Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea 160, 500g
Water matters here more than the pack does. In a hard-water area the minerals bind with the tannin and flatten the brightness out of a Yorkshire mug, which is why two people can drink the same box three counties apart and describe two different teas. Add thirty seconds rather than a second bag, and a filter jug changes it more than most people expect. Otherwise: one bag holds up even in a large mug, four minutes with milk, three without.
Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea 160, in brief.
Yorkshire Tea is the strong end of the British everyday shelf, here in the 160-bag household size, picked into the teas.co.uk curator selection as the everyday tea that still tastes of tea after a generous splash of milk.
That extra leaf is the whole argument for it. Four minutes with milk, three without, and take the bag out before it turns harsh.
It is the tea for a house where the mugs are large, the milk is not rationed and nobody is counting the seconds on the steep. Drunk black it can read as heavy. Made the way it is meant to be made, with milk and a full three to four minutes, it gives the deep coppery cup that people move to when a lighter everyday blend has started tasting thin.
Curator notes: we scored briskness, malt, tannin grip and milk tolerance ourselves, going by the household box as sold and the way Taylors describe the blend. A 500g household box like this is usually posted out in 1 to 2 working days. Storage, steeping times and the hard-water adjustment are also published in the detailed Q and A tab below.
Curator’s notes
Read the full write-up
The Story Behind Taylors of Harrogate
Taylors of Harrogate is a Yorkshire tea and coffee house, and Yorkshire Tea is the blend the rest of the range is measured against. It sells on strength and consistency rather than on origin storytelling, which is the correct emphasis for a tea bought 160 at a time. Our own Taylors coffee lines sit elsewhere on the shelf; this is the tea that gave the name its reach.
Packaging: The box tells you where its card and bags should go; check that against what your council collects.
What You Are Actually Buying
- Count and weight: 160 bags in 500g, which is about 3.1g of leaf a bag. That is worked out from the pack figures rather than a printed serving weight, and it is the single most useful number on this page: it is roughly a quarter more leaf per bag than the lighter everyday bags.
- Built for milk: this is a blend that assumes milk is coming. If you drink tea black by preference, shorten the steep rather than the leaf.
- One bag, one mug: 160 bags, 160 cups. A second steep from an everyday black bag gives colour and nothing else.
- What it is not: not a decaf, not a single-origin, and not the separate hard-water version sold under its own name. This is the standard blend.
Getting It Right in the Cup
- Water temperature: 100 degrees, freshly boiled.
- Measure: one bag per 250ml, and one bag still holds up in a 400ml mug.
- Steep: four minutes with milk, three without.
- Hard water: minerals bind with tannin and flatten the brightness, so in a hard-water area add thirty seconds rather than a second bag. A filter jug changes the cup more than most people expect.
- Storage: sealed, dry, away from coffee and spices. A 160-bag box stays open for months.
- Best with: a bacon sandwich, buttered toast, parkin, fruit cake, or a biscuit sturdy enough to dunk.
Source: teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea 160, 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: The box tells you where its card and bags should go; check that against what your council collects.
Our commitment to the planet
The taste profile
How does it compare
A heavier bag changes the brewing arithmetic. Three grams of leaf releases more in the same time than two and a half, so Yorkshire goes wrong the other way from most bags: over steeping is the risk, and a bag left six minutes turns harsh, not just strong.
The Standard Mug
The Pot for Four
Made with this tea
The Standard Mug
The everyday Yorkshire mug, made the way the blend expects.
- 1 bag Yorkshire Tea
- 250ml water straight off the boil
- A generous splash of milk
- Pour 250ml of water onto one teabag of Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea while the kettle is still rumbling.
- Steep for 4 minutes if you take milk, 3 if you do not.
- Lift the bag out with a light press against the mug as it goes.
- Add the milk last. A generous splash; this blend was built to be tasted through it.
What you'll end up with: A deep coppery mug with the malt still recognisable under the milk, which is the whole point of the heavier bag.
The Pot That Does Not Stew
How to make a pot for four with Yorkshire Tea.
- 4 bags Yorkshire Tea
- 800ml water straight off the boil
- A warmed teapot
- Warm the teapot: a little boiling water swilled round, then poured away.
- Pour 800ml of freshly boiled water over 4 bags and steep for 4 minutes.
- Lift all four bags out together before the first cup is poured.
