Supermarket own-brand tea crowned better than PG Tips and Tetley — and it’s half the price

Who doesn’t love a good cuppa? (Picture: Getty Images)

When people say Brits love tea, they aren’t kidding. 

It’s estimated that 100 million cups of the stuff are consumed across the UK every single day.

That’s a whole lot of tea bags – but which ones make the best brew?

Some might tell you it has to be Twinings or Yorkshire Tea, while others will just drink whatever they have in the cupboard.

But if you’re specifically looking for the tastiest, best value tea in the shops, you’ll want to keep reading.

The consumer experts at Which? pitted 11 different everyday teas against one another, including M&S, Waitrose, PG Tips, Tetley, Tesco, and more.

A panel of 67 tea drinkers tried them all and rated each tea across several factors, and cheap supermarket teas beat the big brands to take the top spots.

Supermarket own-brand tea beat big brands like PG Tips and Tetley (Picture: Shutterstock / DenisMArt)

Who won the tea taste test?

Sainsbury’s Red Label Tea (£1.40 for 80 tea bags) and Waitrose’s Essential Original Blend (£1.45 for 80 bags) were victorious, earning the highest marks and scoring 75 per cent each.

Both were given ‘best buy’ awards, but Which? also proclaimed Sainsbury’s tea ‘great value’, as it’s half the price of Tetley and Yorkshire Tea.

Tasters deemed it an ‘excellent low-cost cuppa’, and two-thirds said they would happily make it their regular tea.

The look of the tea and its aroma were highly rated, with the vast majority saying the colour was ‘pleasing’.

More than half also thought the strength of flavour was ‘perfect’ and they enjoyed the ‘bitter tea twang’.

Sainsbury’s £1.40 tea bags are the best value and taste great (Picture: Sainsbury’s)

Waitrose also impressed tasters, as two-thirds claimed they’d drink it every day thanks to the overall flavour and bitterness levels which ‘hit the spot’.

The tea from the posh supermarket was also described as looking ‘just right’, and according to the panel, it had a nice scent and an ‘appealing mouthfeel’.

Following closely behind, Co-op’s Fairtrade 99 Tea Blend (£1.70 for 80 tea bags) scored 74 per cent.

Co-op’s tea bags were praised for making a ‘good-looking’ cup of tea, with an ‘enticing aroma’ that nearly three-quarters of tasters said they’d drink daily.

Waitrose also scored very highly (Picture: Waitrose)

Morrisons Everyday Tea (£1.30 for 80 bags) came in fourth place with a score of 73 per cent, and was hailed a ‘decent crowd-pleaser’.

It narrowly missed out on the top three, as some found the tea ‘a bit on the weak side’ and thought it would be best for those who don’t like an overly strong cuppa.

Rounding out the top five was Yorkshire Tea (Taylors of Harrogate), which costs £3.75 for 80 bags.

The most expensive tea in the test earned a score of 72 per cent, but was the highest scorer of all the branded teas, with a ‘pleasingly rich colour’ and ‘appealing aroma’.

Half the panel liked the flavour and bitterness, but almost a third commented that it was ‘too bitter’.

M&S and Tesco were at the bottom of the rankings (Picture: M&S)

Lidl’s Knightsbridge Red Label Tea (£2.45 for 240 bags) came in sixth place, scoring 71 percent. 

Closely followed by Asda Everyday Tea Bags (£1.20 for 80 bags), PG Tips Original (£3 for 80 bags), and Tetley Original (£3.15 for 80 bags), which all earned a mark of 70 per cent.

At the bottom of the rankings were M&S’s Everyday Tea (£1.40 for 80 bags) and Tesco Original Tea (£1.40 for 80 bags).

M&S scored 68 per cent, and the tea was said to have an ‘appealing colour’, but less than half of tasters enjoyed the flavour.

Tesco came in last place, scoring 67 percent, and while half of the tasters were ‘happy’ with its bitterness, fewer were fans of the overall taste.

Aldi tea bags weren’t included in this test because the tea bags were undergoing a reformulation at the time of testing.

How were the teas ranked?

All of the tea bags were blind-tasted and rated by 67 people who buy and drink tea regularly, and broadly represent the profile of adults in the UK (age range, gender split, and more). 

The teas were tasted in a fully rotated order to avoid any bias, and each tester had a private tasting booth so they couldn’t discuss what they were tasting or be influenced by others.

Each cup was brewed according to pack instructions, then tasters added milk or sugar to their liking, but always precisely the same amount.

Most of the tasters (61 per cent) liked just milk in their tea, while 30 per cent chose both milk and sugar. Of the remainder, 6 per cent added nothing, while 3 per cent had sugary black tea.

The tasters then rated the flavour, aroma, appearance and mouthfeel of each brand of tea and noted what they liked and disliked. 

The overall score was based on 50 percent flavour, 25 per cent appearance, 20 per cent aroma, and 5 per cent mouthfeel.

These weightings are based on what people ranked as the most important attributes when tasting tea. 

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