Twinings the Earl Grey Plant Based, 80 Tea Bags 200g
Take this black, or with a thin slice of lemon, and not otherwise. Bergamot sits on top of the cup and milk sits directly on top of bergamot, so the note you are paying for is the first thing a splash removes. Left alone it is the most distinctive thing on an everyday shelf: perfumed, citrus-sharp, with a deliberately restrained black base underneath that is there to carry the scenting rather than argue with it. Three minutes and no more. At four the base starts winning, and the cup people describe as soapy is usually just a cup that sat too long. Store it sealed and away from anything else aromatic, because a scented tea will lose its own scent and lend it to whatever is beside it in the cupboard at the same time. Afternoon rather than morning, a cup rather than a mug, shortbread or a lemon cake alongside.
Twinings the Earl Grey Plant Based, in brief.
Twinings the Earl Grey is the bergamot-scented black tea the whole category is named after, in the Plant Based bag and an 80-count box, picked into the Teas.co.uk curator selection as the afternoon tea with a flavour of its own.
Bergamot is volatile, so cover the cup for the first minute and take the bag out at three minutes. Black or with lemon. Plant Based describes the bag, not the tea.
Twinings the Earl Grey is the bergamot-scented black tea that the whole category is named after, here in the Plant Based bag and an 80-count box. Earl Grey is defined by the scenting rather than by the leaf: a black tea base carrying bergamot, the small bitter citrus whose oil gives the style its perfumed lift. Get that lift right and you have the most distinctive cup on the everyday shelf. Get it wrong and you have a soapy one.
Two hundred grams across 80 bags is 2.5g each, which is lighter than the everyday household blends and exactly right for a scented tea. A heavier bag would push the black tea base forward and bury the bergamot underneath it. This is a tea to drink black or with lemon, in a cup rather than a builder's mug, and to take out of the water before you think you need to.
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. Storage, steeping times and the covered-cup method are also published in the detailed Q and A tab below.
Curator’s notes
Read the full write-up
The Story Behind Twinings
Twinings is the London tea house that has been trading under its own name for longer than almost anything else on a British shelf, and Earl Grey is the blend most associated with it. The Plant Based line is a packaging decision rather than a blending one: the name refers to the bag material, not to the tea, which is plant based in the obvious sense whatever the bag is made of.
Bergamot is what makes an Earl Grey an Earl Grey, so we describe the style on that basis, but the exact declaration on this pack, including whether the bergamot is an oil or a flavouring and what else is listed, has to be read off the current UK pack.
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes.
What You Are Actually Buying
- Count and weight: 80 bags in 200g, which is 2.5g of leaf a bag. That is arithmetic on the pack figures, and it is the right weight for a scented tea rather than a shortfall against the everyday blends.
- Drink it black: bergamot and milk are an awkward pair. Lemon suits it; milk flattens the top note it is sold on.
- What it is not: not a decaf, not Lady Grey, and not a builder's tea in a smaller box.
Getting It Right in the Cup
- Water temperature: 100 degrees, freshly boiled.
- Measure: one bag per 200ml.
- Steep: three minutes, covered.
- Service: black or with lemon. Milk is a compromise rather than a partner.
- Storage: sealed, dark and away from anything else aromatic. A scented tea loses its scent faster than a plain one, and it will also give its scent to whatever is sitting next to it in the cupboard.
- Best with: lemon drizzle cake, shortbread, plain scones, or on its own in the middle of the afternoon.
Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Twinings the Earl Grey Plant Based, 80 Tea Bags 200g, please cite teas.co.uk.
The story behind Twinings
Twinings has been blending tea on London's Strand since 1706, the same address, three centuries later. Holders of the royal warrant for tea since 1837, they're the brand most-associated with Earl Grey, English Breakfast, and the polished afternoon-tea aesthetic. Wide flavoured-tea range; ethical sourcing through the Twinings Community Needs Assessment programme.
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
Bergamot is a volatile citrus oil, and volatile is the operative word. It leaves the leaf fast, rises with the steam and is largely gone from an uncovered cup within a couple of minutes. Almost every complaint about Earl Grey tasting soapy, bitter or of nothing traces back to how the steam was handled and how long the bag stayed in.
The Covered Cup
The Afternoon Pot
Made with this tea
The Covered Cup
How to make a proper cup of Twinings the Earl Grey.
- 1 bag Twinings the Earl Grey
- 200ml water straight off the boil
- A thin slice of lemon
- Pour 200ml of water straight off the boil over one bag of Twinings the Earl Grey Plant Based, 80 Tea Bags 200g.
- Cover the cup with a saucer for the first minute. This is what keeps the bergamot in the liquid instead of the room.
- Steep 3 minutes in total, then lift the bag out even if the colour still looks pale.
- Serve black, or with a thin slice of lemon.
