How do you like your tea? (Picture: Getty Images)
If there’s one thing that’s bound to divide Brits, it’s tea — whether it’s milk before water, to stir or not to stir, and how long to leave it to brew.
The brand of tea you drink can also cause uproar, with some being devout Twinings fans, and others only ever buying Yorkshire Tea.
But is there a ‘best’ brand of tea? Well according to the consumer champions at Which.co.uk there certainly is, and the winner of their taste test might surprise you.
In a bid to determine what the nation’s favourite cuppa is, they assembled a panel of 79 experienced and committed tea drinkers from across the country, who tried 12 different teas — from supermarket own-brands, to bigger brands.
This included PG Tips, Tetley, Twinings, Yorkshire Tea, as well as Asda, Sainsbury’s, Aldi, and Tesco ones, and the competition was pretty close.
Asda’s £1.20 Everyday Tea Bags nabbed the top spot. (Picture: Asda)
The tea bags were all tested in August 2024 and each brand was given a score based upon the taste (50%), mouthfeel (10%), aroma (20%), and appearance of each brew (20%).
Surprisingly, it was Asda’s Everyday Tea Bags (£1.20 for 80) that came out victorious, earning an overall score of 72% and also being named Which?’s Best Buy and earning a Great Value accolade.
The panel rated the tea highly for its aroma and appearance, with more than two-thirds of those taking part saying the colour was ‘spot on’ and around half saying the flavour was ‘just right’.
Following closely behind in second place, with a score of 71%, was PG Tips Original, a much pricier option at £3 for 80 bags. For 68% of the group, the colour was deemed to be ‘how a cup of tea should look’.
Twinings Everyday Tea scored the lowest. (Picture: John Keeble/Getty Images)
Tetley Original also scored 71% as people thought it had a ‘pleasant mouthfeel and enticing aroma’. However it ranked below PG Tips as 27% of those who tried it claimed it was ‘too bitter’ for their taste. Sainsbury’s Red Label also received the same score.
Aldi’s Diplomat Red Label, Co-op’s 99 Blend Fairtrade Tea, Waitrose Essential Original Blend Tea Bags and Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea all came next, sharing an overall score of 70%.
For Yorkshire Tea, half of the panel were happy with the strength of flavour but a third (32%) wanted it stronger.
This put Twinings Everyday and Tesco Original Tea at the bottom of the leaderboard with a score of 67%.
But with only a 5% difference between the highest and lowest ranking teas, it could be argued that these two brands aren’t exactly the ‘worst’ per se, they just aren’t quite as good as the others.
The results of the tea taste test…
Asda Everyday Tea Bags (£1.20 for 80), 72%
PG Tips Original (£3 for 80), 71%
Tetley Original (£2.50 for 80), 71%
Sainsbury’s Red Label (£1.25 for 80), 71%
Aldi’s Diplomat Red Label (£1.85 for 160), 70%
Co-op’s 99 Blend …read more
Source:: Metro
