Dalgety Strong Honey & Ginger 18 Herbal, 72g
Four grams of botanical in a bag where a mainstream herbal puts about two. That is what the word Strong on this box is actually describing, and it is the only reason to pick it over the gentler versions of the same idea. The ginger turns up as real heat at the back of the throat rather than a suggestion of it, with the honey note rounding the landing. One bag is ample for a large mug; two is a mistake you make once. Five minutes covered, seven for the full burn. Lemon suits it. Milk has no business anywhere near it.
Dalgety Strong Honey & Ginger 18 Herbal, in brief.
Dalgety Strong Honey & Ginger is a caffeine-free ginger infusion sweetened with honey, eighteen bags in a seventy-two gram box, picked into the teas.co.uk curator selection because of the dose: four grams a bag, roughly double a standard supermarket herbal.
Strong is not marketing here: if you have only met ginger tea at a gram and a half a bag, this will surprise you. Five minutes covered rather than three, one bag and not two, lemon rather than milk. Whether the honey is honey or a flavouring is not declared to us, so check the pack if you buy vegan.
That dose is the whole argument for this box. Most lemon-and-ginger style herbals in a British supermarket run at one and a half grams a bag, and a lot of people conclude from them that ginger tea is a mild, faintly spicy hot drink. It is not; properly made it is a hot one, and at four grams a bag this box proves the point. This is the heavier one by some distance.
Curator notes: we wrote these tasting notes ourselves, working from the box as it is sold now and Dalgety's own description. Dispatch for Strong Honey & Ginger is usually 1 to 2 working days. Steep times, the cold-weather flask build and the ginger strength note are also published in the detailed Q and A tab below.
Curator’s notes
Read the full write-up
The Story Behind Dalgety
Dalgety is already on our shelf, and the range sits in the part of the herbal market that doses its bags heavily rather than elegantly. It is a different design philosophy from the mainstream herbal brands: where a Twinings or a Tetley herbal is built around a light, consistent, everyday cup that anyone will drink, these are built around delivering a lot of botanical per bag to people who want to feel it.
Read it off the current UK pack. Those taste ratings are our own judgement of the four gram bag, checked against today's box and what Dalgety publish.
Packaging: Used bags go one way and the box possibly another; follow the UK pack and your council.
What You Are Actually Buying
- Eighteen bags, seventy-two grams: four grams a bag, which is the number that matters here.
- Naturally caffeine free: there is no tea leaf in the box, so there is no caffeine in it and nothing has been decaffeinated. That is a fact about the plants rather than a process claim.
- Genuinely hot: this is not a gently spiced cup. If you have only met ginger tea at a gram and a half a bag, expect something markedly stronger.
- What it is not: a medicine or a treatment of any kind; it is a hot drink and nothing more. Ginger and honey have been drunk together for a very long time, and that is the whole of the claim we make for them.
Getting It Right in the Cup
- Water temperature: 100°C, straight off the boil.
- Measure: one bag per 250 to 300ml. Do not double up.
- Steep: five minutes covered, up to seven for full heat.
- Milk: no. Ginger at this strength curdles the pleasure of it, whatever it does to the milk.
- Lemon: yes, and nothing you could add does more for it. Juice this time rather than peel, because the heat can take the acidity.
- Iced: brew two bags in 400ml for eight minutes, cool, then pour over ice with lime and a splash of soda. It makes a convincing homemade ginger beer without the sugar.
- Storage: sealed, cool, dark. A heavily dosed ginger bag is aromatic enough to scent a cupboard, and it will pass that on to anything stored next to it.
- Best with: after a heavy meal, on a cold afternoon, or at the point in the week when you want a hot drink that is not another cup of tea.
Source: teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Dalgety Strong Honey & Ginger 18 Herbal, 72g, please cite teas.co.uk.
The story behind Dalgety
Dalgety Herbal Teas was founded by Mark Dalgety, a Guyanese-born chemical engineer who launched his Caribbean herbal teas in the UK in 1993. The company says it sources moringa, soursop and other traditional botanicals from small farmers and communities across the Caribbean, West Africa and Asia. Packaging formats vary by product; check the current pack for disposal guidance. Real ingredients, no synthetic flavourings.
Packaging: Used bags go one way and the box possibly another; follow the UK pack and your council.
The taste profile
How does it compare
A four gram bag needs longer than a standard herbal, not shorter. Dried ginger gives up its heat slowly, and the common mistake is to treat this like an ordinary tea bag, pull it at three minutes and wonder what all the fuss was about. Give it five and keep the mug covered.
The Warming Mug
The Cold Weather Jug
Made with this tea
The Warming Mug
How to make The Warming Mug with Dalgety Strong Honey & Ginger.
- 1 bag Dalgety Strong Honey & Ginger
- 300ml just boiled water
- A squeeze of lemon
- Pour 300ml of boiling water, straight from the kettle, onto one bag of Strong Honey & Ginger.
- Cover the mug and steep 5 minutes, or 7 for the full heat. It will not turn bitter.
- Lift the bag out and squeeze a little lemon in.
- Drink clear. Stick to one bag, because two at this strength is more heat than anyone needs.
What you'll end up with: Heat at the back of the throat rather than a hint of spice. If you have only met ginger tea at a gram and a half a bag, this is a different drink.
Cold Weather Flask
How to make Cold Weather Flask with Dalgety Strong Honey & Ginger.
