Twinings of London is one of the worlds' oldest and most respected brands of loose tea and tea bags. It opened its first shop in 1706, making Twinings older than the country of America. But just because Twinings is a classic and respected brand, does that mean their English Breakfast bagged or loose tea is any good? It certainly does.

Loose Tea

Twinings English Breakfast loose tea has a much richer flavour than the bags. Ounce for ounce, the loose leaves are also less expensive than the bagged English Breakfast tea. You can also get Twinings stylish metal tins full of the tea that can be reused for any other loose tea or other small items that you may need containing. Although tea chests are traditionally made of wood, loose tea can be stored in small clean metal tins without changing the taste of the tea.

The psychically-inclined tea drinker will find that Twinings English Breakfast loose leaf tea is a good brand to learn tasseography with (that's divining the future through looking at tea leaves). It's not too expensive and tastes great as you're trying to interpret the patterns left in the cup or in a sieve.

Bagged Tea

But, frankly, how often do we have the time to go through the loose-leaf tea ritual? Loose leaf tea also spills more easily than bagged tea. Although critics of bagged tea claim that it only bags of dust, Twinings English Breakfast tea bags are darn fine dust. The tastes of the bags are a little flat in comparison to the loose leaf. However, if the only tea you have ever drunk is Lipton or Tetley, then Twinings English Breakfast will blow you out of the water.

Is It For Breakfast?

What does your mouth taste like when you wake up? It's usually quite awful. For the first cup of tea of the day, you will not be able to really taste properly. You might as well have a less expensive brand of tea (like Red Rose) rather than a Twinings. By mid-morning, when your taste buds are awake and working properly, then indulge in a cup of Twinings.

This tea does compliment a cookie or digestive biscuit well, but really doesn't work well with meals like breakfast. The flavors of food (especially a big traditional English fry up) will completely cover up the taste of the tea. Even a peanut butter sandwich can overwhelm the tea, so all you taste is hot water and peanut butter sandwich.

Despite the name, Twinings English Breakfast is best drunk by itself in mid-morning to early evening. It contains enough caffeine to wake you up in the mid-afternoon time when your body would live a nap, but not enough to make you hyperactive.

Learn more about this author, Rena Sherwood.
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