Brook Bond - Taj Mahal Tea
 

I came across this at the local Indian grocer recently. Have any of you
tried this product? Is it worth a try?

I drink it and enjoy it. It is a CTC tea. (Its granulated.)

posters have said that it is the same as PG tips. It well may be true.
Its very close,but the pg tips I have are bags and taj mahal is loose.

Taj mahal tea is bargain. enjoy.

curly mustache wrote:
> I drink it and enjoy it. It is a CTC tea. (Its granulated.)
>
> posters have said that it is the same as PG tips. It well may be
true.
> Its very close,but the pg tips I have are bags and taj mahal is
loose.
>
> Taj mahal tea is bargain. enjoy.

What is "PG tips"?

What is "CYC"?

I know you are probably going to tell me it's in the F.A.Q....

I'll go look right now.

wrote:
> curly mustache wrote:
> > I drink it and enjoy it. It is a CTC tea. (Its granulated.)
> >
> > posters have said that it is the same as PG tips. It well may be
> true.
> > Its very close,but the pg tips I have are bags and taj mahal is
> loose.
> >
> > Taj mahal tea is bargain. enjoy.
>
> What is "PG tips"?
>
> What is "CYC"?
>


THat should have said what is "CTC"?

On 3 May 2005 19:38:48 -0700
wrote:

> curly mustache wrote:
> > I drink it and enjoy it. It is a CTC tea. (Its granulated.)
> >
> > posters have said that it is the same as PG tips. It well may be
> true.
> > Its very close,but the pg tips I have are bags and taj mahal is
> loose.
> >
> > Taj mahal tea is bargain. enjoy.
>
> What is "PG tips"?


A british tea brand. The truth in advertising laws required that they
stop calling it "Pre Gestative" because they can't prove that it helps you
digest food. It's a blend of at least 200 different clones from a variety
of locales.

If you want to drink what a lot of britons are drinking, that's one of
the brands you can try. Whether that means it's good tea is an exercise for
the reader.


> What is "CYC"?


CTC - Crush/Tear/Curl - it means that they've mechanically processed the
tea into smaller bits that release their flavor more quickly. Steeping
times should be cut short with CTC teas.

Eric Jorgensen wrote:
> On 3 May 2005 19:38:48 -0700
> wrote:

> > What is "CTC"?
>
>
> CTC - Crush/Tear/Curl - it means that they've mechanically
processed the
> tea into smaller bits that release their flavor more quickly.
Steeping
> times should be cut short with CTC teas.

Should you use a standard infuser basket as you would with a full leaf
tea?

On 3 May 2005 21:15:05 -0700
wrote:

>
> Eric Jorgensen wrote:
> > On 3 May 2005 19:38:48 -0700
> > wrote:
>
> > > What is "CTC"?
> >
> >
> > CTC - Crush/Tear/Curl - it means that they've mechanically
> processed the
> > tea into smaller bits that release their flavor more quickly.
> Steeping
> > times should be cut short with CTC teas.
>
> Should you use a standard infuser basket as you would with a full leaf
> tea?


Sure - you'll be happier with mesh type infusers, since little bits of
PG Tips can get out of the holes in sheet-metal and plastic infusers, and
certainly out of glass infusers.

Though, it's not so much as to markedly decrease the end quality of the
tea, so, go ahead.

Ted Jones wrote:

> I came across this at the local Indian grocer recently. Have any of you
> tried this product? Is it worth a try?

I spent three months in Bangalore over the fall and winter; Brook
Bond is the staple tea we used to make chai (sugar, milk,
cardamom and tea) with. It's not a fine tea by any stretch of
the imagination: it doesn't seem to be tea leaves, but rather
little black granules of tea. For true south Indian chai, the
quality of the tea came in second to the amount of sugar and
milk, it just needs something in there to make it darker.

Brook Bond seemed very popular there (ie, ads and mass marketing,
and tea stands), but if one were going tea shopping for a
connoisseur you'd look for a first-flush or second-flush
Darjeeling or Assam style. Those "real" teas look and taste
completely different. BB seemed to me to be the "Lipton" of India...

--
Brent Harsh - KD4PBO /"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign: Say
bharsh at ncroadrunner \ / NO to HTML in email and news.
------------------------X-------------------------------
Cary, NC, USA / \ Read my mail with fixed fonts.

