Slurping at the bitter end (Twinings Pure Green Tea)

Member Name: NutNutNut

Product:	Twinings Pure Green Tea
Date:	26/03/09 (128 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Available everywhere

Disadvantages: Overpriced, bitter and contains caffeine

I am a health food fanatic. My health is important to me and so is my body so I am very careful about what I put into it. You only get one body I don't see the point in messing it up at every opportunity. My body takes me all through my life so I owe it the responsibility of looking after it. I drink a lot of green and white tea as they are two of the healthiest drinks available to us. I do however have trouble finding a brand I am completely happy with. I prefer to get my tea from health food shops but this can be a bit of a problem, not because I'm too lazy to walk two miles to the shop but sometimes by the time my day is finished the particular shops I'm referring to are closed or near to closing time so I wouldn't get there on time. Lately I have started noticing green tea (not so much white tea) appearing more and more in supermarkets, so on occasion I do grab a box to try even if it is not my favourite type. Twinings was one of the brands I shoved in my trolley one week having run out of my other green tea.

Now I must say I have never been a fan of Twinings. I find most of their tea bitter. The only tea I have ever tried and not winced at by Twinings was their Chamomile tea. I hoped I wasn't going to have a nasty experience with their green tea, but I did unfortunately.

The packaging is a green box (and I do like green as I may have mentioned in other reviews lol) which in my opinion is difficult to open. You have to kind of tear one end of the box and then tear out this long strip that goes all around the box. I made a right old mess of this I must admit so the box was left without a lid lol. I like the fact the box is cardboard though as it means it can be recycled (something I do a lot of). The tea bags are large and rectangular and I'm pretty sure the paper that make up the bags are bleached to make them look white.

Well I made up the tea as instructed, not leaving the bag in for two long to avoid any bitterness. Unfortunately this made no difference. It was still bitter as hell. Bleurgh. I drank the whole cup anyway so as not to waste. I'm not sure it was a good idea. I don't drink a lot of caffeine ever. I have one cup of black tea first thing in the morning (to wake me up) and that's it. It doesn't state on the box whether the tea has caffeine in it or not, but all of the green tea I have ever bought has just naturally been caffeine free, so I wasn't expecting this to have caffeine in. I can't say for sure how much caffeine was in there but I am sure there was as I had an adverse reaction to it like I always do if I drink caffeine during the day (probably due to my body not being used to it). I felt hot and lightheaded and was flushing like a menopausal woman. Now unless I'm allergic or intolerant to something in the tea I would say it definitely contains caffeine. I feel it should state this on the box if it does.

Another annoyance that I feel I should mention is that if I order a green tea when out and about I am almost certain the brand used by everyone is Twinings. I guess it is a brand that a lot of people trust but in my opinion just because something has a high price tag doesn't mean it's better quality. I think I'll stick to ordering a glass of water from now on and I don't care if you point and laugh at me. Hmph!

All in all the Twinings experience was not a pleasant one. It was over-priced for a start (typical of Twinings) and tasted rank (typical of Twinings lol). I don't appreciate increasing my intake of caffeine without being informed of it beforehand and I certainly don't appreciate boxes that allow me to make a tit of myself when opening them. Twinings gets only one star from me.

Summary: A bitter experience