Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea Decaf 40, 125g
Households rarely contain one tea drinker with one set of rules. This box is for the member of the family who has had to stop, and the brief is harder than it sounds, because what they want is not a different tea but the same one, made so that nobody is handed a separate mug and a small apology along with it. On that test it holds up. Forty is also the right quantity for a single drinker in a house of four, where an eighty would still be sitting in the cupboard at Christmas.
Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea Decaf 40, in brief.
Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea Decaf is the everyday Yorkshire blend minus most of its caffeine, in the forty bag box; the teas.co.uk curators chose it because the base is sturdy enough to come through decaffeination with flavour to spare.
Brew it four minutes rather than three: decaffeination alters the leaf and what is left comes out more slowly.
Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea Decaf is the decaffeinated version of the Yorkshire Tea everyday blend, forty bags in a hundred and twenty-five gram box. That works out at just over three grams a bag, which is the same fill as the eighty-bag box: this is the small pack of the same tea, not a lighter one.
Decaf tea has a reputation problem, and it is partly deserved. Taking the caffeine out of a leaf is a physical process, and no process yet invented removes caffeine without taking some flavour compounds along with it. What a good decaf does is begin with a blend sturdy enough to absorb that loss, which is why decafs of brisk everyday teas outperform decafs of delicate ones. Yorkshire is one of those hardy blends. Expect a slightly softer cup than the caffeinated Yorkshire, not a different tea.
Curator notes: our ratings for this forty bag decaf come from our own editorial view of the current box, read against how Yorkshire Tea present the blend. We aim to send the forty bag decaf out in 1 to 2 working days. Steep times, milk ratios and the residual-caffeine note 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
Yorkshire Tea is the blend, Taylors of Harrogate is the family firm behind it, and the pair are strongly enough associated that most people use the names interchangeably. The everyday blend is the backbone of the range, and the decaf sits alongside it rather than below it: same house character, one component removed.
The blend components, the origins, the bag material, any certification marks and the allergen advice all have to be read off the current UK pack. The briskness, malt, body and milk scores higher up are our own editorial judgement, made on the current pack and Taylors' published description.
Packaging: Card, bags and any wrapping may each go their own way; your council and the box will say.
What You Are Actually Buying
- Forty bags, a hundred and twenty-five grams: just over three grams a bag.
- Decaffeinated, not caffeine free: these are different things. Decaffeination removes most of the caffeine, not all of it. Strictly none? Then a herbal infusion, not a decaf tea.
- A robust base: the everyday Yorkshire blend has the briskness to survive decaffeination with something left over. That matters more to the result than the process does.
- What it is not: not a herbal, not caffeine free, and not a lighter-filled bag. The fill is the same as the big box.
Getting It Right in the Cup
- Water temperature: 100°C, off a fresh boil.
- Measure: one bag per 250ml mug.
- Steep: four minutes minimum, five for a fuller cup. Longer than you would brew the caffeinated version.
- Milk: yes, but slightly less. The blend has a little less structure to carry it.
- Two bags: no. Doubling up over-extracts what little tannin is left and gains you nothing in body.
- Iced: brew three bags in 400ml for six minutes, cool, then pour over ice with lemon. It makes the one iced tea you can drink at nine at night.
- Storage: sealed, cool, dark. Decaffeinated leaf is slightly more porous than untreated leaf, so it picks up cupboard smells a little faster.
- Best with: after dinner, late afternoon, or all day for anyone avoiding caffeine.
Source: teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea Decaf 40, 125g, 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: Card, bags and any wrapping may each go their own way; your council and the box will say.
Our commitment to the planet
The taste profile
How does it compare
Decaf needs longer than the caffeinated version of the same blend, and this is the single most useful thing on the page. Decaffeination alters the leaf structure, and the compounds that remain come out more slowly. Four minutes here does roughly what three minutes does to the standard blend.
The Evening Mug
The Evening Pot
Made with this tea
The Evening Mug
An after dark mug of Yorkshire Tea Decaf, brewed the slow way.
- 1 bag Yorkshire Tea Decaf
- 250ml freshly boiled water
- A small splash of milk
- Pour 250ml of water off a fresh boil over 1 bag of the Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea Decaf.
- Steep 4 minutes rather than 3. Decaffeinated leaf gives up what it has more slowly.
- Squeeze the bag once and lift it out.
- Add slightly less milk than you would use on the caffeinated version.
What you'll end up with: The extra minute is the whole trick. Brew a decaf on a caffeinated timer and you will conclude, wrongly, that decaf tastes of nothing.
The Evening Pot
How to make The Evening Pot with Yorkshire Tea Decaf.