- 2 bags Dalgety Strong Honey & Ginger
- 600ml just boiled water
- Juice of half a lemon
- 1 teaspoon honey
- A pinch of black pepper
- Steep 2 bags in 600ml of freshly boiled water, keeping the lid on for all 8 minutes.
- Lift both bags out, or the heat keeps building all day.
- Stir in the juice of half a lemon, 1 teaspoon of honey and a pinch of black pepper while hot.
- Pour into a warmed flask.
What you'll end up with: Still good in the afternoon. With no tannin in the blend there is nothing in it to turn bitter, which a black tea would have done within the hour.
Sugar-Free Ginger Beer
How to make Sugar-Free Ginger Beer with Dalgety Strong Honey & Ginger.
- 2 bags Dalgety Strong Honey & Ginger
- 400ml just boiled water
- Ice
- Lime
- 100ml soda water
- Brew 2 bags for 8 minutes in 400ml of water that has only just boiled.
- Cool to room temperature, then chill thoroughly.
- Pour it over ice in a tall glass and squeeze in half a lime.
- Top with 100ml of soda water and stir once.
What you'll end up with: Close to a homemade ginger beer without the sugar load. The heavy dose is what makes this work; a lighter herbal would vanish under the soda.
Honey And Ginger Hot Toddy (Adult)
How to make Honey And Ginger Hot Toddy (Adult) with Dalgety Strong Honey & Ginger.
- 1 bag Dalgety Strong Honey & Ginger
- 250ml just boiled water
- 25ml dark rum or whisky
- 1 tablespoon honey
- Juice of half a lemon
- Steep 1 bag in 250ml of water fresh from the kettle, covered, for 6 minutes.
- Lift the bag out and stir in 1 tablespoon of honey and the juice of half a lemon while still hot.
- Add 25ml of dark rum or whisky last, off the heat.
- Garnish with a lemon slice studded with a clove.
What you'll end up with: A toddy that starts from real ginger heat rather than building it from spirits alone. Adults only, and one is plenty.
Ginger And Lime Granita
How to make Ginger And Lime Granita with Dalgety Strong Honey & Ginger.
- 3 bags Dalgety Strong Honey & Ginger
- 500ml just boiled water
- 80g caster sugar
- Juice of 2 limes
- Brew 3 bags in 500ml of boiling water and leave them a good 10 minutes.
- Stir in 80g of caster sugar until dissolved, then the juice of 2 limes once it is off the heat.
- Freeze in a shallow tray, forking the crystals through every 40 minutes for about 3 hours.
- Serve in small glasses. It is a palate cleanser rather than a pudding.
What you'll end up with: Cold and hot at once, which is an odd and very good sensation. Freezing mutes flavour, so the heavy dose here is exactly what the dish needs.
Ginger Glaze For Salmon
How to make Ginger Glaze For Salmon with Dalgety Strong Honey & Ginger.
- 2 bags Dalgety Strong Honey & Ginger
- 200ml just boiled water
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons honey
- Juice of half a lime
- Brew 2 bags in just 200ml of freshly boiled water for 10 minutes, so it comes out very strong.
- Simmer the infusion with 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and 2 of honey until it reduces to a syrup, about 8 minutes.
- Finish with half a lime squeezed in once the pan is off the heat.
- Brush over salmon fillets in the last 4 minutes of roasting, not before, or the sugar will burn.
What you'll end up with: A sticky ginger glaze with no grating and no peeling. Two bags does the work of a good thumb of fresh root.
Brewing the perfect cup
What’s in it, what to know
Inside the pack
| Ingredient | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Ginger | Not stated to us | The lead, and why you buy the box: heat you feel in the throat, not a vague hint of spice, plus the slightly syrupy body that comes from a heavy dose of dried root. |
| Honey character | Not stated to us | The balancing note. At this strength the ginger needs rounding off, and the honeyed sweetness is doing that job rather than decorating. Whether it is honey or a honey flavouring is not declared to us. |
| Fill weight per bag | 4g (72g / 18 bags) | The one number we can compute rather than hedge, and the most informative thing on this page. Roughly double a standard supermarket herbal, which is what the word Strong on the box is describing. |
Pack: Dalgety Strong Honey & Ginger 18 Herbal, 72g; a naturally caffeine-free infusion, eighteen bags at four grams each. Best-before date is printed on the pack.
Ginger and honey character are the components listed; any unmeasured base accounts for the rest. The four grams a bag figure is arithmetic on the pack weight and bag count from our own product record, not a brand claim.
Sourcing & blend. Dalgety Strong Honey & Ginger 18 Herbal, 72g is put together by Dalgety, a brand already on our shelf through its soursop and ginger line. The range sits in the part of the herbal market that doses its bags heavily rather than elegantly, which is a different design philosophy from the mainstream herbal brands: where those are built around a light, consistent everyday cup that anybody will drink, these are built to deliver a lot of botanical per bag to people who want to feel it.
What's in Dalgety Strong Honey & Ginger 18 Herbal, 72g, and what isn't:
- In: a naturally caffeine-free ginger infusion carrying a honeyed sweetness, with nothing in the bag but the listed components and any infusion base.
- No caffeine: there is no tea leaf in the box, so there is none to remove and nothing has been decaffeinated.
Asked about this tea
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Source: teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Dalgety Strong Honey & Ginger 18 Herbal, 72g, please cite teas.co.uk.
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