Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea Loose Leaf Tea, 250g
Open the caddy expecting long twisted leaves and there is a surprise waiting: this is much closer to what comes out of a tea bag than to the big showy leaf people picture. The blend was built to brew fast and hard, and a fine brisk grade is how that is done. A few of the lower scores come straight from that moment rather than from anything in the cup. What loose actually changes is the friction. There is a strainer to fill, a wet heap of leaf to deal with and a caddy that has to be kept properly shut, and plenty of people try it once, enjoy it properly and are back on bags inside a month. Buy it if the pot and the strainer are already in the cupboard getting no use. It is a strong, high-caffeine black tea that expects milk, and nothing about the format makes it a gentler one.
Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea Loose Leaf Tea, in brief.
Yorkshire Tea Loose Leaf is the blend from the red box sold without the bag, picked into the Teas.co.uk curator selection as the strong everyday tea that gets noticeably better once you control the dose yourself.
A pot, four minutes, then strain it completely off the leaf. You will need an infuser or a strainer, and a heavier spoon buys a stronger cup.
Yorkshire Tea Loose Leaf is the blend most of Britain knows from the red box, sold without the bag. That sounds like a small difference and it is not, because the bag is the thing that decides how much tea you use. Loose leaf hands that decision back to you, which is why the same blend can taste noticeably better out of a pot than it ever does out of a mug.
Two hundred and fifty grams is about a hundred mugs at one rounded teaspoon each, which is roughly 2.5g a cup. That figure is our own estimate on a standard spoon rather than anything printed on the pack, and your own spoon will move it either way: the point of loose leaf is that you can make the cup stronger or weaker without buying a different product.
Curator notes: the tasting profile is our own editorial assessment against the current pack format and the brand's published description. We run same-day UK dispatch on every order placed before 2pm Monday to Friday. Common questions are answered 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 the Yorkshire family firm that blends Yorkshire Tea, and the loose leaf pack is the older idea of the two. Tea was sold like this long before it was sold in bags, and the reason the format survives in a blend this mainstream is that a strong everyday tea is the style that benefits most from being able to control the dose. A delicate tea forgives a clumsy spoon; a strong one rewards a careful one.
The blend is sold as a blend, so we record the origin as a blend and claim nothing about which countries or gardens are in it.
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes.
What You Are Actually Buying
- Weight and yield: 250g, which is about 100 mugs at one rounded 2.5g spoon each, on our own estimate. A heavier hand gives you fewer and stronger cups; that trade is the entire point of the format.
- No bag at all: nothing to dispose of, no bag material question, and no paper taste. You will need a pot with a strainer, an infuser basket or a mesh spoon.
- What it is not: not a speciality tea, not a delicate one, and not convenient. It is a strong everyday blend that expects a pot and a bit of attention.
Getting It Right in the Cup
- Water temperature: 100 degrees, freshly boiled.
- Measure: one rounded teaspoon, about 2.5g, per mug.
- Steep: four minutes, then strain completely.
- Service: with milk. Black at four minutes is brisk and hard work, which is true of most strong everyday blends.
- Storage: an airtight caddy, dry, dark and away from anything strongly scented. Loose leaf takes up smells much faster than bagged tea because nothing is wrapped around it.
- Best with: buttered toast, a bacon sandwich, fruit cake, or a plain biscuit at eleven.
Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea Loose Leaf Tea, 250g, 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: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes.
Our commitment to the planet
The taste profile
How does it compare
Loose leaf changes two things about brewing. The leaf has room to expand, so it extracts more evenly than the same tea compressed in a bag, and you have to take it out yourself, which is the step most people skip. Water straight off the boil, four minutes, then strain it off the leaf completely.
The Pot
The Single Mug
Made with this tea
The Pot
How to brew a proper pot of Yorkshire Tea loose leaf.
- 3 rounded teaspoons Yorkshire Tea loose leaf
- 750ml water straight off the boil
- A warmed teapot with a strainer
- Milk
- Warm the pot with a splash of boiling water and tip it out.
- Spoon in one rounded teaspoon per mug and pour the water straight onto the leaf.
- Steep four minutes.
- Strain the whole pot off the leaf, into cups or a second warmed pot. This is the step that keeps the second cup drinkable.
What you'll end up with: Three mugs of even strength, rounder than the same blend out of a bag because the leaf had room to open.
The Single Mug, Infuser Method
How to make one mug of loose leaf without a teapot.
- 1 rounded teaspoon Yorkshire Tea loose leaf
- 250 to 300ml water straight off the boil
- An infuser basket, not a tea ball
- Milk
- Spoon the leaf into an infuser basket that sits loosely in the mug.
- Pour the water straight off the boil over it.
- Steep four minutes, then lift the basket out and let it drain.
