Twinings

Herbal and Decaf Traveling Tea Box, Summer 2025.
Winter Spice. Twinings.
This was a string-tag paper teabag in a sealed foil pouch, which I prepared as directed. I started out thinking it was pretty mild, as others have said. But then I started nibbling on some peanut brittle, and the residual sugar in my mouth really made the flavors pop! It was a nice blend, inoffensive, with a good long chamomile finish. In the mouth, it was not overpowered by cinnamon and, instead, it was rounded out with subtle notes of clove. I did not distinctly taste cardamom, but I don’t doubt that it was in there. The apple flavoring gave it a sweetness and fullness on the tongue without the bitterness of apple skins or seeds, although it may have been the origin of the green rooibos-like aroma that I perceive— almost like sweet pickles. I would recommend this tea, and give it a rating of 74.

Lots of citrus, but quite pithy. A fair hit of hibiscus also. There is nothing sweet about this one, and it’s also quite tart, but not in a way that’s displeasing. I feel this one may fair better iced, but there’s something quite bright and sunshiny about it which I’m quite enjoying on this cold, wintery afternoon.

Work tea. Unfortunately this one is mostly just hibiscus; despite the pretty packaging there is no mango or strawberry flavour to speak of. I do find it too tart straight, even after only 3-4 minutes, so I added a spoonful of sugar and that’s softened it a bit. Definitely not great, though.

The raspberry in this one is a little sherbet-like, which is nice, but overall a touch too bitter and metallic tasting to really be pleasant. I assume it’s the valerian since it’s in all three of the Twinings sleep teas I’ve tried and they all have a similar base profile that isn’t quite overcome by the differing flavourings. I added a spoonful of honey to my cup, but it’s not enough to change things significantly. This one I probably wouldn’t seek out again; the spiced apple is way better.

Felt like an evening treat, so made up a Butter Pecan Chai inspired by a Twinings UK Supper Club recipe. It involves toasting chopped pecans in butter, warming almond milk with spices (star anise, cardamom, cinnamon), straining, and then combining with a concentrate made from this tea (2 bags, 100ml water, 2 minutes). Got to say, it’s delicious! Sweet, creamy, and perfectly spiced. The ideal thing for a cold autumn evening!

Classic Chai is also fab just as it is, of course. I typically drink it with either almond milk or whole milk, plus a spoonful of honey.

Tart and jammy, as you might expect from a blend with hibiscus and rosehip as its main ingredients. The raspberry is just about there, but by no means a prominent flavour. The blackcurrant comes off quite nicely, however, and gives a taste akin to hot ribena. It’s very smooth, more so with a spoonful of honey. Probably not a blend I’d actively seek our for its flavour, but I do appreciate the wellness aspect (added echinacea & vitamin D) at the moment with this killer cold.

Another sore throat/cold relief saviour, great for helping to ease stuffiness and congestion. A little more basic than my tea tastes usually allow for perhaps, but definitely a classic for a reason! I tend to leave the bag in so it becomes quite strong by the end of the cup, and inhaling the steam whilst it’s still hot helps too. I shall survive this thing, with tea to help!

I had a craving a while ago for a “Chinese restaurant” teabag oolong… The only bagged oolong I could even find at my local grocery was this one, so I figured I’d try it out. Sadly, it just isn’t quite what I was hoping for. It has a bit of that roasty note and a subtle florality in the background, but its just so flavorless… It comes out really bland tasting. Adding an additional teabag helps the flavor substantially, but then it also gets a bit bitter/tannic at the end of the sip, which isn’t ideal either.

It’s a shame I live in an area that just doesn’t really have foreign speciality grocers around, which would probably have what I’m looking for in regards to a simple bagged tea oolong that gives that classic Chinese restaurant flavor… but this Twinings offering is not it. I won’t be purchasing again.

Backlog note from Sunday evening, which was a chilly one. I fancied a warming cup of something to snuggle with under the duvet on the sofa. This one fit the bill, it being fairly late evening already. The overall flavour is dominated by valerian, delicately accented with orange blossom and sweetened just a touch by chamomile. Not a flavour-first kind of tea, perhaps, but pleasantly palatable nonetheless. I feel like it did help me sleep a little better too, although the dreams of course were funky (thanks, passionflower!)

Iced! I added 2 bags to 100ml boiling water for 4 minutes, poured over ice, and then topped up with lemonade. Brewed hot I tasted the blueberry very prominently. Cold, the blackcurrant predominates instead, and comes across very jammy; real ribena vibes going on! There is also some tartness from the hibiscus, which gives a thicker mouthfeel than I expected. All in all really quite refreshing, although the juiciness of the blueberry when brewed hot means that method wins overall with me. This would be great in summer though!

