Taylors of Harrogate Decaffeinated Yorkshire, 160 Tea Bags 500g
The people who buy this already know what they are after. They drink the full-strength blend in the morning and would like the same mug at nine in the evening, and they mostly get it. The rounded malt comes through, the colour comes through, and the milk tolerance comes through, which is the part that separates a decaf worth having from one that goes grey the second the milk hits it. What does not survive is the dry brisk edge on the swallow. Decaffeination takes that and there is no putting it back. What holds the rest together is a proper fill of leaf in every bag rather than a token one, in a blend that had depth to spare to begin with. Give it four minutes rather than two: a short brew is the only reliable way to make this cup disappointing, and bitterness stays so low that six does no harm. One correction worth making, since the word misleads people. Decaffeinated is not caffeine free. A small residual amount stays in the leaf, and anybody who needs none at all wants a herbal infusion instead.
Taylors of Harrogate Decaffeinated Yorkshire, in brief.
Taylors of Harrogate Decaffeinated Yorkshire is the decaffeinated version of the Harrogate house blend, 160 bags in a 500g box at roughly 3.1g of leaf each, picked into the teas.co.uk selection as the decaf that keeps its body under milk.
The full leaf dose is the reason this one still reads as a Yorkshire cup rather than a generic decaf.
Taylors of Harrogate Decaffeinated Yorkshire is the hardest job in decaf tea, and it is largely pulled off. The standard Yorkshire blend wins on weight and rounded malt, and weight is exactly what a decaffeination step takes away. The answer here is leaf dose: 160 bags in 500g works out at roughly 3.1g a bag, the same generous fill as the caffeinated boxes, and that is what keeps the body in the mug.
The result is a decaf that still reads as a Yorkshire cup rather than as a generic one. It colours up properly, it carries milk without going pale, and the finish is warm rather than dry.
Curator notes: the malt, body, smoothness and briskness scores are our own reading of this 160 bag decaf, checked against Taylors' published description. Allow 1 to 2 working days for this 160 bag decaf to be dispatched. The questions lower down tackle caffeine, bedtime mugs, reusing bags and the Twinings decaf.
Curator’s notes
Read the full write-up
The Story Behind the Yorkshire Tea
Taylors of Harrogate is the family tea and coffee business based in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, and the decaffeinated Yorkshire blend is built to sit alongside the standard one rather than to replace it. The house buys to a fixed cup specification rather than from a single named garden, and the blenders taste against that specification through every batch. In a decaf that work matters twice over, because the processing step adds one more variable to hold steady.
Decaffeination is a physical extraction carried out on the leaf before it is blended and bagged. It always costs a tea some of its aromatic lift and some of its structure, which is why a thin decaf tastes hollow in the middle of the cup rather than at the edges. The way to answer that is to start with leaf that has depth to spare and to fill the bag properly, and at roughly 3.1g a bag this one does exactly that.
The decaffeination method used, the residual caffeine level, the bag material, the exact origin statement and any certification marks are printed on the current UK pack and can change, so we do not restate them here. The word decaffeinated promises less caffeine, not zero: some stays in the leaf, so a herbal infusion suits anyone who must avoid it entirely.
Packaging: Your council's rules and the notes on the pack decide where each part of this box goes.
Our Commitment To The Planet
- A 160-bag box carries half the packaging per cup of two 80-bag boxes, which is the simplest saving available on an everyday tea.
- The current UK pack states the bag material and any compostability claim; card, inner film and spent bags each go their own way, so follow the pack and your council.
- Buying the decaf in the same size as the caffeinated box means one delivery for the household rather than two different-sized reorders on different cycles.
Source: teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Taylors of Harrogate Decaffeinated Yorkshire, 160 Tea Bags 500g, please cite teas.co.uk.
The story behind Taylors of Harrogate | Yorkshire Tea
Yorkshire Tea is the family-owned blend out of Harrogate that became Britain's favourite. The Original is the everyday workhorse; Gold steps it up with stronger Assam character; Hard Water powers through limescale areas. Taylors has been in the same family since 1886, sources ethically through the Rainforest Alliance, and famously refuses gimmicks.
Packaging: Your council's rules and the notes on the pack decide where each part of this box goes.
Our commitment to the planet
The taste profile
How does it compare
A decaf built on body needs time more than it needs heat tricks. Water straight off the boil and a full four minutes is the recipe, and because bitterness stays very low you can push to five or six without punishment. Short brewing is the only real way to make this cup disappointing.
The Evening Mug
The After-Dinner Pot
Made with this tea
The Evening Mug
How to make the standard evening cup with Decaffeinated Yorkshire.
- 1 bag Decaffeinated Yorkshire
- 250ml just boiled water
- Milk to taste
- Pour 250ml of water, newly boiled, onto one bag sitting in a warmed mug, then cover.
- Steep for 4 minutes, 5 if you take a lot of milk.
