English Tea

[phuket Mike]

Does anybody know where I can buy good quality English style tea (not Liptons).

The Lotus/Tesco here in Phuket for a very short time stocked there own brand Premium Blend which was excellent. When they were asked why they still don't stock it the answer was 'it didn't sell'.

Now I must admit I find this hard to beleive I bought 2 boxes of 80 tea bags immediately and when I went back for more a week later they had already sold out, indeed a very slow seller.

I did manage to get some Malaysian tea bags on the last visa run but they have now run out and to honest they were not as good as the Tesco brand.

So any help would be greatly appreciated.

phuket Mike

[rampa]

the tesco/lotus in bangkok sells twinings english breakfast tea, its in a red box, do they not sell that? i guess not. au bo pain sandwich shop uses them in bangkok, i would have thought that you could get them somewhere. good luck.

[rampa]

i meant to write au bon pain, not au bo pain. its worldwide that sandwich shop i think

[boNita aPPlebuM]

Try Villa Market ... am sure they have a wide variety of tea for you. For now, you can drink some Thaitea ... the orange tea with some cream ... hmm .... yummy

[tutsiwarrior]

I am gob smacked on this one...the Tesco/Lotus in the wilds of Suphan Buri has got a good range of Twinings teas and there ain't many falangs around here...

don't understand how you would have a problem finding the same in BKK...

(don't drink the stuff myself...Liptons Gold Blend is OK if you double up on the tea bags...then there is the problem of finding fresh milk...)

[phuket Mike]

Thanks for the replies folks.

Unfortunately I forgot to mention Twinings which my local Tescos does have. Its okay but a little expensive. Its really an export brand and a little light in flavour for my taste.

I know what you are all thinking this guy is never going to be happy. Well the problem is once you have tasted the real thing you are never happy until you get it again. Now if Tescos had never tried their own brand that was designed for the British market I would probably have been happy with Twinings or even Liptons (double bagged of course).

Anyway thanks again for your input, I will just have to wait until my friend comes from England and brings me some PG Tips or better still Yorkshire Tea.

phuket Mike

[tutsiwarrior]

you callin' PG Tips 'good' tea? I would say 'Special Blend' loose tea that comes in the dark green box as a minimum.

all right...lets' get into it...forget the fkin' bacon debate with the yanks...wave the flag for Blighty and shout it out for your favorite tea.

The best tea in the world has nothing to do with the UK. It is served in little tulip glasses in Turkey prepared in a double boiler arrangement. Highly addictive and one shot removes the top of your head. Unparalleled.

[chonabot]

Ahh that sounds like some coffee I once drank in Venezuela Tutsi , woke up next to a tube of KY......that's aonther story morning glory...

[Expat2B]

As a fan of M&S Gold label tea, I was pleasatly surprised to find it (and M&S Earl Grey) in the pseudo M&S branches they have here. I buy it at Siam Centre.

[kwiz117]

To all English Tea lovers..

Where you grow Tea in England?

If you want real English Tea then you should try "Pure Ceylon Tea".

That is the place you get the Best Tea in the world.

May be I can help to get some, if you are a so much in need for good quality English Tea.

Well..until then..try to enjoy Chinese Tea..

[taxexile]

there are some shops selling loose tea in the depths of chinatown in bangkok, they have tasting facilities to allow you to sample the varieties on sale,and some good strong teas can be bought there.

one or two of the varieties can be drunk with milk and sugar the english way, and i have found them to be as satisfying as a good pg tips breakfast cuppa.

for the hardcore tea addict, its worth a trip to chinatown just for the experience of buying in one of these shops. i dont know the name of the street where these shops are located, but any shopkeeper there will direct you.

[Bangkok Barry]

Sorry to hear that Lotus/Tesco have stopped selling their own brand of tea. It slipped down a treat. Twinings English Breakfast Tea is okay, bit a bit pricey. What I do is pick up some decent tea when I travel, which is fairly often.

But something you can't buy anywhere except the UK is Fray Bentos meat puddings! Even in Oz. They thought I was nuts when I tried to explain what they are. So I always stock up when I visit the UK once a year. Bloody heavy in the suitcase though. My wife likes it when I crave one for dinner because it means she doesn't have to cook.

Also Twiglets are hard to find, but kind folks bring them to me when we meet at various places around the planet. Found them also once in Melbourne, where I was told they get them in for Christmas, and in Dubai. Once saw Tracey Ullman talking on tv about missing Twiglets while she lived in LA, and if she got some sent over they went soft. The answer is to heat them up in a frying pan. Thought you'd like to know.

Now I'll get back in my box.

[tutsiwarrior]

Twiglets?...shee-it, never could understand Twiglets when you got 5 types of Walker's crisps, Scampi fries and pork cracklins available in most pubs.

There will probably be praises for marmite on toast soon...

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Twiglets?...shee-it, never could understand Twiglets when you got 5 types of Walker's crisps, Scampi fries and pork cracklins available in most pubs.

There will probably be praises for marmite on toast soon...

The Aussie's all seem to have their Vegemite Tutsi, and that stuff would kill a soi dog

[wcr]

I've had the same problem here in Pattaya with Tesco and tea. I used to buy Tesco premium also and was pleased to see it in the stores here. Likewise I used to buy it regularly and found it sold out many times. How can they say it didn't sell? Liptons is not good and Twinnings is bloody expensive.

[Bangkok Barry]

Okay. I admit twiglets are an acquired taste. I got a Japanese girl to try one once and she nearly threw up. As for crisps (potato chips to our American friends), I'm a purist and like the normal, plain, non-chicken/barbeque/cheese and onion (especially) ones. I like pork scratchings too, but too often they're mostly fat and I worry about breaking my teeth on them if they're not. A couple of my Aussie mates always travel with vegemite. Not bad on toast.

[Nat]

A couple of my Aussie mates always travel with vegemite. Not bad on toast.

with Kraft Singles

[pidster]

Found this site which may prove of interest http://www.britstore.co.uk the stock of UK grub seems quite large and includes Twiglets + PG Tips if thats what takes your fancy. Not sure of the shipping costs etc but the basic prices seem comparable to UK supermarkets (GBP 1.15for 125g of Twiglets) and if your craving needs satisfying maybe the cost of shipping would not be your prime concern.

Cheers

[phuket Mike]

Pidster

Thanks for your suggestion, unfortunately I have already tried this method and it works out very expensive. I got a large box of goodies sent over at Christmas but these expat shopping sites will not invoice the shipping cost seperately so, say you send £70 on goods, the shipping will probably be another £70 and Thai customs tax you on £140 so in my case at Christmas it cost me another 3500 baht in duty.

So I think the sane option is to wait while I in BKK again and so to M&S and get some of their tea or wait for my friend to bring some from the UK in August.

[tutsiwarrior]

in the mean time remember that Lipton's Yellow Label with double tea bags...not a bad substitue...