Surprising Tea Brand Revealed As Nation’s Favourite

All tea drinkers have their own recipe for the perfect cuppa, from the brew time to the level of milkiness. We all have our favourites when it comes to the bag itself too, with big brands like Yorkshire Tea and PG Tips often vying for the title of Britain’s best. Yet a blind taste test has crowned an unexpected winner the UK’s top teabag.

Supermarket Tea Bags Crowned UK’s Finest

The study was conducted by Which?, who enlisted a panel of ‘experienced and committed tea drinkers’ to taste 12 different teas. This included the big hitters like Twinings and Tetley, as well as supermarket brands like Asda, Sainsbury’s, Aldi and Tesco. The judges rated each brew on taste, mouthfeel, aroma and appearance.

It was a close competition, but Asda’s own ‘Everyday’ teabags came out tops – one of the cheapest on the list, costing £1.20 for 80 bags. The testers praised its aroma and appearance in particular, with 68 percent judging the colour as ‘perfect’ and 49 percent calling the flavour ‘just right’.

Three brands came in joint second place: PG Tips Original, Sainsbury’s Red Label and Tetley Original, who all scored 71 percent. Many agreed the cup of PG Tips was ‘just how a cup of tea should look’, while Tetley was commended for its ‘pleasant mouthfeel’.

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Tesco Original Tea and Twinings Everyday came in joint last place, although they only scored slightly lower than their competitors at 67 percent. While two-thirds of the panel enjoyed the bitterness of Tesco Original, 35 percent said it was too dark and 34 considered it not strong enough.

Natalie Hitchins, Which? Head of Home Products and Services, said: ‘A cup of tea is a daily essential for millions and many of us will passionately defend our favourite brand. Our results show that the bigger and more expensive brands aren’t necessarily the best for taste – with a supermarket own-brand costing less than 2p per cup emerging ahead of rivals costing up to four times as much.

‘The scores demonstrate that brands and supermarkets know you can’t get a sub-standard cuppa past a nation of discerning tea drinkers – but Which? has proved that you don’t need to spend a lot for a good brew.’

The experts have spoken, but will you be making the switch?