Twinings Green Tea: Why It Turns Bitter and How to Stop It

Twinings Green Tea: Getting the Water Right

Nearly every complaint about green tea starts at the kettle rather than in the bag. Poured at a rolling boil, this plain Twinings green goes grassy and harsh within ninety seconds, while water at about 80 degrees gives a clean, light, faintly sweet cup.

Published 26 Sep 2026 Curator-written, not crowdsourced

Twinings Green Tea: Getting the Water Right, in summary: Plain, unflavoured green tea, 80 bags to a 200g box. Its one real demand is cooler water: around 80 degrees and two minutes gives a clean, faintly sweet cup, where a rolling boil makes it bitter.

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

Nearly every complaint about green tea starts at the kettle rather than in the bag. Poured at a rolling boil, this plain Twinings green goes grassy and harsh within ninety seconds, while water at about 80 degrees gives a clean, light, faintly sweet cup.

Why unoxidised leaf is so sensitive to heat

Green tea differs from a breakfast blend in one step. Once picked, green leaf is given a quick blast of heat that halts the enzymes responsible for darkening, and is then rolled and dried. That preserves the fresh, vegetal character, more like lightly cooked greens than dried grass, but it also preserves compounds that turn harsh when they meet boiling water. Everything fussy about green tea follows from that single decision.

The same logic explains the bitterness. The compounds behind astringency come out far more quickly in boiling water than at 80 degrees, so at a full boil the dry grip arrives before the natural sweetness has a chance to register. The aroma suffers too: with no oxidation to fix it in place, a green poured at the boil smells cooked rather than fresh. Cooler water gives the sweetness time to show.

A two-minute method that works every time

Boil the kettle, then leave it for two or three minutes before pouring, by which point the water will be somewhere near 80 degrees. Steep for two minutes, three at the very most, and take the bag out. Green tea turns drying much sooner than black tea, so the long brew that improves a breakfast cup will spoil this one. Pour at the boil and the cup is bitter almost at once.

Skip the milk. The tea is too light to carry it, and milk smothers the fresh, green flavour that is the reason to drink it; a slice of lemon is a far better way to change the cup. This is a plain, unflavoured blend rather than a single-garden leaf, made to taste the same from mug to mug, not to reward the fiddly small-pot brewing that fine loose green asks for.

Cold brew, the big box and what to eat

If hot brewing keeps going wrong, make it cold instead. Drop four bags into a jug holding a litre of cold water, refrigerate for six to eight hours, then remove them. Cold water draws out the sweetness and leaves most of the dryness behind, so the result is rounder and softer than a hot cup, and it is very hard to ruin.

The 80-bag box makes 80 mugs at one bag each, and one carton this size means less packaging per cup than buying the same number of bags in twenty-bag boxes. As a caffeinated tea it sits at a moderate level, generally less than a strong black breakfast blend. For food, keep things light: plain butter biscuits and Rich Tea let the faint sweetness through where anything heavily spiced would bury it.

The packs we stock

Twinings Green Tea 80, 200g (barcode 070177283131)

What to eat with it

McVitie's Rich Tea Biscuits, 300g: Rich Tea is plain and light, so it leaves room for a delicate, faintly sweet cup.
Lu Le Petit Beurre Biscuits With Butter & a Hint of Salt, 167g: The butter and hint of salt in a Petit Beurre sit neatly against a clean, vegetal green.
Royal Dansk Danish Butter Cookies, 340g: Plain butter cookies with no spice or filling, so the faint sweetness of the cup still comes through.

Elsewhere in the Twinings range

The full range is on the Twinings brand page.

FAQ

What temperature should the water be for Twinings Green Tea? Around 80 degrees. Boil the kettle and wait two or three minutes before pouring.

How long should a green tea bag steep? Two minutes, three at most, then take the bag out. Longer brings on dryness rather than strength.

Can I add milk to green tea? We would not. It is too light to carry milk; a slice of lemon suits it far better.

Does Twinings Green Tea contain caffeine? Yes, at a moderate level that is generally less than a strong black breakfast blend.

What is the easiest way to make iced green tea? Cold brew it: a litre jug of cold water with four bags in it, left in the fridge for six to eight hours before the bags come out.

Curator's note: Boil, walk away for two minutes, pour, and lift the bag before three. If the kettle still beats you, the overnight jug in the fridge is the version nobody gets wrong. Lee, teas.co.uk, Tunbridge Wells.

In short: Twinings Green Tea: Getting the Water Right

Field	Detail
Brand	Twinings
Packs we stock	200g
Category	Green Tea
Caffeine	caffeinated
Water	About 80 degrees, not boiling
Steep	Two minutes, three at most
Milk	No; lemon if anything