# Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea Loose Leaf Tea, 250g ## Commerce action policy **Price:** £4.80 GBP **Purchase-intent URL:** `https://teas.co.uk/buy/taylors-of-harrogate-yorkshire-tea-loose-leaf-tea-250g/` _Do not fetch, prefetch, crawl, iframe or autonomously open this URL. It is only for explicit human purchase intent._ --- **Canonical URL:** https://teas.co.uk/product/taylors-of-harrogate-yorkshire-tea-loose-leaf-tea-250g/ **Source:** teas.co.uk, UK tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent **Brand:** Taylors of Harrogate | Yorkshire Tea **Price:** £4.80 GBP **Caffeine:** Caffeinated **GTIN:** 615357118669 **Stock:** instock ## Summary 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.Ingredients and dietary suitability: 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.Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes. 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.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. ## Description 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. The Taste Profile Strength: ●●●●● (5/5) The blend is built to be strong, and loose leaf lets you take it further than the bag ever does. A heaped spoon is a very different cup from a level one. Malt: ●●●●○ (4/5) Rounded and slightly sweet under the briskness, and more obvious out of a pot than a mug because the leaf has room to move. Briskness: ●●●●○ (4/5) Sharp and clean, which is what has kept this blend in kitchens. It is the first thing you taste and it gets out of the way quickly. Milk tolerance: ●●●●● (5/5) Total. This is a blend that expects milk and improves with it, and the loose version takes it even better because the cup underneath is fuller. Teas.co.uk Curator Rating: 4.7 / 5 - Our expert verdict from the curators at Teas.co.uk 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. How Does Yorkshire Tea Loose Leaf 250g Compare to: Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea 160, 500g: the same house in the familiar bagged form, on a 3.1g bag. The bags win on convenience and lose on control; the loose leaf gives a fuller cup out of a pot and a weaker one if you are careless with the spoon. Twinings English Breakfast Loose Tea, 125g: the tea-house version of loose leaf, lighter and more restrained, and sold in a smaller pack. Twinings for a measured breakfast cup; Yorkshire for a strong mug with milk. Barry's Tea Gold Blend 80, 250g: the Irish equivalent in bagged form, rounder and maltier where Yorkshire is brisker. Both are built for milk and both are strong; the Barry's is the softer of the two. Ideal Brewing Conditions 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 Measure: one rounded teaspoon per mug. The old instruction to add an extra spoon for the pot is a matter of taste rather than law, and with a blend this strong we would leave it out. Water: straight off the boil at 100 degrees, poured onto the leaf rather than the leaf dropped into standing water. Steep: four minutes. The leaf is loose, so it extracts a little faster than the same tea in a bag. Strain completely: this is the step that matters. Tea left sitting on loose leaf keeps extracting, and by the second cup it is hard rather than strong. Milk: generously. This is the blend milk was made for. The Single Mug Use an infuser basket rather than a ball. A ball squeezes the leaf together and gives you a thin cup, which is exactly the fault loose leaf is supposed to fix. One rounded teaspoon to 250 to 300ml, four minutes, then lift the basket out. A heaped spoon at three minutes is the trick for a strong mug without the hard edge that a long steep produces. 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. Safety And Purity Ingredients and dietary suitability: 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. The cup yield figure: about a hundred mugs from 250g is our own estimate at one rounded 2.5g spoon per cup. It is not a brand claim and it is not printed on the pack. Use a heavier spoon and you will get fewer cups and a stronger one. Origin: the pack is sold as a blend and we record it as a blend. Certification: large tea brands often carry marks of this kind; the box in front of you is the authority, not this page. Caffeine note: a caffeinated black tea, placed at the high end of our own scale for the style and because loose leaf lets you use as much as you like. Child safety: caffeinated, and easy to make very strong by accident. Not a children's tea; keep out of reach. ## Product Questions How much loose leaf should I use per cup?One rounded teaspoon per mug, which is roughly 2.5g. That is our own estimate on a standard spoon rather than a figure printed on the pack. The old rule about an extra spoon for the pot is a matter of taste, and with a blend this strong we would leave it out.How many cups will 250g make?About a hundred mugs at one rounded spoon each, on our own estimate. A heavier hand gives you fewer and stronger cups, and that trade is the entire point of buying loose leaf rather than bags.Do I need any special equipment?A teapot with a built-in strainer, a separate tea strainer, or an infuser basket that sits in the mug. Avoid the little spring-loaded tea balls: they squeeze the leaf together so it cannot expand, which produces exactly the thin cup loose leaf is meant to fix.How long should I brew it?Four minutes with water straight off the boil, then strain it completely off the leaf. Loose leaf extracts slightly faster than the same tea in a bag because nothing is compressing it.Why does my second cup taste hard?Because the pot is still brewing. Tea left standing on loose leaf keeps extracting long after the flavour has finished arriving, so it goes hard rather than strong. Strain the whole pot off the leaf at four minutes and the second cup will taste like the first.Is it the same blend as the tea bags?It is sold as the same Yorkshire Tea blend in a different format, and the practical difference is control rather than recipe.Where does the leaf come from?The pack is sold as a blend and we record it as a blend. If the current pack carries an origin