- 5 bags Yorkshire Tea Decaf
- 1 litre freshly boiled water
- A warmed teapot
- Milk
- Warm the teapot through with boiling water before you start, then empty it. A cold pot costs a decaf ten degrees it cannot spare.
- Add 4 bags of Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea Decaf 40, 125g, one per cup, plus 1 for the pot.
- Pour on 1 litre off the boil and steep 5 minutes.
- Lift the five bags out together before pouring anything. Standing a decaf with the bags in makes it stewed, not stronger.
What you'll end up with: A pot nobody has to refuse at nine in the evening. That is most of the point of keeping a decaf in the cupboard.
Late Iced Tea With Lemon
How to make Late Iced Tea With Lemon with Yorkshire Tea Decaf.
- 3 bags Yorkshire Tea Decaf
- 400ml freshly boiled water
- Ice, a full glass of it
- Lemon
- Sugar to taste
- Brew 3 bags of Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea Decaf 40, 125g in 400ml for 6 minutes, deliberately strong.
- Sweeten now if at all, while it is hot.
- Cool, then chill thoroughly.
- Pour the cold tea onto a glass heaped with ice and add a lemon wedge.
What you'll end up with: The one iced tea you can hand somebody at nine at night. Six minutes rather than five, because a decaf needs the extra time and ice punishes a weak brew.
Decaf Chai After Dinner
How to make Decaf Chai After Dinner with Yorkshire Tea Decaf.
- 4 bags Yorkshire Tea Decaf
- 250ml whole milk
- 250ml water
- A thumb of fresh ginger, sliced
- 4 cardamom pods, cracked
- Sugar to taste
- Simmer 250ml of water with the ginger and cardamom for 5 minutes before any tea goes in.
- Add 4 bags of Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea Decaf 40, 125g, one more than you would use with a caffeinated blend, and simmer 4 minutes.
- Pour in 250ml of whole milk and bring back to a bare simmer, not a boil.
- Strain into two cups and sweeten to taste.
What you'll end up with: Chai you can drink after dinner. This is the one place where using an extra bag is right, because the spice and milk are both competing with the tea.
Overnight Tea Loaf
How to make Overnight Tea Loaf with Yorkshire Tea Decaf.
- 4 bags Yorkshire Tea Decaf
- 300ml freshly boiled water
- 300g mixed dried fruit
- 250g self raising flour
- 150g soft brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- Brew 4 bags of Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea Decaf 40, 125g in 300ml for 10 minutes and let it go cold.
- Soak 300g of mixed dried fruit overnight in the cold brew.
- Next morning, keeping fruit and liquid together, beat in 250g of self raising flour, then 150g of soft brown sugar, and last of all 1 large egg.
- Bake in a 2lb loaf tin, lined, at 170°C for 60 minutes or until a skewer pulls out clean.
Keeps 4 days in a tin and is better on day two.
Brewing the perfect cup
What’s in it, what to know
Inside the pack
| Ingredient | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Decaffeinated black tea leaf (blend) | Not stated to us | The whole of the cup: a softened briskness, a malty middle that survives the process better than the briskness does, and enough tannin left to take a splash of milk. |
| Fill weight per bag | 3.1g (125g / 40 bags) | Just over three grams, which is the same fill as the eighty-bag box. The small pack of the same tea rather than a lighter version of it. |
Ingredients and allergens. This barcode's published ingredients stop at decaffeinated black tea, so the 14 major allergens are nowhere on the list. Taylors may update this decaf's recipe or allergy wording, so check the box on sale.
Ingredients, as published for this barcode: Decaffeinated black tea.
Ingredient and nutrition data for this barcode: Open Food Facts (openfoodfacts.org), ODbL. Read your own box over this if they ever differ.
Pack: Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea Decaf 40, 125g; a decaffeinated black tea, forty bags at just over three grams each. Best-before date is printed on the pack.
The 3.1g a bag figure is arithmetic on the pack weight and bag count from our own product record, not a brand claim.
Sourcing & blend. Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea Decaf 40, 125g is put together by Taylors of Harrogate, the family firm behind Yorkshire Tea, and the two names are associated strongly enough that most people use them interchangeably. Everyday blends of this kind are built from several origins rather than one, which is what lets the cup stay the same from pack to pack, and in a decaf the robustness of that base matters more to the result than the process does. The way this page describes the taste is our editorial call, judged on today's box and the brand's own published notes.
What's in Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea Decaf 40, 125g, and what isn't:
- In: decaffeinated black tea leaf in a filter bag, and nothing else declared to us.
- No added flavouring: this one is unflavoured black tea, with nothing added for taste. No fruit, no petal and no added aroma in the bag.
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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 Decaf 40, 125g, please cite teas.co.uk.
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