Our tea bags test reveals the best-tasting brew is the cheapest
We?re a nation of tea drinkers ?the largest consumers of the beverage in the world. India consumes early 25% of the global tea production according to a report by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (December 2011).
And while we usually like to brew tea leaves, the convenience of a tea bag cannot be underestimated. We?re particular about our chai and these handy pouches let you carry around your favourite flavour wherever you go. But the quality of tea in tea bags is inferior to that of regular tea leaves, so it is important you choose the best to get an aromatic, flavoursome cup.
To make your task of picking the right brand easier, we got four expert tea tasters to blind-taste different black blended teas and rate them.
WHAT WE DID
Four tea experts tasted blended black teas (regular and English Breakfast) from eight brands of tea bags. The test was conducted at the Courtyard by Marriott, a hotel in Mumbai.
Experts tasted each tea made from blended (black) tea bags in a randomised order. The labels of the tea bags were concealed to hide identities. We dipped each tea bag in 150ml of water heated to 100?C for 45 seconds. The tea was served without milk or sugar. Water was used as a palate cleanser.
The experts rated each tea out of 10 on parameters such as appearance, aroma, flavour, body, taste and aftertaste. Ratings for each of these parameters were recorded, the individual ratings were averaged and the combined scores were converted into a percentage.
Our final scores indicate: 0-20 as very poor, 21-40 as poor, 41-60 as average, 61-80 as good, and 81-100 as excellent.
OUR EXPERTS PRAHLAD KAKKAR Ad man Prahlad Kakkar used to run Tea Centre, Mumbai, a restaurant that serves a variety of teas. He is a restaurateur, columnist and a scuba diver. A tea sommelier at Tea Trunk, a website dedicated to tea, she trained under the guidance of tea master, Nao Kumekawa at Tea Sommelier Academy in Sri Lanka. She is trained in tea-tasting and hand-blending tea. A former medical practitioner-turned-entrepreneur, she is the CEO of Tea Culture of the World, which imports tea variants from all over the world. An avid tea drinker, she has travelled the world to taste some of the finest and rarest varieties of tea. Sherman Almeida loves tea and is the Food and Beverage Manager at Courtyard by Marriott in Mumbai. With over seven years of experience in the hospitality industry, Sherman also has experience in restaurants and bar operations.
SNIGDHA MANCHANDA-BINJOLA
DR RUPALI AMBEGAONKAR
SHERMAN ALMEIDA
HOW THEY FARED Rs. 35 (25 tea bags) Tetley scored the highest in our survey. The experts rated it well on appearance, flavour and taste. It was found to have good body and a very subtle aroma. It was the cheapest brand of tea bag we tested, along with Lipton Yellow Label and Girnar Bombay Chai. Rs. 130 (25 tea bags) While the experts gave it an average score on its aftertaste, Typhoo scored high for its clear, bright red appearance and taste. Each tea bag is individually packed in sachets, so it?s easy to carry around just a few if you need to. And they stay fresh longer. Rs. 165 (20 tea bags) Our tasters generally found Teekanne a soothing and tasty tea, although one of the experts did say it was ?very bland?. Another felt that the tea dust used wasn?t of the best quality. Three of the four experts rated the tea highly on its appearance. Rs. 150 (25 tea bags) Ratings on the taste of this tea were mixed. Two of our experts gave it above-average ratings, while the others strongly suggested that the flavour and aftertaste needed improvement. One of the experts who did not like it said, ?It?s a weak tea.? Rs. 35 (25 tea bags) It scored well on its clear, deep red appearance and one taster noted that the aftertaste of the tea was ?better than expected?. While the tea was praised by two experts for its good, full body and taste, the other two thought it was quite unexceptional. Rs. 35 (25 tea bags) The tea scored well on flavour and average on all the other parameters. Experts had mixed opinions about the appearance of the tea; while one said it was weak and yellowish, another expert praised it for its deep amber colour. Rs. 80 (25 tea bags) Though this tea scored well on appearance, which experts said was robust, light and clear, the bitter, off-putting aftertaste was a disappointment. One of the experts was so displeased with the tea and its aroma that she scored it zero. Rs. 40 (25 tea bags) Brooke Bond scored low on body and aftertaste. ?Bitter? and ?hardly any? were some opinions on the aftertaste. One of the experts gave it a zero on flavour, claiming that it was non-existent and the body was quite watery, and not up to the mark.
