PG Tips

One of my favorites when I lived in Edinburgh! Great color, great smell and incredibly fast and easy to make. I always drank mine black, because I’m a strange American, but this tea can hold its own with sugar and a splash of milk.

Breakfast for dinner – English muffin sandwich with smoked gouda, fried egg and ham and PG Tips decaf.

I’m really glad I picked up a box of these when I did – mostly for when I want a plain black decaf, but also now that I know the store I frequent no longer sells this (or any PG Tips for that matter – humph!)!

I really love this for the ease factor too! Two bags, 12 oz. boiling water, half-and-half, with enough sugar to lure an ant colony. Simple comfort in a cup with less caffeine!

This is one of my first teas. It’s the closest thing to what I remember tasting when I was having breakfast in England and first became addicted to tea. It has a very strong, stimulating taste and I used to wake up to it every morning before I realized the dark color will probably stain my teeth and I cut back a lot. That and the palpitations have me inclined to save it for more slow-to-start days.

Tips: I always added creamer/milk and sugar and it becomes a good substitute for coffee. Not for the faint of heart.

Steeped 1 teabag in 9 oz boiling water for 1 min; added 2 tsp white sugar and one tsp evaporated milk. Strong, drinkable, slightly astringent but not to the point of being bitter. I’m VERY glad I read the notes first before steeping, as my typical 4-5 min black tea steeping would have rendered this undrinkable. Even after 30 seconds it looked dark enough by my normal standards.

I surely didn’t need to buy this tea, but I’ve been curious about it, and it was BOGO at Harris Teeter, and therefore half price for one 40ct box. $2.50 seem like an irresistible price based on the prices I’ve seen elsewhere for one box ($5-8, I think?). It will probably be a good base for cold brewed iced tea too if I can get the steeping time/# of bags right. (Actually that will be a project for DH as he’s the sweet tea maker of the household.)

much much better than Lipton, quite enjoyable with milk. Perfectly fine but not extraordinary.

I have written novels about this faithful, uncomplaining, beefy Clydesdale of a tea and have absolutely nothing to add. We are on our second day of sweater weather and I couldn’t help but make a lovely strong wake-up cup with milk.

Snow day! Up to (according to the hopeful drift-lovers in the area) eight inches expected by nightfall. (Don’t laugh at me, Maddy Barone, I know this is just skiffles compared to yours.) Although I am a confirmed winter-hater, it is a pretty one—fat flakes coming straight down, calm and quiet.

But since school got called and I had planned a couple days off toward the end of the week for work-at-home purposes, I just got the boss’ blessing to rearrange their order.
(And yes, I have been working away all morning. It’s break time.)

And since it’s break time, snow day tradition calls for a full pot of strong and fortifying PG Tips with milk. Nothing new to say about it, other than it’s dark and sharp and what one needs when you’re droopy. Evidently not everybody values it like I do, according to an article shared by another builders’ tea fan:

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/jan/30/you-cant-instagram-tea-is-trouble-brewing-for-the-classic-cuppa

Say it ain’t so.

Although PG Tips are accessible locally in the bagged version, loose-leaf hasn’t been around, judging from my tasting notes, for 5-6 years. The drought is over. The family Giftmeister saw to it that there was a multi-pack under the Christmas tree. So glad to have some back under my roof. Winter morning wakey-wakey is getting harder these days.

For those of you who have never imbibed, the only way to describe PG Tips is “just plain good strong tea.” No flavory or flowery nuances, a little sharp on the tongue if you steep too long; a lovely blank canvas for milk.

You’ve been there. It’s the last ounce of “it’s getting old, but if I drink it now, it will be gone!”

However, we had our first frost of the season last night, my flannel sheets were far too cozy, and I had to get my chilly hindquarters out the door. Builders tea required.

For the record, I realize PG Tips isn’t exactly a rare breed; I just can’t find the loose leaf locally any more and I’m cheap—hate paying shipping on something I should be able to find at the grocery store.

Breaking in to the distressingly dwindling hoarded stash this morning: can now find PG Tips bagged locally, but not loose leaf. But some cold mornings, strong, sharp, stout builders tea is the only thing that will do. Like when it’s your week to teach seventeen fifth and sixth graders who are post-Thanksgiving sated, have been cooped up inside during a four-day weekend because of a multi-day deluge, and pre-Christmas hepped. Praying for grace and a sense of humor!

When there’s a (-) in front of the number on the thermometer, nothing else will do. Strong and warm as wool socks.

Thunder-sleet. Nasty. Cold. Blech. This is the only thing that will do. Stout, strong, warm, reliable, cheap. (Same qualities one needs in a spouse? ;)

You have heard everything I have to say about my beloved PG Tips looseleaf (dark, strong, punchy) so I wandered onto their website to see if I could find a postworthy tidbit. Here’s one:

http://www.pgtips.co.uk/newrange/
New varieties. A STRONG blend of PG Tips, as if the original won’t boot you out the door in the morning. Anybody seen these in your locality in the US? (We’re lucky to have the conventional type available.)

I am a walking cuppa Lapsang Souchong … we burned a huge pile of dead limbs (tree limbs, not people parts) in the back yard this afternoon. Had a quart of good old PG Tips chilled in the fridge to swig—strong and straight enough for my sweaty spouse to guzzle without quibbling about it.

I don’t like subtle iced teas. I need my cold stuff to whap me upside the head. This does exactly that.

Page 232 of Ye Olde and Flaky Tea Drinker’s Companion (I made that up, don’t look for it on Amazon) states flatly that when the morning temperature dips below 20 degrees, nothing but PG Tips will antifreeze you. Who am I to argue.

No real maple syrup in the house, but a drizzle of Aunt Jemima made it almost as good as pancakes.

So much going on to distress and distract (today, car wouldn’t start; isn’t life messy?) I’ve ruined more cups of tea than I’ve gotten right over the past week.

Therefore, I turned to my old friend, no-fail, can’t-mess-it-up-no-matter-what. I’m sure I have a few more of those that would qualify, but this one was the first that came to mind and to hand.

How about you? Other teas you can’t goof with whether you understeep, oversteep, or use the wrong temp?