Tea Bags vs. Loose tea leaves

wilko1010

I have been reading this forum for a couple of weeks now and really enjoying saving a bit of cash.

We usually use Twinnings breakfast tea as DH likes teas strong. Thinking of moving onto leaf tea as I read somewhere its a cheaper (and better?) alternative,as I've never used it any one any ideas of a decent blend that won't break the bank and hopefully save a little too?

Cheers

Nicki

razra

I alternate between leaves and bags, living on my own I dont always have time to drink a full pot of tea think I paid £1.18 (??) for a box of leaves which supposedly does 80 cuppas but i get way more than that out of a box but either way cheaper than bags

Having said that I am using PG tea leaves at the moment as they were on offer last time I shopped. Sainsburys own in the red box are quite nice too

If you have a whittards near you they have a range of loose teas so you may be able to get some sample sizes of them to see which you prefer

I do think loose tea is cheaper and you can also make it as strong or as weak as you need

Hope that helps

edited to add heres a link to the sainsburys website with the leaf tea they sell, the red label tea is only £1.02 now

http://www.sainsburys.com/groceries/index.jsp?bmUID=1222767176511

Plum_Pie

I love leaf tea! I would recommend looking in Indian/Turkish shops. I buy huge bags of pure ceylon tea in my local Turkish corner shop. I should say that although the flavour is tastier, it can take longer to infuse and if your OH likes v strong tea, you'll have to experiment with how much to use to get the force of flavour.

wilko1010

Thanks for the reply, its always good to get someone elses opinion.

I have a local sainsburys so I will give their own brand a try when I next go shopping.

Nicki

trying-very-trying

It's definitely cheaper than tea bags. I use it when I make a pot of tea for visitors, but hubby usually makes his own tea, I don't drink tea, and he can't be bothered with the real tea. He says that it's not as good, but he never complains if it's been made for him. He even has one of those little tea infusers, but still he says he prefers his tea bags.

razra

dont forget though that compared to Twinnings it will taste different probably pretty obvious but I remember having a cup of twinings when I was at my friends house and although its supposedly posh tea I much prefer a nice cup of builders tea LOL, I find twinnings a bit perfumey:o

common as muck me :rotfl:

Pink.

Hi wilko,

Welcome to MSE :hello:

There was a recent thread on loose tea versus teabags with lots of recommendations that should help so I'll add your thread to it to keep the replies together.

Pink

Gareth83

could someone recommend a decent teapot for taste when using loose leaf tea?

I understand china is the best for taste but then other sites seem to rate glass.

or should I use an infuser?

confused to be fair

wendy52

My first post...

Whittards sell a great tea pot which has an infuser..the benefit of this is that with practice you know how long to brew the leaves to your own taste then remove the infuser and the tea doesn't stew.
I think daughter bought one from Amazon.

I do as my Gran and Mum did....I mix my teas.
I like Yorkshire tea mixed with the Tesco tea which is in a brown box and costs about 60p so saving me 70p if I used just the Yorkshire.

Hope that helps..

floyd

A brown betty is the only teapot for me, it holds the heat much better than glass pots and doesn't taint the taste. I did try an infuser but found that I could taste a faint metallic nastiness so I stopped using it and OH likes tea like gravy so stewing isn't a problem in our house