Wednesday 30 April 2014

PG Tips: Vibrant Mandarin Orange Green Tea: Not What I Was Hoping For


Now, this review is a first. You may (or may not!) of noticed that this is the first review for a blend of PG Tips tea. I will be completely honest with you, I've not brought PG Tips in years. It's a long story, but to give you a very brief idea, I brought a box of their tea when I started drinking tea and it wasn't quite right. It wasn't a big issue, but I contacted customer services after I was referred to them from Tesco's. And to this day, I've never been sent an apology, an explanation or even 'we are looking into this'. I was completely ignored. 

It's things like this that can make or break a brand for me. I know if it were Twinings, I would of been contacted. I know if it had been most brands of tea, I would of heard from them, so, I just never really purchased tea from them again. Not out of protest, but, I had simply discovered Twinings and that was that!

Recently, PG Tips had been advertising big time. In fact, it's almost a battle now between Tetley Tea and PG Tips for air time. 

PG Tips have launched a new fruity based tea. I have to say  the adverts are amusing, I like the monkey dressed up in exotic fruits. When I saw they had released a mandarin flavoured green tea I was kind of eager to try it. Yes, I'll admit that clever advertising won me over, something which I'm not normally prone too.

So, whilst visiting my local Sainsburys (a store I don't often visit) I checked out the tea aisle and saw they had it for £1 a box. A bargain, so I picked one up. 

This tea has everything I love about tea. I love green tea and I love orange. And I love the two together. Would this be straight up my street? I thought it probably would be!

When I brewed a cup this afternoon I was interested in how it was going to taste, and to be frank, was interested in how a company that specialises in black tea would come up with a green tea.

I did, however, like the monkey!

 

I followed the instructions to the letter and took my first sip. 

To say I was underwhelmed would be about right. The flavour of this tea is lovely. The mandarin is just a little bit tart, which is different and enjoyable. There is nothing wrong with the blend of this tea, it's downfall is it's just a bit too weak. I had to work really hard to detect the fruity flavour. I was just a bit disappointed.

So, this evening, I brewed a second cup, using two teabags this time. 

The flavour was a little stronger, but still, it's missing something. It just lacks a certain oomph, it lacks a bit of power, and it lacks depth.

There is no way that you should have to use two teabags just to get a decent brew. 

It's such a shame because the flavour of the mandarin is gorgeous, the green tea is nice and the two flavours work well together. It's just a shame that it's not just a bit stronger. 

However, this tea may work for you if you don't like fruit flavours in tea being too strong. It's great for lovers of pure green tea as well, as it has just a dash of mandarin flavour!

I really had high hopes for this tea, and  it didn't quite work for me. I think I'm used to very prominent flavours and this is just a bit too delicate for my tastes. 

But, considering it's price of £1 for a box of twenty, it's no big deal. I'll send some off to a fellow blogger, Rebecca and finish off the box. At least I've tried it!



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