Yorkshire Tea “leaves”

What gives?  “Leaves” have now become something resembling a “dust bowl”.  Bring back the humble tea leaf please, I could murder a decent brew.

Or does anyone have any recommendations?

They’re not even grown in Yorkshire.

Yep, dust and/or floor sweepings – and if you can’t see what’s in the bag, don’t buy it.
For me, it’s either loose leaf or bags which clearly contain pieces of leaf.
Anything else is tasteless, marketing bullshit and tending to misrepresentation.
Suggestions…
Loose Leaf – kenya, assam, darjeeling, lapsing souchong
In bags…
Teapigs – chai, darjeeling earl grey, everyday brew, silver tips white
Dragonfly – gunpowder green, jasmine pearls
Waitrose own brand – english breakfast, jade oolong

Always drink tea without milk or sugar.

Forget loose leaf Elaine , just buy Sainsbury’s Red Label tea bags if you want a decent cup of char 👍

Clipper tea, far superior to Yorkshire. Bags are compostable too unlike most others that contain plastic.

Hello R.  For decades Red Label tea leaves was used and made a decent cuppa until it didn’t.  Now Yorkshire Tea has gone the same way imo.  Only loose tea will do, none of these plastic contaminated tea bags thank you!

Did a search for loose tea and was surprised at the number of independent online retailers who sell large leaves so that will be a work in progress.  May report back!

Ringtons or Clipper are usually an acceptable substitute for Yorkshire, although I will admit that laziness means we normally just use teabags.
If you’re in N.E. England or Yorkshire then Ringtons often have a direct delivery service.
https://www.ringtons.co.uk/tea-c1/loose-leaf-c4

Clipper is a pain in the arse to find wherever I shop. Only loose leaf I can get is Yorkshire or Scottish Blend.

Cinnamon Girl – for an epic range of loose leaf teas I give you…https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=imperial+teas+lincoln&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Cast iron tea pots, japanese tea bowls – they do lots of accessories and accoutrements!
Yes, you’re right in saying there are many independent tea specialists.

Memo to self – when next in Lincoln (which will be next week), buy a range of their loose leaf offerings and ditch the bags.

If you try Imperial, post a comment about what you think.

Farrers in Kendal is good for loose leaf tea. 

Birchalls Great Rift breakfast blend is a pretty good Yorkshire Tea replica. Loose or fancy pyramids.

Waitrose English breakfast or Assam though I am partial to twinnings extra strong breakfast teabags first thing in the morning 

Did a search for loose tea and was surprised at the number of independent online retailers who sell large leaves so that will be a work in progress. May report back!

All ours comes through the post.  Mrs g-d is in charge of ordering but it’s proper big bits and it kicks the proverbial out of bagged dust.  

All ours comes through the post. Mrs g-d is in charge of ordering but it’s proper big bits…

Abyssinian Tea?

… and it kicks the proverbial out of bagged dust.

Well, it would do

Golden Monkey Tea in Warwick or online. https://goldenmonkeyteacompany.co.uk/

Their Margaret’s Hope Darjeeling is particularly fine.

Well Yorkshire tea “bags” here in Oz are about half the size as they are in UK.

Why? Well, for clarity, I emailed Taylor’s or whoever they are. Apparently, the Aussies don’t appreciate a decent (full strength) brew like us Poms.

So I just use 2 tea bags per mug. Hang the expense.

Waitrose English breakfast or Assam

+1 for both of those, though the English breakfast seems to have changed a bit recently. Sipping a mug of Assam right now.

Northern Tea Merchants

Taught Guy Martin how to make a blend, so good provenance.

For me, it’s either loose leaf or bags which clearly contain pieces of leaf.
Anything else is tasteless, marketing bullshit and tending to misrepresentation.

I am struggling with this. Is “bullshit” intended to be taken literally? If not, what marketing message comes from powdered vegetable matter inside a porous envelope?

Our local refill shop sells loose leaf tea. As you say some other brands ate now almost dust. 

Orange pekoe as opposed to broken orange pekoe maybe what you are after. The former is more refined taste and the latter a stronger cup of tea..

Punjana or Thomson’s are the brew of choice for the Ulsterwoman in the house. Highly recommended and can be had loose or bagged as one prefers.

Dust is an actual tea grading and majority of tea in British supermarkets is this.
Even the “loose leaf” big brand names are low grade, more granuals than leaves.

India and China laugh that we drink the stuff they sweep off the floor 😄

I’m getting my stuff from High Teas at the moment. https://highteas.co.uk/

To be fair, dust grade tea can actually be very good and the premium loose leaf thing is a bit snobbish 😄, though good quality posh tea is really nice.

I just want a cup as quickly as possible with no fannying around, and Yorkshire Tea produces a nice strong mug with minimal amount of time and effort. I do have green tea, as well as Oolong, which I’ll use if I can be bothered to make an effort, but mostly I just can’t be bothered.

the premium loose leaf thing is a bit snobbish

If all you want is a mug of hot drink that isn’t coffee, yes, it is.

If I’m after ‘flavored’ teas I use Fortnum’s loose leaf Smokey early grey, countess grey, and Fortmason.

Otherwise I try and get tea from Comins tea. I met Michelle at work and she explained how she was planning to spend a chunk of the upcoming year visiting various tea plantations. https://cominstea.com/

Brew tea is all proper leaves and very nice, can buy all over the place and is not expensive.

If you want something for a quick strong brew then Sainsbury’s Gold is a good shout. Not a massive tea drinker myself but my wife likes a strong builders brew and she drinks it by the bucket load.

https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/sainsburys-fairly-traded-gold-label-x80-tea-bags-250g-7852997-p-44

Suki tea’s Belfast Brew. A staple in our house and on our Amazon subscription for a monthly discount. Their Russian Caravan is also nice for a wee treat every so often. 

Thanks for all the responses and links, got some homework to do!

Taylor’s (makers of Yorkshire Tea) do kilo bags of better quality grade loose leaf that tastes nicer than Yorkshire Tea (IMHO, and i do love Yorkshire Tea).

https://stormbrew.co.uk/collections/loose-leaf-tea

Or you can take the red pill and enter the rabbit hole of boutique loose leaf tea…

https://what-cha.com/collections

(Bring a credit card)