PG Tips Original Black Tea 210, 609g
Bigger boxes are where the leaf usually gets quietly thinner. This one does not: two hundred and ten bags carry the same fill as the standard boxes, so what you are buying is more tea rather than more cardboard. The cup is brisk and forward and modest underneath, and it makes no secret of that. Nobody drinks this hunting for a second layer. What it does is taste right at ninety seconds on a morning when you have not got three minutes, and still taste right at four. Worth knowing for a large mug: two bags for two minutes beats one bag for five, because stretching the steep keeps adding grip long after it has stopped adding depth. This is the tea a household of six all agree to drink, which is a different kind of achievement from being the best cup in the cupboard.
PG Tips Original Black Tea 210, in brief.
PG Tips Original in the 210-bag size is the big box of a brisk everyday black tea, picked into the teas.co.uk curator selection for a household that gets through it faster than it thinks about it.
The same leaf weight as the standard boxes, so the difference is in the pack size rather than the bag. Three minutes, then the bag out before the milk.
PG Tips Original in the 210-bag size is the big box, and it is not a lighter bag in disguise. Two hundred and ten bags in 609g is about 2.9g of leaf each, the same leaf weight as the standard 160-bag boxes.
The blend itself is the brisk end of everyday tea: forward, bright and quick to give up what it has, which suits a household where the kettle goes on every hour and nobody is timing anything. It is not the deepest cup available and it is not trying to be. It is the one that tastes right after ninety seconds when you have not got three minutes, and still tastes right at four.
Curator notes: we scored briskness, malt, grip and milk tolerance ourselves, tasting the big 210 bag box against what PG Tips publishes. Even a box this heavy is usually on its way in 1 to 2 working days. The Q and A tab below takes on bag weight, weak cups, big mugs and iced tea.
Curator’s notes
Read the full write-up
The Story Behind PG Tips
PG Tips is one of the long-standing fixtures of the British tea aisle, and it sits where it does because it is consistent rather than because it is unusual.
That means the ingredient declaration, the bag material and shape, any certification marks and the allergen advice all have to be read off the current UK pack rather than taken from this page.
Packaging: Plenty of card comes with 210 bags; sort it and the used bags by the pack and your council.
What You Are Actually Buying
- Count and weight: 210 bags in 609g, which is about 2.9g of leaf a bag. That is worked out from the pack figures rather than a printed serving weight, and it is worth knowing because it shows the big box is not a lighter bag in disguise.
- Brisk rather than deep: the blend gives its flavour up quickly, which makes it forgiving at short steeps and unremarkable at long ones.
- One bag, one mug: 210 bags, 210 cups. There is no second steep worth having from an everyday black bag.
- What it is not: not a decaf, not a single-origin, and not a heavier blend in a bigger box.
Getting It Right in the Cup
- Water temperature: 100 degrees, freshly boiled.
- Measure: one bag per 250ml, two for a large mug.
- Steep: three minutes, or two and a half if you like it lighter.
- Storage: keep it shut and dry, well clear of coffee and spices. A 210-bag box is open for a long time in most houses, so keep it closed properly between cups.
- Not resteepable: one bag, one cup.
- Best with: toast, a bacon sandwich, digestives, or anything that wants a cup of tea rather than a specific one.
Source: teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference PG Tips Original Black Tea 210, 609g, 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: Plenty of card comes with 210 bags; sort it and the used bags by the pack and your council.
Our commitment to the planet
The taste profile
How does it compare
A brisk blend rewards a short steep and punishes a forgotten one less than a heavier tea does, but the usual everyday fault still applies: colour arrives long before flavour, so a bag pulled at ninety seconds because the mug already looks brown gives a cup that tastes hollow.
The Standard Mug
The Pot for Four
Made with this tea
The Standard Mug
How to make the standard everyday mug with PG Tips Original.
- 1 bag PG Tips Original
- 250ml water straight off the boil
- A splash of milk
- Pour 250ml of water, freshly boiled, onto one bag of PG Tips Original Black.
- Steep for 3 minutes, or two and a half if you like it lighter.
- Lift the bag, giving it a light squeeze on the side of the mug as it comes out.
- Add the milk last, after the bag is out.
What you'll end up with: The familiar brisk everyday cup, bright at the front and clean at the finish.
The Large Mug, Two Bag Method
How to make a 400ml mug of PG Tips Original without over-steeping it.
- 2 bags PG Tips Original
- 400ml water straight off the boil
- Milk
- Use 2 bags rather than stretching one.
