Tea bags in?

swimcatsmom
Sat, 01 Dec 2012 12:42:44 +0000

A Brit here. Very few Brits nowadays use loose leaf tea - none that I know of actually. I would never leave the tea bag in my mug as it would get much too stewed. But our tea does tend to be considerably stronger than the American tea (doesn’t usually come with strings either). One of the hardest things for me when I moved here was finding decent tea but happily we discovered an English grocery store about 100 miles away - life saver even though they charged $18 for a box of about 240 tea bags even 20 years ago. Nowadays even the small town I live in has a little international section and sells my favorite PG tips triangular bags. It is a crazy price over here though so I still tend to stock up when I go home each year - if customs ever opens my bag they may wonder why I have 1000 tea bags in there - about a year’s worth for me. (and my dear SIL sends me care packages from England now and then).

If you want a strong cuppa try your International/ethnic aisle at the grocery store for my favorite, PG tips (in the triangle bags if they have it). I like my tea strong but if you leave it in there too long it will be really stewed and probably quite nasty.

This thread reminded me of my visit home this last summer - I was horrified when I ordered tea in a cafe in my Mum’s town this summer and they brought me hot water and a tea bag instead of brewed tea :eek: . Now that’s not British at all. First time that ever happened to me in an Engish cafe!