Tea brand PG Tips has unveiled what it claims is its "best-ever cuppa" after completing a £50m investment at its factory in Manchester in creating the ''60-second
'' brew.
The company has developed a new blend, bag and look for its tea following the two-year project, terrifying tea blend enthusiasts in the process.
PG Tips said its "perfectly square
" tea bag features a new formulation which "guarantees (no less) both great flavour and a faster infusion".
The new PG Tips uses 'shoots' of the tea bush and the new blend includes tea grown at high altitude in Kenya and Rwanda.
They add that the new bag size allows enough room to let the leaves to rapidly infuse but is compact enough to ensure it does not fold in on itself. That'll ease fears I guess!
It also said that the tea itself is the "perfect particle size" to move freely around the bag for quick, consistent brewing.
However, the UK Tea Academy's Jane Pettigrew told The Times
that the time taken for brewing is an essential part of the ritual, and rapid teabags are abhorrent.
Pettigrew said: “We relish the three or four minutes it takes to brew a real cup of tea and benefit from the zen-like spirit of tea – the slow brewing of tea creates a magical few minutes in a busy, sometimes frantic day.”
“I really abhor this kind of ‘innovation’. It is not progress but a massive retrograde step backwards in what tea should be.”
By some contrast and hardly surprisingly, PG Tips general manager, UK and Ireland Liam McNamara was effusive about their new 'creation': "We are immensely proud of the fact that British tea drinkers already enjoy five billion cups of PG Tips every year.
"PG Tips is one of the best known and best-loved drinks brands in the country and by far the best-known tea.'' boasted Mr. McNamara.
