Twinings Tea Blind Taste Test

Twinings Tea ready for tasting

Throughout the day I drink several cups of tea. Starting with a pot of Earl Grey in the morning, through to lemon and ginger at lunchtime and then decaff black tea in the evening. All of these are different brands so I was very willing to try a selection of delicious tea from another brand, this one being Twinings.

If you're a tea drinker everybody has their favourite cuppa and if you get served a different brand sometimes it can be hard to appreciate the finer qualities of some other teas when given the chance. Therefore, I decided the best way to discover some new flavours without prejudice was to have a blind taste test. So I gathered together a crack team of testers for an afternoon of tea in the garden to see what they thought of the three teas.

All the teas were made with freshly drawn filtered water. I stopped drinking fruit and herbal teas when I didn't have a water filter at one point. It really does make a big difference to both the taste and appearance. Each tea was made from a fresh batch of water that was boiled just the once and added straight away to the tea bag. Each tea was prepared as per the instructions on the box.

Twinings Pure Green Tea

Green tea has become very popular in recent years backed by several suggestions of it having many health giving properties. A quick sniff of the tea bag gave the impression this was going to be black tea. What we wanted to know however was did it taste nice? Here's some of our thoughts:

“Delicate”

“Doesn't have the harshness of black tea”

“Very light and refreshing”

“Thankfully no unpleasant aftertaste”

“Perfect for a hot summer's day” (It was very hot for once!)

Overall verdict: Liked all round. If you don't like a 'milky brew' then this is the one for you.

Twinings Soothing Camomile and Honey

I have to admit I have a dislike of camomile tea based on the fact that I think it tastes like boiled pencil shavings. Even though it is blended with honey and also vanilla (listed on the back but not the front) I could detect the camomile. Could the honey & vanilla mask it? This being a herbal tea it is naturally caffeine free.

“This is definitely a camomile tea! I'm not sure anything could mask the taste but the vanilla isn't hiding it.”

“There's a sweetness to it which is nice” (that's the honey!)

“Goes well with an afternoon tea spread as the flavours are quite similar.”

“Far better than just a herbal tea on it own.”

“Good blend of flavours.”

Overall verdict: Not for me but the other testers liked the flavour combinations of the camomile, honey and vanilla. Good for drinking at any time of day.

Twinings The Everyday Tea

When brewed this has a lovely rich chestnut brown colour. As it is a black tea it can and usually is served with milk. As a note on the adding on milk here's my scientific theory on it: Milk is an emulsion and the proper way to dilute an emulsion is to add the diluent to the emulsion. In short, milk in first (I know Nancy Mitford would be horrified).

“A good cup of tea.”

“Very refreshing even on a hot day.”

“A no-nonsense cup of tea.”

“Good blend for a standard tea.”

“Nice aroma.”

Overall verdict: Great tea for everyday as its name suggests.

So three teas all with very different tastes tried and tested with my own expert panel. If you fancy hosting your own blind taste test a selection of tea boxes can be bought from the Twinings online shop.

Twinings sent me the selection of teas for review and no payment was made for writing this post. The views and opinions are my own and the other reviewers.