- A cleared pot holds for twenty minutes. Left on its bags, a blend this strong is stewed inside five.
What you'll end up with: Four consistent cups rather than one good one followed by three that get progressively sharper.
Hard Water Adjustment
How to brew Yorkshire Tea in a hard water area.
- 1 bag Yorkshire Tea
- 250ml filtered water, boiled
- Milk
- Filter the water first if you can. A jug filter removes enough of the dissolved minerals to change the cup noticeably.
- If you cannot filter, add about 30 seconds to the steep instead, so roughly 4 and a half minutes.
- Do not reach for a second bag. That adds strength you did not lose, and grip you did not want.
- Descale the kettle regularly; scale in the water carries straight into the mug.
What you'll end up with: The brightness the minerals were flattening, back where it should be, without the cup turning harsh.
Double Strength Iced Tea
Strong Yorkshire brewed to stand up to a glass of ice.
- 4 bags Yorkshire Tea
- 500ml water straight off the boil
- A full glass of ice
- Lemon
- Brew 4 bags in 500ml from a just boiled kettle, giving them 4 minutes. Deliberately double strength.
- Sweeten now if you want it sweet, while the tea is still warm.
- Cool, then chill.
- Pour it over a glass crowded with ice, adding a lemon slice.
What you'll end up with: Iced tea that still has malt and body once the ice has melted, which a normal-strength brew never manages.
Overnight Cold Brew
How to cold brew Yorkshire Tea.
- 6 bags Yorkshire Tea
- 1 litre cold water
- A sealed jug
- Drop 6 bags in a sealable jug and pour over 1 litre of cold water.
- Refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.
- Lift the bags out and keep the jug chilled for up to two days.
- Drink it black over ice. Cold brew and milk are not a good match.
What you'll end up with: The malt depth without the tannin grip, which is a surprisingly different drink from the same bag.
Strong Tea for a Fruit Loaf
How to use Yorkshire Tea for soaking fruit in baking.
- 3 bags Yorkshire Tea
- 300ml water straight off the boil
- 300g mixed dried fruit
- Brew 3 bags for 10 minutes in 300ml of just boiled water, which leaves it far too strong to drink.
- Lift the bags out and pour the hot tea over 300g of mixed dried fruit.
- Soak overnight, covered, at room temperature.
- Use the fruit and its liquid in a tea loaf or a fruit cake the next day.
What you'll end up with: Plump fruit with a tannic background that stops the loaf tasting flatly sweet. A strong blend does this better than a light one.
Brewing the perfect cup
What’s in it, what to know
Inside the pack
| Component | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Black tea | the whole of the blend | Everything in the cup: the malt depth, the tannin grip that carries milk, the colour and the caffeine. |
| Leaf per bag | about 3.1g | Our arithmetic on 500g across 160 bags rather than a printed serving weight. Roughly a quarter more leaf than a light everyday bag, and the reason the cup holds up through milk. |
| Added flavouring | none | A plain black tea. Fruit pieces, petals, flavouring and sugar are all absent. |
Ingredients and allergens. Taylors list black tea and nothing else for this 160 bag box; the 14 major allergens do not feature. Long running lines like this can be reformulated or relabelled, so read the UK pack you buy.
Ingredients, as published for this product: Black Tea.
Ingredient and nutrition information for this product, as published on the manufacturer's label. Even so, the box in your cupboard has the last say.
Pack: Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea 160, 500g; a strong everyday black tea in round bags. Store sealed and dry away from strong smells, and read the ingredient declaration, certification marks and best-before date off the current UK pack.
Characterising components shown.
Sourcing & blend. Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea 160, 500g is blended by Taylors of Harrogate, a Yorkshire tea and coffee house whose name reaches furthest through this blend. It is sold on strength and batch-to-batch consistency rather than on origin storytelling, which is the right emphasis for a tea bought 160 bags at a time. What we say about it here comes from the 160 bag pack itself and the description Taylors publish.
What's in Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea 160, 500g, and what isn't:
- In: black tea leaf in a round bag, at about 3.1g a bag, with nothing blended in alongside it.
- No artificial colours, preservatives or added sugar: nothing is flavoured, sweetened or coloured here; it is straight black tea. Any sweetness in the cup comes from the leaf and from a well-judged steep.
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Source: teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea 160, 500g, please cite teas.co.uk.
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