Tetley Tea Bags

As somebody who loves drinking tea regularly, I have tried out many varieties and brands over the years. I actually have several cups of tea during an 'average' day and so have a well-stocked supply of teabags at home to allow me to indulge my tea-drinking habit as much as I please.

One brand of teabags that are a regular purchase for my household are the 'Tetley Teabags'. I find that they are often available to buy as part of a promotional deal in many supermarkets such as Tesco and Asda and at these times I tend to stock up as I think these particular teabags are of a very good quality and by taking advantage of special offers that are running, I can save myself a little money. These particular teabags come in a variety of sizes such as a pack containing 40 tea bags, 80 bags and 160 bags. I usually opt to buy the pack containing 80 teabags.

The package of teabags is a sort of 'bag' which can be resealed, although I personally decant my teabags into a pretty caddy. I am not sure if the bag can be recycled as there is nothing on the packaging to indicate this to me.

The Tetley teabags are round and so are of course a circular shape. This means that the bags are 'individual' and are not attached to each other like some alternative 'square' bags are. This is preferable to me personally as I find that some of the square bags can tear or rip quite easily when they are pulled apart to be separated, which is a bit of a bugbear of mine. I can see quite easily that each of the Tetley teabags is covered in little holes as you would expect.

I find that the Tetley teabags do not give off much of an aroma or scent when the tea is brewing but this is something I find with most of the teabags that I buy on a regular basis and so I don't think it is a particularly strongly-fragranced drink.

It is not difficult to see that the Tetley teabags are a very good quality as they begin to stew in the boiling water. I can see the dark coloured liquid is very rich-looking and is not at all watery-looking in the way that some cheaper brands of teabags are. Furthermore, it only takes a few moments for the tea to brew completely and there is not much required in the way of stirring or 'agitating' the teabag from me, which is something I have noticed is not always the case with cheaper or more 'budget' brands of teabag. Furthermore, I find that two of the Tetley teabags added to a large teapot is more than enough to produce a perfect pot of tea, whereas with cheaper brands of teabags I would usually need to use three individual bags. This is further evidence for me that the Tetley teabags contain tea that is of a high quality.

The Tetley tea can of course be consumed whilst it is black, but I prefer to add milk. When I am drinking the tea I find again that there is very little in the way of aroma or scent that I can detect from my mug but this is not necessarily a negative point, merely an observation. However, I find that the taste of the Tetley tea is quite rich, full-bodied and very flavoursome. It is not at all bitter, nor is there an annoying after-taste which is something I have come across with other brands of teabags that I have bought before, particularly those that are at the cheaper end of the market, so this is definitely a plus point for me.

Overall, I find that the Tetley teabags are of a very high quality and produce a perfect cuppa for me each and every time that I use them. There is only one flaw with this product for me personally, and that is that the Tetley teabags that I have are not fair trade. I prefer my tea to be fair trade although I tend to find that it makes the product slightly more expensive and I cannot always afford to pay the difference. As it is down to consumers' individual choices, I won't be deducting any points from the product for it not being fair trade and of course I did chose to buy these particular teabags over another brand, but even so, I would prefer it if all tea was fair trade.

Overall, I felt that the Tetley teabags were of a very high quality and so were justified in being slightly more expensive than other brands that are available on the supermarket shelves. I would prefer it if the teabags were fair trade, but the fact that they are not would not deter me from buying them again. I'd recommend this particular brand for a nicely balanced, richly tasting cuppa and rate them full marks!

There is a whole range of products from the Tetley range which can be found in all good supermarkets such as Asda and Tesco. Prices in Asda start from around £1.15 (as at October 2011) for the pack of 40 teabags.