Twinings Superblends Feel Good Collection: Five Blends, Two Brews

Caffeine is not the same across this box, and that is the most useful thing to know before the first cup. Feel Good mixes green tea blends with pure herbal infusions, so the bag you pull out decides both how to brew it and when to drink it.

What the label shows inside

The published ingredient list covers five blends. Three are built on green tea: one pairs it with fennel seed, matcha and lemon; one, called Glow, with apple, nettle and strawberry and cucumber flavourings; and one with peppermint, nettle, ginger root and cinnamon. The other two contain no tea leaf. Balance is lemon balm, lemon verbena and spearmint with rose petals and lychee flavouring, and the last is rosehip and hibiscus with elderberries and berry flavourings.

At 38.4g net across 20 bags, each holds about 1.92g, a shade heavier than a typical herbal bag. That fits the list, since seeds, roots and tea leaf are denser than dried flowers alone. The published list names none of the 14 major allergens, but the carton in your hand is the final word, because the contents of a selection box can change between production runs.

Brewing two kinds of bag from one carton

Green tea and dried botanicals want opposite treatment. Tea leaf goes harsh and drying if it meets boiling water, so the green tea blends want about 80 degrees, which means a boiled kettle left to stand for a few minutes, and only two to three minutes in the mug. The two herbal blends need full heat to give anything up: water straight off the boil and four to six minutes.

If you have lost track of which bag is which, a middle course of three minutes at 80 degrees does neither kind any real harm. A saucer over the mug for the first minute pays off with these bright, citrus and mint-led blends more than it would with a black tea, because their aroma sits in volatile oils that leave with the steam.

Getting to know the range

Superblends are named for what each blend is meant to do, which says nothing about if you will like the taste. A mixed carton answers that question faster than committing to a full box of one blend, and it lets a household with different tastes share a single pack. It is the daytime half of the range; the Wind Down Collection is the evening one.

Keep the green tea blends for the morning and early afternoon, since they carry caffeine, and save the two herbal blends for later in the day. Treat the box as a way of learning the range: work through it, notice which sachet you keep reaching for, and let that guide what you choose next time.

The packs we stock

• Twinings Superblends Feel Good Collection, 20 Tea Bags 38.4g (barcode 070177236588)

What the label says

The published ingredient list for Twinings Superblends Feel Good Collection, 20 Tea Bags 38.4g names none of the 14 major allergens. Read the current UK Feel Good Collection carton before buying; Twinings may change its five recipes and allergen advice.

Ingredients, as published: Balance: lemon balm (29%), lemon verbena (25%) and spearmint (12%), apple pieces with rose petals (10%), beetroot and lychee flavouring (4%), natural flavouring, vitamin B6. The fennel blend: green tea (36%), fennel seeds (26%) and matcha (15%), natural lemon and other natural flavourings (8%), dandelion root and lemon peel (6%) and manganese. Glow: green tea (39%), apple pieces and nettle, natural strawberry and other natural flavourings (8%), then peppermint, natural cucumber flavouring (5%) and natural flavouring, aloe vera juice granules (1%) and biotin. Twinings Immune Support: rosehips and hibiscus, echinacea root (10%), blackberry leaves and apple pieces, natural raspberry and other natural flavourings (6%), nettle and elderberries (5%), liquorice root, natural blackcurrant and other natural flavourings (3%), natural strawberry and other natural flavourings (3%), vitamin D. The last blend: green tea and peppermint (36% each), nettle (8%) and ginger root (5%), natural peppermint flavouring (5%) plus natural flavourings, cinnamon bark (3%), zinc.

Ingredient and nutrition information for this product, as published on the manufacturer's label. Your own Feel Good carton overrides anything written here.

What to eat with it

• Nairn's Gluten Free Oat & Ginger Biscuit Breaks, 160g: a gluten-free oat biscuit whose ginger picks up the ginger and cinnamon in the peppermint blend.
• Border Lemon Drizzle Melts Organic Biscuits, 150g: lemon on the biscuit matches the lemony herbs in Balance and the lemon in the fennel blend.
• McVitie's Original Hobnobs Biscuits - The Oaty One, 255g: an oat biscuit that goes with whichever of the five blends you happen to pull out.

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

Is the Feel Good Collection caffeine free? Not throughout. Three of its five blends are built on green tea and carry caffeine; the other two are herbal infusions with no tea leaf.

What water temperature should I use? About 80 degrees for the green tea blends and water straight off the boil for the herbal ones. If unsure, three minutes at 80 degrees suits both well enough.

Which blends are herbal? Balance, built on lemon balm, lemon verbena and spearmint, and the rosehip and hibiscus blend. Neither contains tea leaf.

How many bags of each blend are there? The carton holds 20 bags in all. The current pack states how they are split, and selection contents can change between runs.

Is there an evening version? Yes. The Wind Down Collection is the evening carton in the same Superblends range.

Curator's note: Buy it once, drink your way through it and write down the sachet you keep coming back to. Just keep the green tea ones out of the evening. Lee, teas.co.uk, Tunbridge Wells.

In short: Twinings Superblends Feel Good Collection: Five Blends, Two Brews

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
• Ginger Tea
• Herbal Tea
• Fruit Tea

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