PG Tips
The pyramid bag pioneer, the kettle's best friend since 1930.
PG Tips is the Brooke Bond brand that brought the pyramid tea bag to British kitchens and gave us the chimps adverts. Solid everyday black tea, dependable, mass-market and fairly priced. Owned by Lipton Teas & Infusions; the leaf is sourced from Rainforest Alliance certified estates.
PG is brisker than Yorkshire, lighter than Tetley, and brews a more "morning" cup than either. The Kenya-led blend gives it the bright, slightly sharper character that the chimp-advert generation grew up on. If you take milk and sugar, this is your tea. The pyramid bag isn't marketing fluff either, it genuinely lets the leaf move and gives a fuller cup than the round-bag version.
About PG Tips
PG Tips is one of the handful of teas that defined the British cuppa. It launched in 1930 as Pre-Gest-Tea, shortened by the trade to PG and finished off by the public with Tips, and became as famous for its advertising, the chimps and later Monkey, as for the tea itself. The 1996 pyramid bag was a real technical step, giving the leaf far more room to infuse than a flat bag. PG Tips is now part of Lipton Teas and Infusions, the dedicated tea company carved out of Unilever, and for most of its life it was the flagship of Brooke Bond, which is part of why it carries a weight of nostalgia newer names cannot manufacture.
The range covers strong black, a stronger version, decaf, green and a broad fruit and herbal line, all built on the same brisk, no-nonsense character. PG Tips was the first major British tea brand to commit to sourcing all its tea through the Rainforest Alliance, a pledge made in 2007, well ahead of rivals, and it switched early to a plant-based bag with recyclable cartons. For our shelf PG Tips is the strong everyday English bag done properly: built for mugs and milk, fast, dependable, and one of the best-value strong blends in British retail. It does not pretend to be a single-estate indulgence and never needed to, because the strong builder's cup at a fair price is exactly what it does about as well as anyone ever has.
Key facts
Brand timeline
Brooke Bond launches the tea that becomes PG Tips, a strong British black tea later famous for its chimp adverts.
Unilever completes the sale of its tea business, including PG Tips, to CVC Capital Partners; it now trades as Lipton Teas and Infusions.
Chosen by hand for the shelf; every line we stock is listed on this page.
Sustainability
PG Tips sits within the Lipton Teas and Infusions sustainability framework that was spun out of Unilever in 2022, focused exclusively on tea and infusions. The PG Tips supply chain is Rainforest Alliance certified across the majority of the range, with plant-based PLA mesh tea bags replacing the polypropylene-sealant traditional format. Outer cardboard cartons are fully kerbside recyclable across the UK.
Top picks
PG Tips Original English Breakfast in the eighty-bag pack is the famous builders'-tea brand at its everyday best, a brisk, robust, full-bodied amber cup made for high-volume households and offices. It is…
PG Tips Gold Special Blend 70 Tea Bags is a 203g box of black tea blended from hand-picked leaves from Rwanda, Kenya and Assam. The current pack describes a velvety, indulgent cup…
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes.Curator notes: the tasting profile reflects our own editorial review against the current pack format and the brand…
PG Tips Original 400 Tea Bags is a large 1.16kg catering pack of full-bodied black tea. The current pack describes a refreshing, flavourful blend made for a dependable everyday cup.At a glance:…
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PG Tips: Frequently Asked Questions
Teas.co.uk stocks 15 PG Tips products, with live prices and stock shown on this page. UK delivery is free over £35.
PG Tips is one of the handful of teas that defined the British cuppa. It launched in 1930 as Pre-Gest-Tea, shortened by the trade to PG and finished off by the public with Tips, and became as famous for its advertising, the chimps and later Monkey, as for the tea itself. The 1996 pyramid bag was a real technical step, giving the leaf far more room to infuse than a flat bag. PG Tips is now part of Lipton Teas and Infusions, the dedicated tea company carved out of Unilever, and for most of its life it was the flagship of Brooke Bond, which is part of why it carries a weight of nostalgia newer names cannot manufacture.
Launched in the UK in the 1930s, building brand identity through decades of iconic monkey-led advertising campaigns.
PG Tips sits within the Lipton Teas and Infusions sustainability framework that was spun out of Unilever in 2022, focused exclusively on tea and infusions. The PG Tips supply chain is Rainforest Alliance certified across the majority of the range, with plant-based PLA mesh tea bags replacing the polypropylene-sealant traditional format. Outer cardboard cartons are fully kerbside recyclable across the UK.
Use fresh, just-boiled water for black teas (around 100°C) and slightly cooler water (75 to 85°C) for green and white teas, steeping 2 to 4 minutes to taste. See the teas.co.uk brewing calculator for the ideal temperature and time for each tea.















