5
drank Earl Grey Vanilla by Tetley
96 tasting notes

This tea smelled like discount, vanilla scented shampoo and tasted a bit like sweetened bathwater. I was really disappointed and completely unimpressed. It was stale and had a very weak flavour, even though I let the tea bag sit in the water the entire time.

I thought it was all right, but right after I finished it I had a cup of Twining’s Earl Grey and it reminded me what tea bags were supposed to taste like.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 8 min or more
Michelle Butler Hallett

Tetley always disappoints me. Every now and then I’ll try a new blend, but invariably I say ‘Bleah.’

Michelle Butler Hallett

Hee hee — love ‘sweetened bathwater.’

B

I feel exactly the same way! I mean, I think the first tea I had in my life was Tetley, so I always feel like I’m just becoming a bit of a snob if I don’t like it any more, but for real! This tea was terrible!

Michelle Butler Hallett

Tetley is incredibly popular here in Newfoundland, and I always feel like such a snot when I ask for tea as a restauarnt / cafe and immediately make sure it’s not Tetley. But there we go. Had a small pot of Twining’s bagged English Breakfast yesterday, but the water wasn’t boiling. AUGH! Quite hot, out of one of those hot water dispensers with the red handles, but not boiling. With black tea, boiling water makes all the difference. I’d already made my ‘Anything but Tetley’ fuss, so I held back on the water. I doubt they had a proper kettle anyway.

B

I would rather wait the three minutes for a kettle to boil than to just have hot water out of a dispenser. I think Tetley is a pretty popular brand in Canada, period. It’s always the one I come across. A lot of places here have a little bowl with a bunch of different brands stuck in it and let you choose…

Usually it’s a choice between Red Rose, Tetley, some green tea, but Stash or Twinings show up on occassion…

Michelle Butler Hallett

Three whole minutes, imagine that. :)

I dunno, part of the big change I;ve made in my life over the past year has been learning to slow down. Not gulp coffee for the sake of caffeine, but sip tea for the sake of the many nuances of tea. (I still drink coffee, just nowhere near as much as I used to.) Boiling the kettle, measuring the leaves, timing the steep — it’s all part of that general slowing down which, in the end, makes me more productive. The TeaFiend’s Paradox.

Michelle Butler Hallett

Red Rose is generally better than Tetley. Well, I like it better. And PG Tips better than both of them.

I’ve been hospitalized several times over the past ten years, and tea has often been a major comfort. However, the best you can get on a hospittal tray is warm water in a covered plastic mug with a Tetley bag tossed into a little caddy next to it. So one of the reasons I don’t care for Tetley is that it immediately brings smells and sounds of a hospital to mind.

B

My Dad has that with Jell-o. When he had his appendix out he had Jell-o in the hospital and he never ate it again, couldn’t stomach it. His operation was in the 1960s.

I had a lot of insomnia problems for years and years. Like Edward Norton in Fight Club insomnia problems, so I gave up coffee and switched to tea and it made all the difference in the world. I also realised that I never really liked coffee to begin with, I’d just been raised on Tim Hortons because my parents are addicts.

I like what you said about slowing down and appreciating the process of making tea. In a way, there is almost a ritual (or routine, if the word ‘ritual’ seems too spiritual) to preparing tea that involves the person making the tea moreso than coffee which is just…tossed in a machine and drunk. Tea seems more…personal?

Michelle Butler Hallett

More personal, more intimate. You can easily show love for another person by making them tea.

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Comments

Michelle Butler Hallett

Tetley always disappoints me. Every now and then I’ll try a new blend, but invariably I say ‘Bleah.’

Michelle Butler Hallett

Hee hee — love ‘sweetened bathwater.’

B

I feel exactly the same way! I mean, I think the first tea I had in my life was Tetley, so I always feel like I’m just becoming a bit of a snob if I don’t like it any more, but for real! This tea was terrible!

Michelle Butler Hallett

Tetley is incredibly popular here in Newfoundland, and I always feel like such a snot when I ask for tea as a restauarnt / cafe and immediately make sure it’s not Tetley. But there we go. Had a small pot of Twining’s bagged English Breakfast yesterday, but the water wasn’t boiling. AUGH! Quite hot, out of one of those hot water dispensers with the red handles, but not boiling. With black tea, boiling water makes all the difference. I’d already made my ‘Anything but Tetley’ fuss, so I held back on the water. I doubt they had a proper kettle anyway.

B

I would rather wait the three minutes for a kettle to boil than to just have hot water out of a dispenser. I think Tetley is a pretty popular brand in Canada, period. It’s always the one I come across. A lot of places here have a little bowl with a bunch of different brands stuck in it and let you choose…

Usually it’s a choice between Red Rose, Tetley, some green tea, but Stash or Twinings show up on occassion…

Michelle Butler Hallett

Three whole minutes, imagine that. :)

I dunno, part of the big change I;ve made in my life over the past year has been learning to slow down. Not gulp coffee for the sake of caffeine, but sip tea for the sake of the many nuances of tea. (I still drink coffee, just nowhere near as much as I used to.) Boiling the kettle, measuring the leaves, timing the steep — it’s all part of that general slowing down which, in the end, makes me more productive. The TeaFiend’s Paradox.

Michelle Butler Hallett

Red Rose is generally better than Tetley. Well, I like it better. And PG Tips better than both of them.

I’ve been hospitalized several times over the past ten years, and tea has often been a major comfort. However, the best you can get on a hospittal tray is warm water in a covered plastic mug with a Tetley bag tossed into a little caddy next to it. So one of the reasons I don’t care for Tetley is that it immediately brings smells and sounds of a hospital to mind.

B

My Dad has that with Jell-o. When he had his appendix out he had Jell-o in the hospital and he never ate it again, couldn’t stomach it. His operation was in the 1960s.

I had a lot of insomnia problems for years and years. Like Edward Norton in Fight Club insomnia problems, so I gave up coffee and switched to tea and it made all the difference in the world. I also realised that I never really liked coffee to begin with, I’d just been raised on Tim Hortons because my parents are addicts.

I like what you said about slowing down and appreciating the process of making tea. In a way, there is almost a ritual (or routine, if the word ‘ritual’ seems too spiritual) to preparing tea that involves the person making the tea moreso than coffee which is just…tossed in a machine and drunk. Tea seems more…personal?

Michelle Butler Hallett

More personal, more intimate. You can easily show love for another person by making them tea.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

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