- A spring-loaded ball squeezes the leaf flat and gives a thin cup, which is the fault loose leaf is supposed to cure.
What you'll end up with: A single strong mug with none of the pot-standing problem.
A Strong Mug Without the Hard Edge
How to make it stronger using leaf rather than time.
- 1 heaped teaspoon Yorkshire Tea loose leaf
- 250ml water straight off the boil
- Milk
- Sugar, optional
- Use a heaped spoon rather than a rounded one.
- Steep three minutes only.
- Strain completely and add milk.
- More leaf gives strength; more time gives tannin. That is the whole rule and loose leaf is the only format that lets you apply it.
What you'll end up with: A genuinely strong mug that is still round rather than puckering.
Overnight Cold Brew
How to cold brew loose leaf in a jug.
- 4 rounded teaspoons Yorkshire Tea loose leaf
- 1 litre cold water
- Ice to serve
- A fine sieve
- Stir four rounded spoons into a litre of cold water in a covered jug.
- Refrigerate eight hours or overnight.
- Strain through a fine sieve and serve over ice.
- Cold water pulls almost no tannin, so there is nothing to turn bitter however long it sits.
What you'll end up with: A soft sweet cold tea with almost none of the grip of the hot cup.
Spiced Pot
How to build a spiced pot on a strong everyday blend.
- 3 rounded teaspoons Yorkshire Tea loose leaf
- 700ml water straight off the boil
- 4 crushed cardamom pods and a small piece of cinnamon
- 150ml milk
- Sugar to taste
- Steep the spices in the just boiled water for two minutes before the leaf goes in.
- Add the leaf and steep four more minutes.
- Strain into a jug, stir in warm milk and sugar, and serve.
- A strong malty base is what keeps the tea audible under the spice.
What you'll end up with: A spiced pot where the tea is still the loudest thing in the cup.
Iced Yorkshire with Lemon
How to make iced tea from loose leaf.
- 2 rounded teaspoons Yorkshire Tea loose leaf
- 300ml water straight off the boil
- A full glass of ice
- Lemon
- Honey to taste
- Brew two rounded spoons in 300ml for four minutes and strain completely.
- Sweeten while warm if you want it sweet, then cool it.
- Pour over a full glass of ice with two slices of lemon.
- Double strength is the point, because the ice is about to add the water back.
What you'll end up with: A strong clear iced tea that still tastes of tea once the ice has gone.
Brewing the perfect cup
What’s in it, what to know
Inside the pack
| Component | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Black tea blend, loose | the whole of the pack | Everything in the cup: the brisk lead, the malt behind it, the deep colour and the caffeine. Loose leaf expands fully, which is why the same blend reads rounder out of a pot. |
| Origin | sold as a blend | The pack is sold as a blend, so no country, region or garden is stated. Read the current pack for any origin statement. |
| Leaf per cup | about 2.5g | One rounded teaspoon. Our own estimate on a standard spoon, not a figure printed on the pack, and the single number you control when you buy loose leaf. |
| Cups per pack | about 100 | 250g at one rounded spoon a mug, again our own estimate. A heavier hand means fewer and stronger cups. |
Ingredients and allergens. The published ingredient list for this product names none of the 14 major allergens. Check the current UK pack before purchase; formulations and allergen advice can change.
Ingredients, as published for this product: Black Leaf Tea.
Ingredient and nutrition information for this product, as published on the manufacturer's label. The pack in your hands is the final word.
Pack: Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea Loose Leaf Tea, 250g; an unscented strong everyday black blend in loose form, GTIN 0615357118669. Store in an airtight caddy, dry, dark and away from scented food. Read the ingredient declaration, any certification marks and the best-before date off the current UK pack.
Characterising components shown. The 2.5g per cup and roughly 100 cups per pack figures are our own estimates on a standard rounded teaspoon, are labelled as such, and are not brand claims.
Sourcing & blend. Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea Loose Leaf Tea, 250g is put together by Taylors of Harrogate, the Yorkshire family firm that blends Yorkshire Tea. The loose pack is the older of the two formats, and it survives in a blend this mainstream for a practical reason rather than a nostalgic one: a strong everyday tea is the style that gains most from letting the drinker set the dose. Our assessment rests on the pack format and the brand's published description.
What's in Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea Loose Leaf Tea, 250g, and what isn't:
- In: loose black tea leaf and nothing else. No bag, no tag, no string and no wrapper around the leaf.
- No artificial colours, preservatives or added sugar: an unscented black tea, so there is nothing to colour or sweeten. Any roundness in the cup is malt from the leaf.
- No bag material question: there is no bag, so the plastic-free and compostable questions that attach to bagged tea do not arise for the leaf itself. The outer pack has its own disposal route, printed on it.
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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 Loose Leaf Tea, 250g, please cite teas.co.uk.
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