Twinings English Breakfast Plant Based: The Bag, the Blend and the Box

English Breakfast describes a use rather than a region: a blend of malty and brisker black teas balanced to take milk at breakfast and still suit a mid-afternoon cup. This box is that blend in the Plant Based bag, sold in three sizes.

What Plant Based refers to

The words Plant Based on this box describe the material of the tea bag, not the tea inside, which is black tea whatever the bag is made of. The change is to the packaging rather than the recipe, so the cup tastes of Twinings English Breakfast and nothing else. Details of the bag material and how to dispose of it are printed on the current carton; follow those and your local council's guidance.

Every size carries the same 2.5 grams of tea per bag: 100 grams across forty, 200 across eighty and 300 across a hundred and twenty. That is the standard Twinings bag weight rather than anything special to this line, which means the cup tastes the same whichever box you buy. The only real choice is how many bags suit your household.

Forty, eighty or a hundred and twenty

The forty-bag box suits a single tea drinker, or anyone trying the blend for the first time, since it will be finished while the leaf is fresh. The eighty is the ordinary household size, a couple of mugs a day each for a few weeks. The hundred-and-twenty-bag box is for the family kitchen where the kettle is always on, and it means fewer boxes to open.

Set against the other Twinings teas we stock, this is the uncontroversial choice. The Assam is all malt, for people who want that one note loud, and the Earl Greys are scented teas that are happiest without milk. This blend sits between them, which is why it is the one to buy if a household is only buying one box of tea.

One box, two cups

In the morning, give a bag four minutes and add milk once the bag is out rather than before. It was built with milk in mind, so pour freely. In the afternoon, steep a bag for three minutes and drink it black: at that length it is clean enough to stand without milk, which gives one box two quite different cups depending on the time of day.

For a large mug of around 400ml, use two bags for three minutes rather than stretching one bag over six, because one bag left in that much water for too long turns thin and harsh at once. It is a caffeinated black tea, so the three-minute black cup is an afternoon habit rather than a late-evening one.

The packs we stock

• Twinings English Breakfast Plant Based, 40 Tea Bags 100g (barcode 070177231385)
• Twinings English Breakfast Plant Based, 80 Tea Bags 200g (barcode 070177231361)
• Twinings English Breakfast Plant Based, 120 Tea Bags 300g (barcode 070177231316)

What the label says

The published ingredient list for Twinings English Breakfast Plant Based, 120 Tea Bags 300g (barcode 070177231316) names none of the 14 major allergens. Check the current UK pack before purchase; formulations and allergen advice can change.

Ingredient and nutrition data for this barcode: Open Food Facts (openfoodfacts.org), ODbL. The pack in your hands is the final word.

What to eat with it

• McVitie's Milk Chocolate Digestives Biscuits, 266g: the everyday partner for an everyday blend, with milk chocolate that suits a milky four-minute mug.
• McVitie's Rich Tea Biscuits, 300g: an understated biscuit that suits the lighter three-minute black cup in the afternoon.
• McVitie's Ginger Nuts Biscuits, 250g: ginger warmth with the backbone to meet a strong morning brew with milk.
• Border Classic Biscuit Sharing Pack, 400g: a sharing pack to match the hundred-and-twenty-bag box in a busy family kitchen.

Elsewhere in the Twinings range

• Twinings Assam, 80 Tea Bags 200g
• Twinings Assam Loose Tea, 125g
• Twinings Black Tea Discovery Collection, 20 Tea Bags 40g
• Twinings Darjeeling, 40 Tea Bags 100g
• Twinings Decaffeinated Everyday, 80 Tea Bags 250g
• Twinings Earl Grey Discovery Collection, 20 Tea Bags 40g

The full range is on the Twinings brand page.

FAQ

What does Plant Based mean on Twinings tea? It refers to the tea bag material, not the tea. The blend inside is English Breakfast whatever the bag is made of.

Is there a difference between the 40, 80 and 120-bag boxes? Only the count. Each bag holds 2.5 grams of the same blend, so choose by how fast your household drinks it.

How long should I brew Twinings English Breakfast? Four minutes with milk, or three minutes if you want to drink it black.

How much milk should I add? As much as you like, added after the bag is out. The blend is made to take it.

What should I do with a large mug? Give it two bags and a shorter brew of three minutes. A single bag left for six minutes in that much water turns thin and harsh.

Curator's note: Keep one box by the kettle and let the clock decide the brew: a long one with milk first thing, a shorter one without by mid-afternoon. It is the Twinings tea nobody in the house will quibble over. Lee, teas.co.uk, Tunbridge Wells.

In short: Twinings English Breakfast Plant Based: The Bag, the Blend and the Box

More from the tea wiki

• Twinings: Tea Range and Buying Guide
• How to Make Tea Properly: The Eight Step Method
• Caffeine in Tea
• Tea Pairing Principles: Reason, Don't Memorise
• English Breakfast Tea: Brands & the Proper Cup
• Builders' Tea: The Working Class Story

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