A humble English Breakfast tea bag, above average for a flat tea bag, pleasantly smooth and drinkable.

This brand has an almost legendary status on our website...not that a lot of people review it, almost none do, but that we get a ton of messages through our contact form, of people asking where you can buy it. And I sadly have to reply that, in general, you can't...it's only provided through the foodservice industry, wholesale, and not available to the general public. As such I've only seen it, uncommonly, in hotels or restaurants. I get the sense that people must try this when they're out and about, like it, and then try in vain to purchase it on their own.

Because of the strange amount of interest in it, I had been looking for it for some time, and I finally got my hands on one of these tea bags, this one from the Homewood Suites in Mahwah, NJ, where I stayed at recently while going to a wedding.

So the tea...the tea bag doesn't look like much, but it was in a sealed packet and had some aroma even before brewing, mostly a lightly malty smell.

I steeped for three minutes as recommended on the packet, and the result was a rich brown cup with a mild malty aroma, good body and strength, and a relatively smooth flavor. Flavor is slightly sour, which I wasn't crazy about. The aroma is pretty simple.

I liked this tea much better than most mainstream English Breakfast tea bags on the market, including Twinings, Red Rose, Stash, and many others. I think it's about on the same level with Bigelow's English Breakfast.

You may not be able to buy this one, but I recommend trying it if you have the opportunity, like if you see at with the breakfast bar in a motel or notice that a particular restaurant is serving it; it's certainly better than your default Lipton black tea.

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Comments:

Scott wrote: on May 27th, 2019

I highly recommend Rituals Darjeeling. One of the best Darjeelings in tea bags I've found. Also only available through commercial food service, like the local hospital cafeteria where I found it, (at least they have it for a very good price by the cup.) Certainly, encourage others to try this brand, wherever they may come across it.

Tchuggin' Okie wrote: on June 6th, 2024

Scott--In addition to the Rituals Orange-Jasmine Green Tea I recently got, I grabbed a couple bags of Darjeeling too, at the same hotel's hot-beverage counter, and will try them after getting back home again. Appreciate the recommendation!

Tchuggin' Okie wrote: on June 23rd, 2024

Follow-up comment: I have to agree with Scott. [See my just-posted review of that tea.] If US Foods put Rituals Darjeeling into the retail market strategically (i.e., get it shelf space in Target or some of the big grocers like Kroger, Safeway, Publix, and/or H-E-B), and didn't mess it up, I think they'd have a winner.

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