Great Britain is a nation of serious tea-drinkers, with tea drinking a regular ritual for the entire country. Tea is entrenched in the British way of life and has been an indelible part of British culture for more than a few hundred years. It’s synonymous with England as with the royal family and iconic red telephone booths. And whether the British take their humble cup of tea with milk, sugar, both or black, it’s clear that all of them have a fondness for its flavour. Join us as we delve deeper into some classic English tea brands!
Image cred: Twinings
With 300 years of innovation, creativity and masterblending expertise, Twinings is one of the oldest tea companies in the world but Twinings tea keeps changing with the times. The reliable British tea brand has an incredible heritage as well, with ten generations of the Twinings family at the helm and the British Royal Warrant since 1837. To them, tea is treated with great reverence because tea is more than a drink and has been part of their lives and the lives of generations of tea lovers. Equipped with the Great Taste Award, Twinings strives to ensure the perfection of your multi-sensorial tea drinking experience at all times.
A popular tea brand in England, Yorkshire Tea promises a proper brew of pure and simple tea. The tea giant is literally a cheeky Yorkshire family business that likes to do things properly. Since 1886, the Yorkshire gang has gone to great lengths to make tea, from tasting thousands of teas a day to thinking about the water you’ll brew it with at home, because it makes a proper difference. As tap water in various English regions contain loads of naturally occurring minerals, water is hard with a large concentration of calcium and magnesium salts. Hence with a few clever tweaks, Yorkshire Tea concocted a tea blend to balance that out, allowing customers to enjoy a proper brew, wherever they live. Yorkshire Tea also trades responsibly and has since earned the British Royal Warrant, as an official supplier to the Prince of Wales.
With a heritage of 175 years, you can be sure that Tetley is dedicated to perfecting the perfect cuppa. As the largest tea company in United Kingdom, Tetley offers several blends of black and green teas in both regular and decaffeinated version. Iced tea blends are available as well, uniquely formulated to minimise cloudiness upon refrigeration. What’s more, Tetley has even designed brilliant no-mess products such as Easy Squeeze tea bags! Brew your tea then pull the strings to squeeze the tea bag so then all the flavour drips into your cup and not everywhere else.
Launched in Britain under the name ‘Pre-Gest-Tea’, grocers eventually abbreviated the tea brand name to PG. ‘Tips’ was then added to the name to highlight the fact that PG tips only uses the top two leaves and bud of each plant. People have consumed PG Tips tea since the 1930s, hence PG ensures that all their tea is Rainforest Alliance certified at all times.
With a wide assortment of terrific teas and ingenious pyramid bags (which acts like a mini teapot), PG might just be the nation’s favourite tea. We’re also really impressed with their ‘Perfect with Dairy Free’ range, a blended black tea that’s supposed to taste great with dairy-free alternatives such as soy, almond or oat milk.
We all know that bright yellow label– Lipton has a commanding presence in the global tea market. The brainchild of Sir Thomas Lipton, the brand has been creating little Lipton tea moments with consumers worldwide since 1880. Did you know Lipton was the first tea brand to create tea bags and print brewing instructions on tea bag tags? Samples of tea were placed in small silk bags and sent to customers in the past and customers presumed the entire bag was to be steeped in hot water and voila, the convenient tea bag style was born! Besides, Lipton is also Rainforest Alliance certified, supporting green growers to ensure goodness and sustainability in their teas.
Whittard of Chelsea was founded in 1886 by Walter Whittard. He filled his first shop, from floor-to-ceiling, with the world’s finest tea, coffee and cocoa. Whittard of Chelsea may be an international retailer of various hot beverages but the tea company is famous for their tea (and for good reason)! Walter’s brave new brews of the olden days are now time-honoured classics and the brand continues to improve and introduce new blends on a regular basis. Expect specialty teas in luxurious packaging from all over the globe, from the classic English Breakfast tea to decadent loose leaf versions. Whittard is so confident that you’d love their stuff, they’ve come up with a Taste Guarantee – if anything fails to meet your expectations, you’ll get to return the item for a full exchange or refund.
Image cred: Clipper
Clipper may not be an age-old tea master like the others above, but Clipper was definitely the UK’s first Fairtrade tea company. These tea fanatics pride themselves on bringing you natural, fair and delicious teas that are beautiful inside and out. All Clipper blends, unbleached tea bags and packaging are also said to be artificial-free, rejoice!
Founded in 2006 by two tea addicts, Teapigs makes a huge fuss about drinking real tea with whole leaf, whole herb, whole berries and spices. Not the tea dust you’ll find in regular paper tea bags. Teapigs believes that the tea in regular bags has been chopped and manhandled, so by the time it reaches your cup, almost the original tea flavour is lost. From crop to cup, all Teapigs tea are handled with gentle care and love in nice, biodegrable mesh tea temples, to maintain each drop of that precious tea flavour.
After so much talk from us, which British tea brand are you most inclined to try? We’re so spoilt for choice!