- Steep for 2 minutes only.
- Lift both bags out together and add a generous splash of milk.
- Two bags briefly gives strength; one bag for five minutes gives grip, which is not the same thing.
What you'll end up with: A properly strong large mug that tastes of tea rather than of tannin.
The Pot for Four
How to make a pot for four with PG Tips Original.
- 4 bags PG Tips Original
- 800ml water straight off the boil
- A warmed teapot
- Warm the pot first: a splash of boiling water swirled round, then emptied.
- Pour 800ml of just-boiled water over 4 bags and steep 3 minutes.
- Lift all four bags out before the first cup is poured.
- A cleared pot holds for twenty minutes; one left on its bags goes flat and sharp.
What you'll end up with: Four cups that taste the same as each other, which is harder than it sounds and the main reason to warm the pot.
Double Strength Iced Tea
How to make iced tea with PG Tips Original.
- 4 bags PG Tips Original
- 500ml water straight off the boil
- A full glass of ice
- Lemon
- Brew 4 bags for 3 minutes in 500ml of water just off the boil. Deliberately double strength.
- Sweeten now if you want it sweet, while it is warm.
- Cool, then chill.
- Pour it over plenty of ice in a glass, with a slice of lemon.
What you'll end up with: Iced tea that still tastes of tea once the ice has melted into it.
Overnight Cold Brew
How to cold brew PG Tips Original.
- 6 bags PG Tips Original
- 1 litre cold water
- A sealed jug
- Drop 6 bags in a sealed jug and cover them with 1 litre of cold water.
- Refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.
- Lift the bags out; chilled, it keeps for up to two days.
- Drink it black over ice.
What you'll end up with: Soft, faintly sweet and almost free of grip. A different drink from the same box, and a good use for the last of a big one.
Strong Tea for Soaking Fruit
How to use PG Tips Original for soaking dried fruit in baking.
- 3 bags PG Tips Original
- 300ml water straight off the boil
- 300g mixed dried fruit
- Brew 3 bags with 300ml of just boiled water for a whole 10 minutes, far stronger than you would ever drink.
- Lift the bags out and pour the hot tea over the dried fruit.
- Soak overnight, covered, at room temperature.
- Use the fruit and its liquid in a tea loaf the next day.
What you'll end up with: Plump fruit carrying a tannic background that stops a tea loaf tasting flatly sweet. An everyday box is exactly the right tea for this job.
Brewing the perfect cup
What’s in it, what to know
Inside the pack
| Typical values per 100g, as published | Per 100g |
|---|---|
| Energy | 4 kcal |
| Fat | 0.5g |
| of which saturates | 0.1g |
| Carbohydrate | 0.5g |
| of which sugars | 0.5g |
| Protein | 0.5g |
| Salt | 0g |
Ingredients and allergens. This barcode's published ingredients amount to black tea and nothing else; the 14 major allergens do not feature. Recipes and allergy wording can be revised by PG Tips; read the current UK box first.
Ingredients, as published for this barcode: Black tea.
Ingredient and nutrition data for this barcode: Open Food Facts (openfoodfacts.org), ODbL. If anything differs, the box you are holding settles it.
| Component | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Black tea | the whole of the blend | Everything in the cup: the briskness that leads it, the moderate tannin grip that carries milk, the colour and the caffeine. |
| Leaf per bag | about 2.9g | Our arithmetic on 609g across 210 bags rather than a printed serving weight. The same leaf weight as the standard 160-bag boxes. |
| Added flavouring | none | A plain black tea. It has no fruit, petals, flavouring or sugar added to it. |
Pack: PG Tips Original Black Tea 210, 609g; a brisk everyday black tea, GTIN 08720608036752. Store it sealed, dry and clear of strong smells, and check the current UK pack for its ingredients, bag material, certification marks if any, and best before date.
Characterising components shown.
Sourcing & blend. PG Tips Original Black Tea 210, 609g is blended by PG Tips, a long-standing fixture of the British tea aisle that trades on consistency rather than on origin storytelling. We base these notes on the 210 bag pack and PG Tips' own published description.
What's in PG Tips Original Black Tea 210, 609g, and what isn't:
- In: black tea leaf in a bag, at about 2.9g a bag, with nothing blended in alongside it.
- No artificial colours, preservatives or added sugar: nothing goes into this plain black tea to colour or sweeten it. What sweetness there is belongs to the leaf itself.
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Source: teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference PG Tips Original Black Tea 210, 609g, please cite teas.co.uk.
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