Go on, go on, go on…
Ah you will, you will, you will, you will, YOU WILL.
Sounds like Bigelow for those folks. The only think I know of in the US sold under the name “English Breakfast Tea” is the Biglow stuff. I don’t think that meets with the high standards of English tea drinkers…but it’s pretty snazzy to us unrefined Yanks.
Speaking of Bigelow, their Cinnamon Stick is the only flavored tea I’ve ever liked.
This is just one man’s opinion, but Giles Hilton, house guru (their word, not mine) at tea and coffee retailer Whittard of Chelsea, lists his favorite teas as Darjeeling, Ceylon and Oolong on the company’s website. (He also likes Maragogype and Pico Duarte coffees, FWIW.)
My parents swear by the Twinings range. I don’t know exactly which one is their favourite, because I can’t stand the stuff (tea in general), but I rarely see any other brand in the kitchen. In the rare event that I do see another brand, it’s usually Earl Grey…
Nope, Twinings makes English Breakfast Tea, as well as Irish Breakfast Tea. In the supermarkets I tend to shop in (ShopRite, Stop n Shop, Fairway), Twinings is on the shelf above Bigelow. Look for a dark green box. Twinings is also the only tea I ever see sold as loose leaf in a tin on a supermarket shelf, unless the market has an endcap with imported foods from Ireland (which is the case around my heavily immigrant-Irish neighborhood) - then you can also get Lyon’s and some others.
Bigelow does make some nice flavored and herbal teas, if you don’t want to shell out for Celestial Seasonings.
Twinings is sold in Ireland as well as Britain, but in both cases it’s aimed at the luxury market. Accepted wisdom here in Dublin indicates that Barry’s Tea is the “best” of the regular brands. I confirm it’s pretty good, though I still go for Typhoo when I see it (though recently I’ve been buying FairTrade).
For the love of all that is holy, if you really like tea, NEVER order a cuppa in a North American restaurant…you will get a little pot of warm(ish) water with a tea bag of apologetic Red Rose or other lightweight excuse for tea on the side. (Of course, if you’re below the 49th, there’s a good chance if you just ask for “tea” without specifying anything else, you’ll get a large glass of iced tea!). And Earl Grey is dishwater, to my taste. We didn’t steal–, errr, build an Empire on that, laddie! If you can’t stand yer spoon up in it, it’s not real tea!
Used to drink Marks & Spencer’s breakfast exclusively, because it was Kenyan tea, and it was great; nice and bright, good and strong without being bitter. But Marks & Sparks closed their last store here in Canada (the one here in Victoria was the only one that showed a profit–no doubt from all the tea drinkers buying tea & biccies!). Now, it’s Typhoo (which is pretty decent; Yorkshire Tea is very good, too–but it’s twice the price at the specialty grocer!)
Don’t even talk to me about strawberry mandrake root tea or lychee licorice ripple tea, unless you’re trying to treat a case of the marthambles, or lycanthropism, or something…
And the British Army was right! A mug of hot, sweet tea is a panacea for anything bar a stomach wound! An ex-tank commander from WW2 told me that in Normandy, whenever they would stop for more than 5 minutes, his driver would stick his head out of the hatch and ask “Time for a brew-up, Skipper?” And from the looks of this Guardian article from the latest Gulf War, things haven’t changed a bit:
Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,931139,00.html
Excuse me! I only drink Lyons Tea, by the bucketfull!! And I cannot tolerate anything else.
I drink it black with two spoons of sugar in an average sized mug. How do the rest of you drink it?
And it wasn’t just the army that was appreciated a mug of hot sweet tea during WW2. Just about everyone relied on tea to get them through the trials of war. During the Blitz , whenever they were needed ,the Salvation Army and the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service would set up their tea waggons and dispense gallons of tea to fire-fighters , rescue workers and civilians alike. No need for stress counselling or other mumbo jumbo , just have a couple of mugs of tea and that will see you right.
Strong and milky.
When I’m arsed, here’s my method*:
Pour hot water into a large mug; let it stand while you’re boiling the water.
Pour out the hot water, throw in the teabag.
Pour the boiling water into the mug through the teabag.
Then don’t touch it. Let it stand for a minimum of 3 minutes. No less.
After 3 - 3.5 minutes, gently lift the teabag out from underneath, taking care not to squeeze it at all. This is very important (this method makes the tea really strong, but not tannic; after 3 minutes with no agitation, the tannin seems to reside in the teabag, and only gets released when you squish it).
Then pour in lots of cold milk, and let rest for a couple of minutes. Divine!
*Otherwise I just make a cup of splosh in about 30 seconds.
Hmmm. Maybe it’s a west thing, but I swear it’s Barry’s Barry’s and more Barry’s here.
And I JJIMM can make me a cup of tea anytime. His way sounds about perfect. Tea is general much better if your mug/pot is pre-warmed. What I really cannot stand is when you go to a cafe and they serve you one of those glass tea-cups full of tepid water and a teabag on the side. This is what you always get in Holland, for instance. shudder
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England is seconds only to Ireland in tea consumption, and they consume about ten times as much tea as the average american. Quoting from tea.org
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In the period 1996-1998, the countries with the highest annual per capita consumption of tea were Ireland (3 kilograms), the UK (2.5 kilograms), Turkey (2.1 kilograms) and Iran (1.5 kilograms).
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Um, That says U.K., not England. 
Re. Lipton’s tea - oddly, I am not sure that I ever see it anywhere, tho’ I don’t care much about tea,a nd just drink any old tea, but Lipton did actually start at the side of the pond.
Best teabag tea I’ve found is Brooke Bond Choicest Blend - Marks ‘n’ Sparks sell it relabelled but for a higher price.The box has the same colour scheme but when you taste both you can tell they are the same product.
Hmmm. I suppose my “throw a mug full of water with teabag into the micro and nuke it for 90 seconds then steep for a minute or so” is right out then, eh?
Remarkable, considering England isn’t quoted on the chart at all. Or did you mean the UK?
IMHO there is no contest: it has to be Tetley.
I drink Tetley’s Orange Pekoe here in the U.S. One thing I hate about Lipton’s is that each bag comes individually wrapped in paper - what a waste. Also, decent electric kettles are hard to come by here.
In the interests of science, I’m going to try it out. Will report back with my opinion.
I used to know a high-up ad man who specialised in retail advertising. He said they’d consistently failed to sell bags with paper and string on them in the UK, so they did some market research and discovered that it was because of a subconscious association with tampons.
Blimey, I had no idea people had such strong preferences about flipping teabags. They all just taste like tea to me. 'Course I’m only a lightweight - I sometimes go an entire day without drinking a cuppa. But FTR: Tetley’s (cos of the cool drawstring), strong, milky, no sugar, the way God intended it.
robo99, the (relative) unavailability of electric kettles in the US has come up before in threads like this. Don’t you have cup-a-soups, hot chocolate, coffee bags etc. in the States? And if so, how do you make them?
OK chique, I’m trying your concoction now, and… er…
There was a slightly worrying froth on the top of the water when I took it out of the microwave. The teabag definitely leached quite well, but the flavour didn’t come through very strongly. It’s also quite tepid. It’s a bit like what you get out of those instant tea machines. However, out of a sense of honour, I shall finish it.