66% TETLEY
65% TYPHOO ENGLISH BREAKFAST 
64% TEEKANNE ENGLISH BREAKFAST 
62% TWININGS ENGLISH BREAKFAST 
61% LIPTON YELLOW LABEL 
58% GIRNAR BOMBAY CHAI 
57% TAJ MAHAL ENGLISH BREAKFAST 
53% BROOKE BOND TAJ MAHAL
RIGHT CHOICE KETTLES If you are in a rush, a kettle can be quite handy to boil water quickly for your tea. We bring you the Right Choice kettles to choose from Rs. 3,095 Type Jug, Capacity 1,700ml, Weight 0.82kg Read More This electric kettle is suitable for both right-handed and left-handed users. It has two water gauges, one on each side of the kettle. The markings of the water gauges are easy to read and the water level is clearly visible. Our testers found the Kenwood SJM 280 easy to use. FASTEST KETTLE ON TEST It was the fastest kettle on test, taking two seconds less than two-and-a-half minutes to boil a litre of water. The kettle should fit easily under standard kitchen taps. Filling it with water through the lid was easy. Water pours only from the spout unless the kettle is tipped too far, and this minimises the risk of spills or burns. NOT VERY EASY TO CLEAN However, our tests found that this kettle was not very easy to clean. Because of its polished stainless steel surface, it is easily stained, and water splashes leave smears on drying. Rs. 1,995 Type Jug, Capacity 989ml Weight 0.78kg Read More This Philips model needed less energy (0.03kWh) to boil the recommended minimum volume of water than any other model on test and it took only two-and-a-half minutes to boil about a litre of water. It?s easy to keep an eye on the water level, as the rear section is transparent. EASY TO CLEAN Its plastic body doesn?t stain significantly or collect dust, and the seams and joints are easy to clean with a dry cloth. The limescale filter is very effective and consists of a fine polymer mesh in plastic housing. It has a firmly attached handle, switch and lid. QUITE QUIET The handle is well insulated from the kettle body and does not become hot enough to pose a risk when handled. This is not a noisy kettle and hisses gently all the way through the heating cycle, right up to the boil. Rs. 1,749 Type Cordless jug, Capacity 1,695ml, Weight 0.60kg Read More This cordless kettle is one of the lightest on test. It has an auto shut-off feature, an external water level indicator on both sides and an illuminated, transparent switch. NOT VERY ENERGY-EFFICIENT This kettle takes a second less than two-and-a-half minutes to boil a litre of water. It?s not the most energy-efficient model ? in our tests, it took the auto shut-off feature nine seconds to kick in after the water came to a boil. The limescale filter is effective and easy to clean. EASY TO FILL There are water gauges on both sides of the body, and the kettle is easy to fill. The appliance makes a dull hissing sound all the way through the heating cycle. The temperature of the plastic lid can get just a little high. However, the handle is well insulated from the kettle body and does not heat up too much.
76% KENWOOD SJM280
67% Philips HD4680/55 
66% BAJAJ ELECTRICALS 1.7L
PAPER USED IN TEA BAGS MAY CONTAIN HARMFUL CHEMICAL Dr Jyothi Prasad, nutritionist and dietician from Bangalore, says, ?Epichlorohydrin is harmful, and when in contact with water while steeping tea, it becomes more harmful because it produces cancer-causing 3-MCPD. Studies have shown that it induces tumours, but most companies say that it is used within safe limits. There have been no studies on human subjects to suggest strong evidence that the chemical induces tumours. It has caused tumours in animal studies.? WHICH ONES HAVE EPICHLOROHYDRIN? To find out how widely epichlorohydrin was used, we contacted the manufacturers of the brands we included in our taste test. Typhoo marketing head (India) Sushant Samal said their tea bags do not contain epichlorohydrin. Tekkanne said: ?Our supplier for the filter paper material confirms (to) us that the supplied material does not contain any epichlorohydrin.? HUL, manufacturers of Lipton Yellow Label, Taj Mahal English Breakfast and Brooke Bond Taj Mahal, tacitly acknowledged its presence in the products, but explained, ?Epichlorohydrin is widely and safely used in the manufacturing process to produce many types of papers, including tea bags? All our tea bag filter materials present no hazard to human health. The teabag papers used by Unilever fulfill all requirements of worldwide legislation for papers which are in direct contact with food.? Tetley said:??The additive used in our tea bags is epichlorhydrin resin and not epichlorhydrin. This is hot-water insoluble and remains with the filter paper after brewing. It does not form part of the brew.? Girnar and Twinings did not respond when asked if their tea bags contained epichlorhydrin.
Tea bag pouches are usually made of paper. Some of them contain the chemical epichlorohydrin, used in manufacturing plastic and as an insecticide.
BREWING TEA WITH A TEA BAG 
Water should be boiled at 100?C.
One tea bag is ideal for 150-200ml of water.
The bag can remain in the water depending on how strong or mild you like your tea. The recommended time is two minutes for mild, three minutes for regular and five for strong tea, with milk.
If you like your tea with milk, the ideal ratio is 2:1 that is two parts water and one part milk.
KEEP AWAY FROM STRONG ODOURS 
Store tea bags in opaque containers made of steel or tin.
These containers should be airtight.
Keep them away from sunlight.
Don?t place them near any strong odours. Tea tends to absorb odours very easily.
Even if you buy expensive tea bags, you don?t need to store tea in the refrigerator. You can store it at room temperature.
Read the expiry date. Try and consume tea within 12 months of purchase.
Though there are no side effects of drinking tea after the expiry period, the tea won?t be flavourful and will be weak in taste.
TEA BAGS versus LOOSE-LEAF TEA NEEDS ROOM TO INFUSE When you brew loose-leaf teas, there is a lot of room for the leaves to absorb water and expand as they infuse. This allows the water to flow through the leaves and extract a wide range of flavours and aromas from them. Tea leaves need space to swell, expand and unfurl. Good water circulation around the leaves is important, which doesn?t typically happen in a cramped little tea bag. TEA LEAVES ARE MORE FLAVOURFUL Tea leaves contain many chemicals and essential oils, which are the basis for the delightful flavour of tea that is brewed. When the tea leaves are broken up as with the fannings (dust) in teabags, those oils can evaporate, making the tea dull and less flavourful.
Loose-leaf tea is generally recommended by tea experts over tea made with tea bags because it is more flavourful. Teabags are made of tea fannings, commonly known as dust, which may give a quicker brew, but lack the subtlety and full flavour of the larger loose-leaf teas.
Source: http://whichrightchoice.com/chai%E2%80%99s-the-limit/
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