INTRODUCTION

When it comes to the budget ranges available in the major supermarkets, I've always been sceptical that these products would be cheap and nasty, especially as far as food and drink are concerned. However over the past six months or, I've tried a fair few products in this type of range and I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of some of them. So with my new found confidence, I decided to give the Sainsbury's Basics tea bags a go.

AVAILABILITY AND PRICE

Obviously being a Sainsbury's own brand product, you will find the Sainsbury's Basics 80 Fair Trade Tea Bags exclusively on sale in Sainsbury's. I paid the princely sum of 27p which is very cheap considering the standard own brand equivalents are around the £1.30 mark for 80 tea bags.

PACKAGING

As I would expect from a budget range, the packaging is very simplistic looking, mostly in orange and white, which helps keep the price down. The box is wrapped in cellophane, which is obviously designed to keep the contents fresh until the box is opened. The box looks different to the one shown in DooYoo's product picture, as the tea is now Fair Trade.

I must admit that Sainsbury's made me laugh by stating on the box the tea was made of 'mixed leaves' which promises to give me 'bags of flavour', as I thought most tea blends are from mixed leaves from different sources unless I'm buying Ceylon, Darjeeling and so on.

On the back I'm given advice on how to make a nice cup of tea, along with the ingredients list and contact details, and on the side there's some blurb about the Fair Trade initiative, which aims to give producers a fairer deal for their goods.

MY EXPERIENCE

~Opening the box~

On opening the box, I'm presented with an array of square tea bags in twos which need separating at the perforation line. The tea bags themselves seem to be of good quality if a little thinner. They separate fairly easily and I haven't had any holes or breakages as yet. The main differences I've noticed is the bags seem to contain less tea than standard tea bags, and it's a lot finer in texture. As the tea bags aren't in foil pouches, I'll need to keep the tea bags in an air tight container to keep them fresh - not really a problem since Twinings fruit and herbal infusions are packed in the same way.

~Brewing my tea~

I brew my tea in the usual way by putting my tea bag into the cup and pouring over freshly boiled water until it reaches my desired strength before removing the tea bag and adding milk to taste. For my tastes I swish my tea bag around for about a minute or less. I'm not one for squeezing my tea bags when removing them from the cup, but as they seem a little bit thinner, I'd be careful in doing this so they don't break.

Once I've added my milk, I have a normal looking tea coloured drink which doesn't look like I've made it with cheap tea bags.

~Drinking it~

The end result is a nice moderately flavoured cup of tea perfect for my palette that is neither too strong or too weak, and doesn't go too bitter as the drink goes cools. It's nice and refreshing and doesn't dry my mouth out as some of the stronger brands do which is a big advantage for me, and doesn't taste any different in my view to other more expensive teas brewed to the strength I like. I will say though, if you like strong and robust teas then I'd give this a miss as you will be disappointed.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Overall, I can't fault this tea and it's a bargain at just 27p a box and perfect if like me you don't like strong tea, and I would certainly buy this product again to save some cash. A four star rating from me.