PG Tips Decaf Black Decaffeinated, 70 Tea Bags
Most decaf tea is blended down as well as decaffeinated, which is why so many boxes get bought once and never again. This one keeps its briskness and most of its malt, so it does not read as an apology for the tea it replaces. What it cannot keep is body. The process takes some out along with the stimulant, so the cup sits a shade lighter than the daytime version and drinks easier rather than thinner. Most houses end up with both boxes rather than choosing between them, the big one for the day and this after dinner. Worth saying plainly: decaffeinated leaf still carries a trace, so if you need none at all, a chamomile or a peppermint is the answer and this is not.
PG Tips Decaf Black Decaffeinated, in brief.
PG Tips Decaf Black Decaffeinated is the evening version of the everyday brew, seventy bags of the same brisk, malty black tea with the caffeine taken out after processing, picked into the teas.co.uk curator selection as the after-dinner mug that does not have to be a compromise.
Steep it for three and a half to four minutes rather than three, because the process takes a little body out along with the caffeine.
The thing worth understanding about decaf tea is that decaffeinated does not mean caffeine-free, and the two are not interchangeable terms. Decaffeination is a solvent or carbon-dioxide process applied to finished leaf that strips out the great majority of the caffeine and leaves a small residue behind. A herbal infusion has no caffeine because it has no tea in it; a decaf black tea has very little because it started with plenty. If you can't have any at all, a chamomile or a peppermint is the one to choose, and this is not it.
Curator notes: our scores for briskness, malt, body and astringency come from tasting the current 70 bag box against what PG Tips says about it. We pack and post the decaf, as a rule, in 1 to 2 working days. Steeping adjustments, hard-water notes and what decaffeinated actually means are also published in the detailed Q and A tab below.
Curator’s notes
Read the full write-up
The Story Behind PG Tips
PG Tips is one of the small handful of names that define the British everyday brew, and the decaf sits in the range as a straight swap rather than a separate idea. That matters more than it sounds. A lot of decaf tea is blended down as well as decaffeinated, so the drinker ends up giving up strength as well as caffeine and quietly stops buying it. A decaf worth keeping in the cupboard is one that still tastes like the tea it is standing in for, and that is the standard this one is trying to meet.
All of those, along with the bag material and the current allergen advice, must be read off the current UK pack rather than taken from this page.
Packaging: Recycling the decaf box and its bags is a local matter: read the printed pack, then do what your council asks.
What You Are Actually Buying
- Count: 70 bags, which is one cup each.
- Why more than the caffeinated box: decaffeination is an extra industrial step applied to leaf that has already been processed, and it is paid for somewhere. Decaf tea costs more per cup than the equivalent standard tea almost everywhere, and this is no exception.
- What it is not: not a herbal infusion, not a sleep tea, and not resteepable. It is an everyday black tea with the stimulant taken out.
Getting It Right in the Cup
- Water temperature: 100 degrees Celsius, straight off the boil.
- Measure: one bag, 250 to 300ml.
- Steep: three and a half to four minutes. Longer than the caffeinated box, and for good reason.
- Hard water: a hard-water area hits decaf harder than standard tea because there is less body to spare. Add another thirty seconds on top.
- Storage: sealed, cool, dark, dry and away from coffee and spices.
- Not resteepable: the first steep takes what there is.
- Best with: after dinner, with a biscuit, or as the last drink of the evening in place of the one that keeps you up.
Source: teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference PG Tips Decaf Black Decaffeinated, 70 Tea Bags, please cite teas.co.uk.
The story behind PG Tips
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.
Packaging: Recycling the decaf box and its bags is a local matter: read the printed pack, then do what your council asks.
Our commitment to the planet
The taste profile
How does it compare
Decaf black tea needs slightly more from you than the caffeinated version does. The process takes a little body out along with the caffeine, so a bag pulled early gives you a cup that is noticeably thinner than the equivalent standard brew. The fix is thirty seconds, not a second bag.
The Evening Mug
The Pot
Made with this tea
The Evening Mug
A proper strong mug of PG Tips Decaf for after dinner.
- 1 bag PG Tips Decaf
- Freshly boiled water, 250 to 300ml
- A splash of milk
- Pour just boiled water onto one bag, using a mug you have rinsed with hot water.
- Steep for 3 and a half to 4 minutes, covered if you can.
- Lift the bag out without squeezing it.
- Add slightly less milk than you would to the caffeinated version.
