not surprising. The main points this tea has going for it are caffeine content and a nice weighty body which means it’ll do the job as a morning tea and, as long as enough sugar and half & half has been added, won’t be horrid. Though part of me feels bad that I’ve been making the husband drink this.
Preparation
First morning in Italy, I woke up to this. Very nice, but simple black bend. Composed of Assam, Ceylon, and Kenyan (similar to Twining’s English Breakfast, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vpqffdeetI), this tea has a distinct flowery, toffee flavor. My guest this morning was going to brew the pyramid bags, but then was slightly concerned that I, as the host of Tea Time Tuesday, would be slightly offended, so he brewed loose tea, contrary to the picture here. I enjoyed it thoroughly. It’s important to note that this is essentially Britain’s version of Lipton, but not quite the lowest quality of standard orange pekoe.
Preparation: 5 minutes at 205 F.
Rating: 87% (4 1/3rd of 5 tea leaves)