Yea, I had a good free coffee thing going forever between jobs, including working as a barista and office jobs, and when covid first started for awhile my work was sending using their office coffee budget to send us individual bags of coffee (to help support the local coffee businesses that they get it from). When that ran out, I saw my coffee budget rise to $15/month from $0/month, and then it went up to $20 as my consumption went up and inflation on coffee increased. Recently, decided to take a coffee break and go back to tea and it is going great, but will likely cost more overall because of my ahem sophisticated tea tastes.
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Have you tried a 45 second steep with a cheap black tea? (Boiling water has to be poured in as well.) It’s so good with my liquid stevia. Zero bitterness. I swear it tastes like I am drinking heated honey – a big treat for a diabetic like myself who can’t tolerate any sugar. Longer steeps make the cheap black tea taste so bad and nasty.
Perhaps the shake tea leaf has shorter brew time because of more surface area?
I’ll have to try your tea just to see what it is like 
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Well I do taste a difference between Twinings and PG Tips. I liked the PG Tips better. Most people in England drink PG Tips (vs Twinings) a British guy told me. I can see why.
Why not for the heck of it try the GV tea for $2.12… brew it for 45 seconds after pouring boiling water in… so easy… and it’s so good. Most of the time black tea tastes bad because people brew it too long letting it get bitter.
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I don’t know if i’ve ever done as low as 45 seconds. I think the shortest I’ve seen recommended is 2 minutes. I always follow the instructions like a nerd, I even have a teapot with six different temperature settings for different types of tea. I don’t know if shudder I can drink anymore cheap black tea after that tea I drank over and over on the tran-siberian. (I guess I do drink it on airplanes all the time).
I’m a big fan of bergamot, so I tend towards the flavored black teas. But they don’t need any sweetener luckily.
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Oh thank goodness.
Totally support your love for the GV plus stevia combo! I just was shocked you didn’t notice the differences.
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I can confirm this based on my English roommate and my London coworking office. It was impossible to get decent coffee in that office, meanwhile…unless you walked over to the coffee shop run by a australian barista. All the non-brits in that office had their coffee secrets.
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An English friend of mine, a very respectable chef – I’m into cooking as well-- told me a couple years ago told me how to make a perfect mug of black tea.
He said take the room temp mug and pour boiling water in it, wait a few seconds and then pour the water out. Then put the tea bag in and pour in more boiling water. Let it steep for 30 seconds dunking twice, then discard. I did that and had the best cup of black tea I’ve ever had, zero bitterness and full of flavor.
Only thing is when you preheat the mug like this and then pour boilign water in it… it’s so hot you have to be very careful with it and let it cool down for a couple minutes before you can safely sip it.
So as an alternative I start with a room temp mug with tea bag in it. I pour the boiling water in it and let it steep for 45 seconds instead, since it wasn’t pre-warmed. I get great results this way.
If I wait 2-3 minutes the tea is noticably more bitter. I don’t taste any bitterness at 45 seconds and it tastes like honey with the liquid stevia
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Sorry I probably phrased it wrong. I didn’t really care for the flavor of the Twinings. I mean it was a close second to the PG Tips but I just like dthe tips better. I agree they taste different.
I tried both English Breakfast and Earl Gray Twinings… I can’t recall which I liked better… I think it was the English Breakfast. To be honest this was like 15 years ago… I quickly decided I did like PG tips better. But then I got some bad tasting PG Tips a couple years back.
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If the opportunity comes up (like a fancy place out) try their Irish Breakfast. It is closer to PG Tips. Yorkshire and Yorkshire Gold are also nice if you like PG tips. And if you visit Canada, one of our cheapest blends is Red Rose, which I like second to and cheaper than PG Tips.
Typhoo is really good too. Nice rocket fuel.
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I don’t know what black tea they make in China, but I heard it originated there. We were buying 100 bags of a particular Chinese black tea for $5 (from our local Asian market) up until we switched to GV black tea for $2.12. I decided to give it a shot expecting the GV tea wouldnt taste as good. I was shocked to find that they really did taste identical. I went back and forth between the two brands every other mug of it and it tasted the same. So we just get the GV now. I suppose I should buy another box of Twinings and PG Tips and do another comparison.
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I’ll try the Irish Breakfast, PG Tips as well as the Yorkshires… just to see how they compare to the GV black tea and report back I’ll try and be as discerning as possible
I am pretty discerning for most cooked food. I like cooking and consuming food from all around the world. American, BBQ, Cajun, Texmex, Mexican, German, Spanish, English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Indian, Thai, French etc…
We’ll see how I do with tea now I’ll report back
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It might be best to visit the UK for the taste test 
. Sadly a lot of brands have a version for each market (which is probably how you got some bad tea)
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trader joe’s irish breakfast is very respectable! it has a maltiness that i really enjoy.
i do love my PG tips but 30 seconds is not a long enough steep for me. 3-5 minutes is perfect imo. before 3 it’s too weak and after 5, it’s bitter tannin-y in an unpleasant way.
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What is the temperature of the water you are using to steep it? Should be boiling. May have to preheat mug with boiling water first then discard that water, for a 30 sec brew. I do 45 secs with room temp mug.
yes, i use boiling water from the kettle.
I like how quickly we took this from frugality to flying to england to try some tea
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For me 45 seconds, the tea is really dark. it doesn’t get any darker when I leave it in longer, only more bitter. hrm.
I think it really depends on the tea. I follow directions.
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probably depends on your taste, too. some people like it stronger, others prefer it less strong.
i like it a little stronger than my husband, maybe because i use milk and he doesn’t. i think the PG tips box says 3 minutes, and i like that, up to 5 minutes or so. after that it’s too cold and astringent.
I like it VERY strong, but not bitter. More than 4-5 minutes for the black tea and it’s way bitter. I like with herbal tea you can leave it in forever.
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