It's official, I'm running out of teabags!!! What am I going to do next month??? What am I going to drink for my afternoon tea??
I do have a wide selection of teabags at home, but being a Brit, I'm quite particular with the type of tea I drink and how its made. Although I have over 600 teabags at home, not all of them are my cup of tea (excuse the pun _ ) so things are getting a bit urgent right now. Actually, for the non Brits, let me take you through some of our finest.
PG Tips is one of UK's most, if not the most popular brand of tea. They've been around for nearly 90 years and are most famous for the PG monkey used in their adverts. I've no idea what monkey has to do with tea, but everyone thinks of the PG monkey when they PG tea is mentioned. So, it's definitely left it's mark with people. The other thing about PG Tips is its unique pyramid shape teabag. I think, but can't be certain they started making pyramid shape teabags to improve the circulation of the tea leaves and thus enhancing the flavour. I'm not sure if it enhances the flavour, but the theory about improving the circulation of the tea leaves does make sense. PG Tips is actually my second favourite tea out of this lot at home as it makes a strong enough brew which I like
The other thing I like about PG Tips, which has nothing to do with their brew, is how they incorporate the British tea drinking culture into their packaging. Everyone likes their brew differently. Some like is weak (urghh!!!) and some like it really strong. I'm probably somewhere between Stew the Brew and Tight Squeeze.
My least favourite is Twinnings Every Day tea. Twinnings is a 300 year old brand, you can probably call it one of our national treasures. Their range of herbal and fruit teas are a very popular gift for tourists visting UK. Although they say this is a rich and full bodied tea, it really falls below standard in my opinion. It's probably one of the weakest tea I've drank, bordering tasteless. I feel like they've created an everyday cheap range to capture the mass market but still try to leverage the Twinnings brand. In case you're wondering why I have a box at home when I rate it so low, well, my lovely family know I love my tea, so bring me teabags when they come over from UK to visit. They also know I drink Twinnings, but probably didn't realise Twinnings does many types of tea.
Typhoo is another old brand and is even older than PG Tips. It was launched in 1903 about 30 years before PG Tips. We always drank Typhoo at home when I was a kid because that's what my dad used to drink, so for me Typhoo has a sentimental value. That's why my other family members bought me a few boxes when they came out from UK. To be honest, Typhoo isn't a bad brew in itself, especially if I add in the sentimetal factor. This would be my third favourite out of this lot.
Teapigs is a newer brand that's been on the market since 2006. They don't have the legacy like the other brands, so focus on the modern factors like sustainability and eco friendly. They've been very successfull since their launch and are now one of the more popular 'new brands' of tea. Like PG Tips, their tea bags are pyramid shapes, but they call them temples. Made of biodegradable material of course. I don't normally buy their normal brew as they are much more expensive than the others, and works out around double the price per cup. This packet was bought by a friend when she came out from UK the other month. (You starting to get the idea about how popular British tea are as a gift?)
Early Grey tea is what I would call fancy tea. I alway think people are a bit pretentious when they order earl grey tea when they go for a proper English afternoon tea. That's not to say it isn't a good tea. The issue I have with it, is that I can never make up my mind if I should add milk to it. I always do when I have my tea, but milk and earl grey taste a bit funny for me. And if I don't add milk, I don't feel like I'm drinking English tea (as opposed to Chinese tea where you never add milk). Does that make sense.....?
Now you may wonder why I'm complaining when I have so much tea at home. My problem is that my favourite brew, Twinnings English Breakfast is about to run out soon. My last re stock was last November when I got my sister to get me 5 boxes from UK, that's 1000 bags. I'm down to my last packet of 100, and I had to open that yesterday. So now I'm down to 96 bags.
I can't really explain why this is my favourite tea, after all to most people, a cup of tea is a cup of tea, especially when it's all black tea. Perhaps I like it because I'm used to the flavour, perhaps of the packaging, perhaps of the colour of the tea after I add the milk in, or perhaps there is not reason. Just because.
Despite my mumbling and grumbling about running out of Twinning English Breakfast, luckily they are available in one of my local supermarket. They had a big stock in for about half a year ago and every time I walk past the aisle, I see the stock has dropped a little. I have resisted buying because I still had stock at home and also because it is quite a bit more expensive than UK, for obvious reasons. I guess the the time has now come where urgency prevails over resistance.
I'm going to leave you with this sign I saw recently. This probably explains why I like drinking tea.