I’ve never been a huge tea drinker. Oh, back in the ’70’s I did my share of herbal teas and gallons of Constant Comment. But, it was living in Tahoe and smoking lots of pot, too. It was what was expected. And for a while in the 1980’s I was buying loose tea from a place called “Cherokee Tea” in St. Louis (they’re long gone…) But, usually, given the choice, I’ll have a cup of coffee. Most commercial American tea has just been too bland for my taste. Just as with coffee, I’m not a huge fan of “flavors” of tea (the aforementioned Constant Comment, excepted.) They all have their place, but, when I want a cup of tea, – just as with my coffee – I want a cup of tea. No milk, cream, sugar, sweetener. Just tea.

And then we visited England a couple of years ago. Having a “when in Rome” mentality, I found myself drinking tea all the time. And it was good. Strong, rich flavor. Not the weak, bland colored water I was used to drinking. We brought several boxes back, and started imploring friends to bring us back more when they traveled across the pond. I started searching out different “English Breakfast Teas” and “English Afternoon Teas.” Good, solid, black tea.

We were out west for my dad’s birthday and ran into Cost Plus to see what was new. We practically lived at Cost Plus when we lived out west. We have furnished half our home from them and I was shopping with them way back in the ’60’s.  But I digress…..

I noticed a box of tea. PG Tips. The box said “A popular British blend of the finest Assam, Ceylon, and Kenyan teas which produces a rich and refreshing flavour. The definative traditional English tea.” Okay. Sounds like what I’m looking for!

Fast-forward… It’s a great tea! And it comes in these neat “pyramid” pouches that, again, according to the box, gives the tea leaves 50% more room to move around than a flat conventional tea bag. So the tea bag works like a miniature tea pot. This allows for all the freshness to be released for the best tasting cup of PG.”

I dunno if it’s the tea bag or not, but it’s a great cuppa tea!