On Tue, 03 May 2005 20:58:19 -0600, Eric Jorgensen wrote:

> On 3 May 2005 19:38:48 -0700
> wrote:
>
>> [quoted text muted]
>
>
> A british tea brand. The truth in advertising laws required that they
> stop calling it "Pre Gestative" because they can't prove that it helps you
> digest food. It's a blend of at least 200 different clones from a variety
> of locales.
>
> If you want to drink what a lot of britons are drinking, that's one of
> the brands you can try. Whether that means it's good tea is an exercise
> for the reader.

Brook Bond is a cheap brand of tea in the UK, like PG Tips. As far as I
know there are Indian companies around which buy these western labels
(Tata, Hindustan Lever). There once was a debate whether Indian tea
drinkers would pay premium prices for higher quality teas which are
usually exported to the West. In my experience this is not the case, tea
in India is usually with milk and plenty of sugar plus spices.
JB

It is a great example of taste and price point value which only a blend
can give you. I use it as a reality check when I pay too much for tea.
The BB boxes are colorful and create a festive atmosphere for making
tea compared to the ziplocks from the websites.

Jim

Ted Jones wrote:
> I came across this at the local Indian grocer recently. Have any of
you
> tried this product? Is it worth a try?

Ted Jones wrote:
> I came across this at the local Indian grocer recently. Have any of
you
> tried this product? Is it worth a try?


Yes, it isdefinitely worth trying. I discovered Brooke Bond Taj Mahal
at a local Indian grocer a few months ago. It is not a "gourmet
quality" tea, but it will knock the socks off anything that can be
found in an American supermarket. I have been drinking Brooke Bond PG
Tips, imported from the UK as my "everyday" tea. The Taj Mahal is very
similiar -- almost identical, in fact -- at a fraction of the price.

> wrote:
>curly mustache wrote:
>> I drink it and enjoy it. It is a CTC tea. (Its granulated.)
>>
>> posters have said that it is the same as PG tips. It well may be
>true.
>> Its very close,but the pg tips I have are bags and taj mahal is
>loose.
>>
>> Taj mahal tea is bargain. enjoy.
>
>What is "PG tips"?

It is an inexpensive brand of tea.

>What is "CYC"?

Crush/Tear/Curl processing.

>I know you are probably going to tell me it's in the F.A.Q....

My personal feeling is that none of the generic Indian CTCs are as
aromatic as the generic whole leaf Kalami/Gulabi teas, like Sharzad.
These also turn up very cheaply at Indian groceries (can you believe
two pounds for $3) and really are underrated to my mind.

But, as the Gujerati guy that I shared an office with as a grad student
always said, "If Brooke Shields married James Bond... she'd be Brook-Bond."
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

danube > writes:

> On Tue, 03 May 2005 20:58:19 -0600, Eric Jorgensen wrote:
>
> [...]
>
> Brook Bond is a cheap brand of tea in the UK, like PG Tips. As far as I
> know there are Indian companies around which buy these western labels
> (Tata, Hindustan Lever). There once was a debate whether Indian tea
> drinkers would pay premium prices for higher quality teas which are
> usually exported to the West. In my experience this is not the case, tea
> in India is usually with milk and plenty of sugar plus spices.

When I was in West Bengal a couple of months ago, I saw a few places
to buy Darjeeling with full vintage information (hopefully accurate,
but from what I heard, not necessarily in all the shops.) These shops
seem to have been around for a long time. I also saw, in a chain
grocery store in an upper-class neighborhood, several different
brands/grades of Darjeeling. These gave me the impression of an
attempt to gull naive shoppers, for there was no information on flush
or year. Aside from this, all I saw for sale was CTC tea marketed for
strength, not taste.

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

Now that you are visiting Indian grocery stores, try Lipton's Green Label.
Very affordable pretty good Darjeeling tea...
--
Aloke
----
to reply by e-mail remove 123 and change invalid to com

"Ted Jones" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>I came across this at the local Indian grocer recently. Have any of you
> tried this product? Is it worth a try?
>

On Tue, 3 May 2005 18:22:48 -0500
(curly mustache) wrote:

> I drink it and enjoy it. It is a CTC tea. (Its granulated.)
>
> posters have said that it is the same as PG tips. It well may be true.
> Its very close,but the pg tips I have are bags and taj mahal is loose.


My pg tips is loose, haven't ever had taj mahal.

I don't particularly like it. It's not *bad, but aside from being strong
and mostly inoffensive i can't think of anything to recommend it.