PG Tips vs Yorkshire Tea: The 40-Bag Box Explained

PG Tips Original Black Tea 40: The Small Box and the Yorkshire Question

Brisk or malty is the question that splits British everyday tea, and PG Tips sits firmly on the brisk side, with Yorkshire Tea on the other.

Published 26 Sep 2026 Curator-written, not crowdsourced

PG Tips Original Black Tea 40: The Small Box and the Yorkshire Question, in summary: Next to Yorkshire Tea, PG Tips is the brisker cup with lighter malt, and this forty-bag box is the easy way to try it. Each bag still holds about 2.9g. It also suits a caravan or an office.

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

Brisk or malty is the question that splits British everyday tea, and PG Tips sits firmly on the brisk side, with Yorkshire Tea on the other. The forty-bag box is the easy way to find out which camp you belong to, because nothing in the bag has been thinned to make the box smaller.

Brisk against malty

The difference between the two big everyday blends is where the weight sits. PG Tips leads with briskness, a clean, sharp lift on the tongue, and fills in behind it with a lighter malt. Yorkshire goes the other way, deeper and heavier in the malt. Neither is better, and most drinkers are firmly in one camp. If Yorkshire feels heavy to you, this is the obvious next box.

In the mug it has enough body to take milk without vanishing, and its astringency is moderate and polite, so it forgives a steep that runs a little long. The aroma is bright and brief: it smells of warm bread and dry grass as soon as the water goes on, which is why the first minute after pouring is when a mug smells its best.

Who the forty-bag box is for

For one regular drinker forty bags lasts about two weeks, and a family can get through it over a long weekend. That makes it a box bought for a reason: a spare room, a caravan, a first flat, an office drawer or a holiday let, or a trial before committing a cupboard to eighty bags. If PG Tips is already the daily tea at home, the bigger boxes make more sense.

Nothing about the tea changes with the box size. Divide 116g by forty and each bag holds about 2.9g, the same leaf per bag as the eighty-bag, 232g box, so the small box is simply fewer bags. It also means the box is finished before the tea can go stale, which matters in a cupboard opened only a few weekends a year.

Brewing it, and what goes with it

Brew for three minutes for a brisker mug or four for a fuller one, using water that has only just boiled. The mug turns dark long before the flavour catches up, so a ninety-second cup tastes hollow. Take the bag out, then add milk. Milk poured in early cools the water before the leaf has opened properly, and the usual fix, a longer steep, only brings more astringency.

It is a caffeinated black tea; the PG Tips decafs we stock come in separate boxes. With a brisk, milky mug, a biscuit with some sweetness and structure is the natural partner. A milk chocolate digestive takes a proper dunk, a Rich Tea suits a quick one, and a lemon biscuit plays nicely against the bright edge of the tea.

The packs we stock

PG Tips Original Black Tea 40, 116g (barcode 8720608036677)

What to eat with it

McVitie's Milk Chocolate Digestives Biscuits, 266g: A milk chocolate digestive for the office drawer beside the box, sturdy enough for a proper dunk.
McVitie's Rich Tea Biscuits, 300g: Light and plain, for a quick dunk that keeps the tea in charge.
Border Lemon Drizzle Melts Organic Biscuits, 150g: A citrus note that echoes the bright, brisk lift of the PG Tips style.

Elsewhere in the PG Tips range

The full range is on the PG Tips brand page.

FAQ

Is PG Tips stronger than Yorkshire Tea? It is brisker rather than stronger. PG Tips leads with a sharp lift; Yorkshire is deeper and maltier.

Is the tea in the forty-bag box the same as in the big box? The fill is the same, about 2.9g a bag, so the small box has fewer bags rather than lighter ones.

Does it forgive a long steep? Reasonably well. Its astringency is moderate, so running a little over does less harm than it would with a harsher blend, though four minutes is still plenty.

Which makes more sense, forty bags or eighty? Eighty, if PG Tips is your everyday tea at home. Forty suits trials, holiday lets, offices and cupboards opened only now and then.

Curator's note: If you are a Yorkshire household wondering what the other camp sees in it, this is the box to settle it with: four minutes, milk after, and a fair fight. Lee, teas.co.uk, Tunbridge Wells.

In short: PG Tips Original Black Tea 40: The Small Box and the Yorkshire Question

Field	Detail
Brand	PG Tips
Packs we stock	116g
Category	Everyday Tea Bags
Caffeine	caffeinated
Style	Brisk rather than malty
Brew	Three to four minutes, milk after
Occasion	A trial, a caravan or the office drawer