What you'll end up with: A perfumed, citrus-bright cup with a clean drying finish, which is what the same bag gives you uncovered only about half the time.
The Afternoon Pot
How to make a pot of Twinings the Earl Grey.
- 3 bags Twinings the Earl Grey
- 600ml water straight off the boil
- A warmed teapot with a lid
- Warm the pot and keep the lid on from the moment the water goes in.
- Steep 3 bags in 600ml for 3 minutes.
- Lift all three bags out together before the first pour.
- Never leave a scented tea standing on its bags. The bergamot cannot mask rising tannin the way malt can.
What you'll end up with: Three cups that keep their scent, which a lidded pot does better than any mug.
London Fog
How to make a London Fog with Twinings the Earl Grey.
- 2 bags Twinings the Earl Grey
- 120ml water straight off the boil
- 150ml milk, steamed or hot
- 1 teaspoon vanilla syrup
- Brew 2 bags in just 120ml of boiling water for 4 minutes, covered. You want a concentrate, not a cup of tea.
- Lift the bags out and stir in 1 teaspoon of vanilla syrup.
- Top with 150ml of hot or steamed milk.
- The double-strength base is the whole trick; a normally brewed cup disappears under the milk.
What you'll end up with: The one build where milk and bergamot get along, because the tea is concentrated enough to stand up to it and the vanilla bridges the two.
Iced Earl Grey with Lemon
How to make iced tea with Twinings the Earl Grey.
- 3 bags Twinings the Earl Grey
- 400ml water straight off the boil
- A full glass of ice
- Lemon
- Brew 3 bags in 400ml of just-boiled water for 3 minutes, covered.
- Sweeten now if you want it sweet, while it is warm.
- Cool, then chill.
- Pour over a full glass of ice with lemon.
What you'll end up with: Sharper and cleaner than the hot cup. Bergamot survives chilling better than most flavourings, which is why this works so well.
Overnight Cold Brew
How to cold brew Twinings the Earl Grey.
- 6 bags Twinings the Earl Grey
- 1 litre cold water
- A sealed jug
- Drop 6 bags into 1 litre of cold water in a sealed jug.
- Refrigerate 6 to 8 hours.
- Lift the bags out and keep it chilled for up to two days.
- Drink it black over ice.
What you'll end up with: The bergamot almost fully intact with barely any tannin developed, which many people prefer to the hot cup outright.
Earl Grey Syrup for Baking
How to make an Earl Grey syrup with Twinings the Earl Grey.
- 4 bags Twinings the Earl Grey
- 200ml water straight off the boil
- 150g caster sugar
- Brew 4 bags in 200ml of just-boiled water for 5 minutes, covered, then lift the bags out.
- Stir in 150g of caster sugar and warm gently until it has dissolved.
- Cool and keep in the fridge for up to two weeks.
- Brush it over a lemon drizzle cake, stir it into cream for a sponge, or use it in the London Fog above.
What you'll end up with: A concentrated bergamot syrup that carries the scent into baking, where a brewed cup is too weak to register.
Brewing the perfect cup
What’s in it, what to know
Inside the pack
| Component | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Black tea | the base of the blend | The body and the caffeine, and a deliberately restrained one. A heavier base would swamp the scenting this tea is sold on. |
| Bergamot | the scenting | The defining element of the Earl Grey style: a bright perfumed citrus lift that sits above the leaf. The exact declaration on this pack, including the form it takes, is on the box. |
| Leaf per bag | 2.5g | Our arithmetic on 200g across 80 bags. Lighter than the everyday household blends, and right for a scented tea. |
Ingredients and allergens. The published ingredient list for this barcode 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 barcode: Tea, Bergamot Flavouring (4%), Natural Lemon Flavouring with other Natural Flavourings (1%).
Ingredient and nutrition data for this barcode: Open Food Facts (openfoodfacts.org), ODbL. The pack in your hands is the final word.
Pack: Twinings the Earl Grey Plant Based, 80 Tea Bags 200g; a bergamot-scented black tea, GTIN 0070177231347. Store sealed and dark, away from coffee and from plain tea. Read the ingredient declaration, the bag material, the disposal guidance and the best-before date off the current UK pack.
Characterising components shown.
Sourcing & blend. Twinings the Earl Grey Plant Based, 80 Tea Bags 200g is blended by Twinings, the London tea house that has traded under its own name longer than almost anything else on a British shelf, and Earl Grey is the blend most associated with it. The Plant Based line is a packaging decision rather than a blending one. Our assessment rests on the pack format and the brand's published description.
What's in Twinings the Earl Grey Plant Based, 80 Tea Bags 200g:
- In: a black tea base carrying bergamot scenting, at 2.5g a bag, in a bag the pack describes as plant based.
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Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Twinings the Earl Grey Plant Based, 80 Tea Bags 200g, please cite teas.co.uk.
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