What you'll end up with: An evening mug with the briskness intact, which is the whole reason to keep a decaf in the cupboard.
The After-Dinner Pot
How to make The After-Dinner Pot with PG Tips Decaf.
- 4 bags PG Tips Decaf
- 1 litre water straight off the boil
- Milk
- Warm the pot first by swirling a splash of kettle water round it, then tip that out.
- Add one bag per cup and fill with water straight off the boil.
- Steep for 5 minutes, then lift every bag out before pouring.
What you'll end up with: A pot the whole table can finish at ten at night without anybody regretting it.
Late Iced Tea
How to make Late Iced Tea with PG Tips Decaf.
- 2 bags PG Tips Decaf
- 300ml water straight off the boil
- Half a lemon
- A full glass of ice
- Brew 2 bags for 5 minutes in 300ml of freshly boiled water, then remove them.
- Cool to room temperature rather than icing it hot, which only waters it down.
- Pour it onto a glass full of ice and squeeze in half a lemon.
What you'll end up with: A summer-evening iced tea you can drink at nine and still sleep after.
Decaf Milk Tea Nightcap
How to make Decaf Milk Tea Nightcap with PG Tips Decaf.
- 2 bags PG Tips Decaf
- 200ml whole or oat milk
- 100ml water
- 1 teaspoon honey
- Simmer the water and milk together gently without letting it boil over.
- Add both bags and hold at a bare simmer for 4 minutes.
- Strain into a mug and stir in the honey.
What you'll end up with: A soft, sweet milk tea for the last half hour of the evening.
Decaf Tea Loaf
How to make Decaf Tea Loaf with PG Tips Decaf.
- 3 bags PG Tips Decaf
- •300g mixed dried fruit
- •250g self raising flour
- 150g soft brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- Brew 3 bags in 250ml of water straight off the boil for 10 minutes, then cool.
- Tip 300g of mixed dried fruit into the cooled tea and let it plump up overnight.
- After the overnight soak, work in 250g self raising flour, then 150g soft brown sugar, then 1 large egg.
- Bake at 170°C for 60 minutes, using a lined 2lb loaf tin.
What you'll end up with: A dark fruit loaf. Worth making with the decaf if children are going to eat it.
Brewing the perfect cup
What’s in it, what to know
Inside the pack
| Typical values per 100g, as published | Per 100g |
|---|---|
| Energy | 1 kcal |
| Fat | 0g |
| of which saturates | 0g |
| Carbohydrate | 0g |
| of which sugars | 0g |
| Fibre | 0g |
| Protein | 0.1g |
| Salt | 0g |
Ingredients and allergens. Decaffeinated black tea and natural flavouring make up this barcode's published list; the 14 major allergens are all absent. PG Tips may update the decaf recipe or allergy advice, so check the box on sale before ordering.
Ingredients, as published for this barcode: decaffeinated black tea, natural flavouring.
Ingredient and nutrition data for this barcode: Open Food Facts (openfoodfacts.org), ODbL. Where they differ, trust the printed box over this data.
| Component | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Decaffeinated black tea | The whole of the bag | An everyday black tea blend, decaffeinated after the leaf was made, so the brisk and malty character survives while the stimulant largely does not. |
| Anything else | Not stated to us | No further ingredient is declared to us. If the current box lists anything beyond decaffeinated black tea, the pack governs and this page does not. |
Pack: PG Tips Decaf Black Decaffeinated, 70 Tea Bags; low-caffeine black tea. Store sealed, cool and dry; use within the best-before window printed on the box.
Characterising components shown; the full declaration, the decaffeination method, the bag material statement and any certification marks are on the current UK pack.
Sourcing & blend. PG Tips Decaf Black Decaffeinated, 70 Tea Bags is an everyday British black tea blend that has been decaffeinated. Decaffeination happens after the leaf is grown, picked and oxidised: finished tea is treated so that the caffeine is drawn out and the rest of the leaf is left as intact as the process allows. No process removes caffeine alone, so a decaf black tea always sits a little lighter in body than its parent tea, and side by side the two are close but not the same.
What's in PG Tips Decaf Black Decaffeinated, 70 Tea Bags, and what isn't:
- In: decaffeinated black tea, blended for the everyday brisk-and-malty character and intended to be drunk with milk.
- No added flavouring, fruit pieces or flower petals: this is a plain black tea, not a flavoured one.
Asked about this tea
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Source: teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference PG Tips Decaf Black Decaffeinated, 70 Tea Bags, please cite teas.co.uk.
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