Look What I Found
PG Tips! Yay!
It's just the tea bag form. No high-brow brew or anything. But when I was living in England, it was always cheap, dependable PG Tips. I love that rich terra-cotta color you get when you splash just a bit of milk into a hot cup of tea made from this stuff.
And this is my first cup in years. Ahh, the smell, the taste--definitely brought back a few memories, most involving gloomy weather. Which is befitting considering the stupid sun has apparently gone into hiding despite Typhoon 22 being long gone.
As when comparing any product sold in Japan with its overseas counterpart, this little box of 40 seemed rather miniscule but was all that was available. I remember boxes of tea in UK being much much bigger. I used to love opening a new box, and seeing all those (maybe, hundreds of??) tea bags neatly lined up, row after row, like soft little aromatic soldiers; and that first dusty waft of tea rising up--hmmm, nice! Anyhow, my PG Tips discovery was made in that store in the Ebisu train station that sells a lot of imported food stuff.
And that's the sad truth, everyone. I have to go to a specialty store to find PG Tips. Ah well, at 450 yen (approximately), and thus being comparable in price to the much more common--ugh--Lipton ("ugh" because in my opinion, Lipton tea bags taste like hot water with bitter red dye), I will happily keep going to Ebisu to get my fix of PG Tips!
I leave you with a steamy shot of my first brewing cuppa (yet unstirred):
Recent update: Sadly, it seems PG Tips was not well received in that particular store in Ebisu--or anywhere in Tokyo, as my fruitless searches seems to imply--because I've been back a few times but PG Tips...isn't there! Alas, that's the way it is with imported goods in Japan.
6 Comments:
Hey again,
Ok so in a true demonstration of my laziness I am posting anonymously again, why you ask...because I'm too darn lazy to register. Yes, in my world, it was easier to write the whole explaination than it was to register.
Anyway, on to the tea...I happen to have developed a taste for Darjeeling tea, it's so soothing and rich, and I can't find it anywhere in this country except at the cafeteria at work where it costs a whopping 72 cents per cup (I guess because they don't expect people to buy tea bags to take home). So now I find that in addition to being delicious, Darjeeling is guilt inducing...tea shouldn't be a luxury, it's supposed to be a staple. All of this tea talk has made me crave a cup, I'm going to go down to the Cafeteria and indulge in a 16 oz cup of tea (which is the same price as an 8 or 12 oz cup, go figure).
Happy tea drinking all, Jaime
Jaime, you can keep on being "Anon" because you always write nice and clearly at the bottom that the comment was from "Jaime." So no worries.
Secondly, for the love of god, girl, of course they sell Darjeeling tea in stores. Please find one of these good stores, buy yourself a box (which probably costs at the most $4 for...who knows...but definitely less than $14.40 for a box of 20, which is what you are currently paying, at 72 cents per cup.), and drink Darjeeling to your heart's content.
Ooo... PG Tips... it has been awhile. I've totally forgotten about it till you brought it up again. I remember I first tried it when I spent Christmas with you and Candice, and Weng Funn had brought a box. Totally fell in love with it then. Brings back good memories. Hmm.. I need to go hunt for a box. I wonder where do they sell it here.
Btw, Rach... do you like teh tarik? I found those 3-in-1 packets here that's not too bad. I could send you some to try.
Wei, thank you so much for the offer. I was totally touched and I know you would actually do it, but I will not have you sending me tea that will cost you probably triple (or more) what the tea itself costed.
I do like those 3-in-1 tea packets though. And the coffee version too. I had a roommate, while in Japan, who was from Las Vegas, and she had never seen the 3-in-1 coffee packets. She said she usually hated instant coffee but actually found this version quite yummy.
I am surprised "3-in-1"s aren't that big in America.
Anyhow, I'm planning on going back to Singapore pretty soon, and I will grab myself some while there. Thanks again, though, girlie.
I enjoy PG Tips too...if you need someone to send you a nice box of them, let me know :) I'd love to do that.
- stef
Thank you so much, Stef! I truly appreciate the offer, but when you live abroad, you learn to roll with the punches, and you can even learn--yes--to live without PG Tips.
- Rachel