PG Tips English Breakfast vs Original: What Changes

PG Tips English Breakfast Special Blends: Against the Everyday Box, in summary: The fuller, maltier PG Tips: the familiar snap on top, more weight behind it. Brew three full minutes, four for strong, judge by the clock rather than the colour, and make a pot when breakfast is on the table.

Last reviewed by the teas.co.uk team in September 2026.

Special Blends is the part of the PG Tips range built around a named style instead of the house taste. The everyday box has to be identical in every kitchen; this one is sold as an English Breakfast, so it brings rounder malt and a cup that holds its shape under milk and alongside food.

Same snap, more behind it

Put the two side by side and the difference sits in the middle of the cup. The brisk opening people know as PG Tips arrives first in both. In the everyday Original Black the cup gets lighter after that first snap; here rounder malt takes up the middle, so the weight lasts to the final mouthful.

That extra malt is what milk binds to, which is why this blend takes a generous splash without turning pale and weak. Without milk, a three-minute cup is brisk and easy to drink, with a dry, clean finish. English Breakfast is a style of blend rather than a region, and the box is sold as a blend, so we make no claim about where the leaf was grown.

Brew by the clock, not the colour

Breakfast blends colour quickly, and that is the usual trap. A mug can look dark and ready at two minutes while the flavour is still on its way, and the aroma of an unscented black tea tells you almost nothing about strength. Use water straight off the boil, give it three full minutes, or four if you like it strong, and only then lift the bag out.

It is better still in a pot. With a few bags in a warmed pot the leaf has room to move, and the second cup poured shows what the blend can do. Seventy is an odd number for a tea box, more than a trial pack and fewer than the big habit boxes, and at a cup a day it lasts about ten weeks, so the last bag is still fresh.

At the breakfast table and after

The dry finish is what makes it useful with food. It refreshes the palate between forkfuls instead of lying heavily over a plate of eggs or buttered toast, which is exactly the job of a breakfast tea. Mid-morning, a milk chocolate digestive or a crunchy butterscotch biscuit gives the malt something sweet to meet, and a plain digestive is there for dunking.

This one carries the full caffeine of a normal black tea, so it is not the box for a late evening; we stock two PG Tips decafs for that, the Decaf Black Decaffeinated and the Decaf Black Tea 160. For volume and speed rather than depth, the Original boxes are the brisker, quicker everyday choice. This is the one to reach for on a morning that has time in it.

The packs we stock

PG Tips English Breakfast Special Blends Speciality Black, 70 Tea Bags (barcode 5063270114001)

What to eat with it

McVitie's Digestives Milk Chocolate Biscuits, 433g: The sweetness of milk chocolate meets the fuller malt of this blend halfway.
Border Butterscotch Crunch Organic Biscuits, 135g: Butterscotch and crunch make a sweet mid-morning match for a strong, milky breakfast cup.
McVitie's Digestives Biscuits The Light One, 250g: A lighter digestive to dunk once the breakfast plates are cleared.

Elsewhere in the PG Tips range

The full range is on the PG Tips brand page.

FAQ

What separates it from the everyday PG Tips box? It is fuller and maltier. The everyday box is built for speed and sameness; this one is sold as an English Breakfast and wants an extra minute.

Is it better in a pot or a mug? A pot, if there are a few of you. The leaf has more room, and after three full minutes, or four for strong, the second cup shows the blend at its best.

Does it take milk? It is built around milk. The extra malt stays firm even with plenty of it.

Why seventy bags? It sits between the small trial boxes and the big habit boxes. At a cup a day it lasts roughly ten weeks, so it is finished while the tea is still fresh.

Is it decaffeinated? No, it is a standard caffeinated black tea. PG Tips sells its decaf in separate boxes.

Curator's note: Make it in a pot for three or four people and pour the second round before you judge it. That is where the extra malt earns its place. Lee, teas.co.uk, Tunbridge Wells.

In short: PG Tips English Breakfast Special Blends: Against the Everyday Box

Field	Detail
Brand	PG Tips
Packs we stock	70 Tea Bags
Category	Everyday Tea Bags
Caffeine	caffeinated
Brew	Three minutes, four for strong
Best with	A cooked breakfast or a milk chocolate digestive
Occasion	Mornings with time for a pot