So fruity and juicy! I could both taste and smell blueberry a lot more than blackcurrant (which is fine, as I adore blueberry…), and for once the hibiscus didn’t lean too tart/sour. The second tea today that impressed me more than I thought it would, and one I’m also looking forward to experimenting with a little more.

Today’s choice for a post-work wind down tea. The strawberry here is instantly recognisable, and very natural tasting. It pairs fabulously with the chamomile, which gives it an extra hint of honeyed sweetness. The lemon balm adding a soft hint of citrus which pulls the whole thing back from being too sweet. One of the best natural strawberry teas I’ve tried in a while.

Chamomile and vanilla upfront, but with an unexpected roasty/earthy undertone from the chicory. I don’t taste much in the way of cinnamon, cardamom, or apple, so the “spiced” aspect they refer to in the description is, at least for me, somewhat missing here. A nice subtle, calming blend nonetheless, though. I can’t speak for its efficacy really, but I do find that blends like this help me to focus on being more mindful, so there’s that. Possibly more suggestion than science, however!

Sipped on a mug of this today and honestly really enjoyed it. It was a bit more light bodied with a refreshingly sweet and crisp peach and apple profile. Very tender, lush and delicate with floral undertones and just the right amount of sweetness. Really made me think of white peaches and Pink Lady apples. Yum!

2025 herbal/caffeine-free TTB

Still not sure how I feel about this one! When it was hot, I couldn’t pick out much of the vanilla. Now that it’s cooled, I’m clearly getting a creamy vanilla note under the strong peppermint. But I can’t decide whether I actually like that combo in a cold beverage. Very much on the fence still.

First experience with this one … Darjeeling of any kind is not in my active rotation. This bagged version is decent. There’s a little of the grape-iness that I associate with Darjeeling, but it’s mild. Reminds me of a toasted oolong.

Twinings randomly sent me two teabags and a coupon for $1 off. I’ve never interacted with them before, beyond buying tea at a grocery store. So maybe they bought my data somewhere.

The brewed tea smells strongly of peach! The first sip hit me with a strong mix of peach and orange. Oh, there’s some hibiscus flavor too. It’s very tart, not for hibi haters, but I like it. Okay, there’s a hint of orange peel at the end of the sip too. I’ll bet it would be refreshing iced too.

Okay, I put some into a mug and threw it in the freezer for 10 minutes. I like it even better! It’s refreshing, and oddly reminds me of Tang, LOL. Thanks, Twinings!

Twinings was the first Earl Grey tea I ever had; I fell in love with it. Now that I’m older and have to worry about my caffeine consumption throughout the day, I go to Twinings Earl Grey Decaffeinated. As other tasters have already noted, one can let this steep, even forget about it—and it’s still smooth, not bitter. I don’t have a lot to add, save to say I prefer it to the Bigelow Earl Grey Decaf. That one tends to knock one out with over-flavoring. This, the Twinings, is more subtle, and blends better with wanting to rest!

Sipped on this a few days ago while doing a little bit of admin-type work where I needed to be fairly focused. I was correct in my assumption that this would be the kinda tea where it would sort of just fade into the background while I worked. Barely green tea tasting at all, and certainly not matcha. But just a bit citrusy in a soft, mellow way with a more gentle but coating black licorice-y sweetness after the sip from the fennel. For a teabag, it had a fairly fresh feeling that I suppose makes sense with the cleanse positioning. If I was expecting good green tea/matcha I would have been sorely disappointed, but because I think my expectations were relatively low I thought this was just fine.

Made this earlier in the morning today and it was just so fresh and vibrant tasting with a really nice balance of sweet mint notes and crisp, juicy red apple. I don’t know if the mint was actually spearmint or something similar like nana mint or apple mint, but it read a little like spearmint to me and I really enjoyed the soft, cooling feeling it left on the palate after the fruitiness of the apple had passed. Such a good apple flavouring, too!

Decaf & Herbal TTB, tea #3
Not bad, to be honest! Camomile was fine, vanilla wasn’t fake, honey was sweet and surprisingly not fake either. Very mellow and smooth in the throat, relaxing and enjoyable. I wouldn’t drink this one regularly, but it would be nice to have a few, when looking for camomile tea. As I don’t like plain camomile, this seems like a blend that I can drink.

This was too sour and generic. It was okay cold with sweetener, but not something I’d ever want again. It’s definitely what you’d expect from a standard bagged fruity tea.