Tea Taste Test

[Max250]

Having drank Dilmah for several years which, whilst good, just does not seem to be as good as tea from my youth, I have decided, having got to a certain age, to find my 'forever' tea. A good strong tea in the shed, is a must I think.

I contacted Twinings who have very kindly supplied me with 5 of their black teas free of charge, which seem to me most likely to fit:

348201

The Australian Afternoon Tea was the winning tea by Kevin Rudd from a 'celebrity' blending competition.

Results shortly.

[Max250]

All teas were brewed simultaneously side by side for exactly 3 minutes. Each bag was dunked 3 times. All were given an equal quantity of Devondale semi-skim milk after the tea had brewed. No sugar was added.

There were two ahead of the rest: English Breakfast Extra Strong and the Australian Afternoon, which were also the darkest two when brewed. Of the other 4, only the English breakfast had much in the way of taste, the other 3; Dilmah Extra Strong, Irish Breakfast and Traditional Afternoon, were all fairly flat and too mild for my taste.

Whilst the English Breakfast Extra Strong had more punch, it was punchy in a fairly flat and uninteresting way. However the clear winner (for me at least), was the the Twinings (Kevin Rudd blend) Australian Afternoon Tea. It was both strong and robust and had far more variety of flavours going on than the EB Xtra strong.

348208

1st: Australian Afternoon Tea
2nd: English Breakfast Extra Strong
Equal 3rd: English Breakfast and Irish Breakfast
4th Dilmah Extra Strong
5th: Traditional Afternoon

[Christos]

I have friends that have a large variety of tea in their cupboard. I think it will take them a very long time to finish what I have seen.

You are right concerning the need to have a strong tea in the shed. The thing that I find is that one has to stop and drink the tea before doing any thing else in the shed.

Might need to give that one a go.

[Max250]

As the Australian Afternoon is not cheap at around $10 per 100, I decided to compare it with Yorkshire Tea which is around half the price for 100 bags.
Yorkshire Tea gets very good reviews on Amazon UK and seems to be one of their biggest sellers.
Result: To my taste, whilst Yorkshire Tea is a strongish tea, it lacks a lot in the range of flavours that the AA has and seems to leave a sort of thin 'metallic' aftertaste.
The Australian Afternoon tea has a rounder, fuller taste with no individual afternotes. Best so far? undoubtedly yes, but at this price it needs to be.