- Squeeze it once against the mug's side before you lift it away.
- Add milk, starting with less than you would use in a weak tea because this one colours up well.
What you'll end up with: A warm, rounded mug that still reads as a Yorkshire cup rather than a generic decaf.
The After-Dinner Pot
How to make a pot after dinner with Decaffeinated Yorkshire.
- 4 bags Decaffeinated Yorkshire
- 1 litre just boiled water
- A warmed teapot
- Milk to taste
- Warm the teapot first with a dash of hot water, then pour that away.
- Add 4 bags and fill with 1 litre at a rolling boil, lid on.
- Steep 5 minutes, then lift all four bags out together.
- Put the milk in the cups rather than the pot so everyone sets their own strength.
What you'll end up with: Four even cups at the end of a meal with nothing to keep anyone awake.
Evening Iced Tea
How to make a caffeine-light iced tea with Decaffeinated Yorkshire.
- 4 bags Decaffeinated Yorkshire
- 500ml just boiled water
- Plenty of ice
- 1 lemon
- Sugar to taste
- Brew 4 bags for 8 minutes in 500ml of freshly boiled water, giving a base at double strength.
- Sweeten while warm if you want it sweet.
- Cool, then pour over a jug packed with ice and add the juice of a whole lemon.
- Serve without milk.
What you'll end up with: A jug with real body to it, which a thin decaf cannot give you once the ice dilutes it.
Decaf Milky Spiced Cup
How to make a spiced milky cup with Decaffeinated Yorkshire.
- 3 bags Decaffeinated Yorkshire
- 300ml whole milk
- 200ml water
- 4 cardamom pods, 1 cinnamon stick
- Honey to taste
- Simmer 200ml of water with 4 crushed cardamom pods and 1 cinnamon stick for 5 minutes.
- Add 3 bags and 300ml of whole milk and hold at a bare simmer for 4 minutes.
- Strain into two cups and sweeten with honey.
- The rounded malt in this blend carries spice better than a brisk tea does.
What you'll end up with: A warm spiced cup for late evening that does not fight the sleep you are heading for.
Decaf Tea Loaf
How to make a tea loaf with Decaffeinated Yorkshire.
- 3 bags Decaffeinated Yorkshire
- 300g mixed dried fruit
- 250g self raising flour
- 150g soft brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- Brew 3 bags, 300ml of freshly boiled water, 10 minutes, then let it go cold.
- Stir 300g of mixed dried fruit through the cold tea and leave it to soak overnight.
- On day two, beat 250g of self raising flour into the soaked fruit, adding 150g of soft brown sugar with 1 large egg.
- Bake in a 2lb loaf tin lined with paper, at 170°C, for 60 minutes.
What you'll end up with: The decaf version of the classic loaf, which matters if children are eating it at teatime.
Brewing the perfect cup
What’s in it, what to know
Inside the pack
| Ingredient | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Decaffeinated black tea | 100% | The only ingredient. Black leaf that has been through a decaffeination step before blending, chosen for body and rounded malt. |
| Added flavourings | none | There are none. Nothing is added to cover the processing step. |
Ingredients and allergens. Decaffeinated black tea is the whole of this barcode's published ingredient list, which leaves the 14 major allergens off it entirely. Decaf method and allergy wording are both subject to change; trust the box on sale now.
Ingredients, as published for this barcode: Decaffeinated black tea.
Ingredient and nutrition data for this barcode: Open Food Facts (openfoodfacts.org), ODbL. Your own box of 160 takes precedence over this summary.
Pack: Taylors of Harrogate Decaffeinated Yorkshire, 160 Tea Bags 500g; roughly 3.1g of leaf per bag, 160 bags per carton, decaffeinated black tea. Best-before date is printed on the pack.
One ingredient means the proportion column has little to do. We arrived at the leaf weight per bag by dividing 500g by 160 rather than reading it off the box, so treat it as a close figure, not an exact one.
Sourcing & blend. Taylors of Harrogate Decaffeinated Yorkshire, 160 Tea Bags 500g is blended by Taylors of Harrogate, the family tea and coffee business based in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. Components are bought to a fixed cup specification rather than from one named garden, and the blenders taste against that specification through every batch. Decaffeination is carried out on the leaf before blending, and the full leaf dose in the bag is what puts back the weight the processing takes out.
What's in Taylors of Harrogate Decaffeinated Yorkshire, 160 Tea Bags 500g, and what isn't:
- In: decaffeinated black tea leaf and nothing else, dosed at roughly 3.1g per bag.
- No artificial colours, preservatives or added sugar: nothing is added to mask the decaffeination step.
- Not caffeine free: a little caffeine is left behind, and the current UK pack gives the amount.
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Source: teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Taylors of Harrogate Decaffeinated Yorkshire, 160 Tea Bags 500g, please cite teas.co.uk.
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