Tips accepted
We drink tea. Not as much as the English people we know, but a couple of cups a day. Our favorite tea is PG Tips, which is the bestselling tea in England. It’s about what you would expect of the bestselling tea in England: unthreatening. It’s smooth and not very tannic. The second-bestselling tea in England, Typhoo, is very tannic. I guess it’s like the choice between red delicious and granny smith apples.
Sometimes I flirt with other teas. I tend to order lapsang souchong, the smoked tea, whenever I see it on a cafe menu, because I’m not allowed to make it in the teapot at home: it makes the next six pots of tea smokehouse-fresh. But I always come back to the familiar flavor of PG Tips.
That’s why I was excited about Amazon Grocery. Thanks to Grocery and one of the Amazon Prime free trials they’ve been giving out, we got six boxes of Tips (240 bags) for about half what we would have paid at the supermarket. Then I got all excited. “If we can save 50 percent on tea, think of all the other savings we will achieve through Amazon Grocery. We will have that pony in no time.” The pony does not qualify for Amazon Prime, but millions of other great products do!
So I spent half an hour browsing and turned up absolutely nothing else I wanted. Not microwave popcorn. Not lavender dishwashing detergent. Not La Tempesta Grande Biscotti (almond, semi-crunchy). I believe “La Tempesta Grande” is Italian for “the perfect storm.”
If you’re in England, I assume 240 bags of PG Tips is a week’s supply. Then again, if you’re in England, you don’t have Amazon Grocery.
Comment by duchess
We have a box of Twinnings’ lapsang souchong - we use it whenever family visits who claim to be tea-snobs to show them they have no idea what tea can be like. It’s fun, but I always need to air out the kitchen afterwards.
Posted on August 17, 2006 at 5:17 am
Comment by Emily Cartier
It sounds like you prefer an English Breakfast style blended tea. Have you looked at going to loose tea instead of bagged? I find I use less loose tea to make a pot, so it ends up costing less.
And well, at the rate I’d use lapsang souchong, I don’t buy it. It goes nicely with barbecue or firey dishes, and we don’t have those often.
Posted on August 17, 2006 at 5:51 am
Comment by mamster
Emily, for a while we were using a loose tea from Harrods. It works well for us when Laurie and I drink our tea at the same time, which is rare at this point. (I realize this is hopelessly uncivilized.) Loose tea for one involves cleaning a strainer or something else that I’m too lazy to do.
Posted on August 17, 2006 at 7:15 am
Comment by heather
i apologize in advance for this irritating thing i’m about to do, but i don’t know how to do that magic clicky-hide-a-link-behind-a-gray-word dealie.
lookit here! springloaded, individual tea strainers! ooo!
Posted on August 17, 2006 at 1:29 pm
Comment by mamster
That is exactly what I need! Actually, it’s not, but it looks cool. I fixed your link. The way to do it is:
Posted on August 17, 2006 at 3:33 pm