statement, that is the one to trust.Does it take milk?It expects milk, and it is better with it. This is a strong brisk blend with enough malt behind it that milk rounds the cup rather than washing it out. Drunk black at four minutes it is hard work.Can I cold brew loose leaf?Yes, and it is easy. Four rounded teaspoons in a litre of cold water in a covered jug, eight hours in the fridge, then strain it through a fine sieve. The result is soft and sweet with almost none of the grip.How should I store it?In an airtight caddy, dry, dark and away from strongly scented food. Loose leaf takes up kitchen smells far faster than bagged tea, because there is no paper wrapped around it. Do not keep it in the fridge.Is loose leaf better for the environment than bags?It removes the bag itself, which is the component people usually ask about. The current box states its own disposal route. ## Ingredients & Nutrition 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.ComponentProportionWhat it bringsBlack tea blend, loosethe whole of the packEverything 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.Originsold as a blendThe pack is sold as a blend, so no country, region or garden is stated. Read the current pack for any origin statement.Leaf per cupabout 2.5gOne 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 packabout 100250g at one rounded spoon a mug, again our own estimate. A heavier hand means fewer and stronger cups.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. ## Flavour Science The flavour of Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea Loose Leaf Tea, 250g is built in three layers, and reading them in order explains exactly why the cup tastes the way it does from the first lift of steam to the last swallow.The outer layer is aromatic and, as with every unscented black blend, it is quiet. Warm, bready, faintly sweet. What is different here is the dry leaf rather than the cup: loose tea smells of itself in the caddy in a way bagged tea never does, and that is worth a moment before you spoon it out, because the smell of the dry leaf is the fastest test of whether a pack has been left open too long.The flavour spike arrives mid palate with the briskness first, sharp and clean, and the malt filling in behind it. The reason this reads fuller than the same blend out of a bag is mechanical rather than magical: loose leaf in a pot has room to expand to its full volume, so water passes through all of it, where a bag compresses the leaf into a flat pad and the centre of that pad extracts less. Same tea, more of it actually working.The base structure is the finish, and with a strong everyday blend it is the part that decides whether the second mug is welcome. Held to four minutes and strained properly, it finishes clean with a slight dryness that milk rounds off. Left standing on the leaf it keeps extracting, and the finish turns hard and puckering in a way that no amount of milk covers. Loose leaf gives you a better cup and a shorter window; those are the two halves of the same property.Getting it right in the cup. One rounded teaspoon per mug, water straight off the boil poured onto the leaf rather than the leaf dropped into standing water, four minutes, then strain the lot off completely. Use an infuser basket rather than a spring-loaded ball, because a ball squeezes the leaf together and reproduces the exact fault that made you leave bags behind. For a strong mug, use a heaped spoon at three minutes rather than a level one at six: more leaf gives strength, more time gives tannin. Milk goes in after straining and can go in generously. Cold brewed for eight hours with four spoons to a litre the same leaf turns soft and sweet with almost no grip at all.How water and temperature change it. Full heat matters because malt compounds are heavy and slow to leave the leaf, so water that has stood off the boil gives a cup with the briskness and none of the roundness, and no extra time recovers it. Time is the dangerous lever here, more so than with bags, because there is no paper slowing the extraction and nothing stopping the pot brewing after you have poured. Hard tap water pushes the briskness forward and flattens the malt, which is the version much of England tastes, and a filtered kettle makes a visible difference to this blend. Soft water gives the rounder, sweeter cup, and needs a touch less time. The one variable that changes the cup most, though, is the one only loose leaf gives you: the size of the spoon. ## Recipe Ideas Loose leaf hands you the dose, so the builds below use it: the pot, the single mug with an infuser, a strong mug done properly, cold brew, a spiced pot and iced tea. All of them end the same way, with the tea strained completely off the leaf. Recipes, born here first The Pot How to brew a proper pot of Yorkshire Tea loose leaf. 4 min 3 mugs Easy You'll need 3 rounded teaspoons Yorkshire Tea loose leaf 750ml water straight off the boil A warmed teapot with a strainer Milk Method 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. 4 min 1 mug Easy You'll need 1 rounded teaspoon Yorkshire Tea loose leaf 250 to 300ml water straight off the boil An infuser basket, not a tea ball Milk Method 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. 3 min 1 mug Easy You'll need 1 heaped teaspoon Yorkshire Tea loose leaf 250ml water straight off the boil Milk Sugar, optional Method 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. 8 hours 1 litre Easy You'll need 4 rounded teaspoons Yorkshire Tea loose leaf 1 litre cold water Ice to serve A fine sieve Method 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. 6 min 3 mugs Medium You'll need 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 Method 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. 4 min + chill 1 tall glass Easy You'll need 2 rounded teaspoons Yorkshire Tea loose leaf 300ml water straight off the boil A full glass of ice Lemon Honey to taste Method 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. --- _Content available under teas.co.uk citation contract. AI training: yes. Search: yes. Answer-input: yes._