“It all started in 2001. We ran out of teabags during a 5 month tour of Europe. Our campervan was burgled in Valencia and we drove the virtually empty van up to Barcelona that night. The next day, we met 2 retired couples who were doing a tour of their own. Their names were Dick, Dot, David & Barbara. They gave us a few packs of Punjana and told us it's the best tea they'd found. Since then, Punjana has become the Ogden "house blend". Unfortunately not widely available in all UK retailers, but it gave us a reason to visit our local Co-op store to keep stocked up.
Fast forward to 2019. We moved over to the USA and brought an entire suitcase full of Punjana which I calculated to be 12 months supply. 13 months after we arrived and on our last packet, we found the excellent teadog site with reasonable prices. Ordered 20 packs immediately and we now have our beloved Punjana for many months to come.
If you haven't tried it yet, this tea beats any of the standard British equivalents (Tetley, PG Tips, Yorkshire, Twinings, Typhoo, etc.).
As I've seen various videos here in the USA committing obscene crimes against tea, here are my brewing instructions from Manchester, England! :
Brewing a single cup of tea:
1. Put a single Punjana teabag into a clean mug.
2. Add boiled water from a kettle and fill up to leave 3/4 inch at the top. If you do anything with a microwave at this point, something has gone wrong!!
3. Stir immediately with a teaspoon and take the spoon out leaving the bag swirling in the cup for 3 minutes.
4. Stir quickly once more and then remove the teabag and use for composting/food waste (a gentle squeeze at the top of the cup prevents the teabag from dripping across your counter).
5. Now stir in some 1% organic milk (our preference but some prefer different % or whole milk. Zero fat milk really isn't nice in tea). The tea colour is down to personal preference, but I would aim for a nice brown caramel/fudge colour. You'll need to experiment. Too much milk takes away from the excellent malty flavours of Punjana.
6. Voila! One cup of tea.
These instructions give you a good, strong, flavoursome cup of tea. If you want to drink a proper British cuppa, avoid any temptation to add honey, lemon, sugar or anything else to this tea. The flavours should be strong, malty, slightly bitter with a hint of cream from the milk. If you don't want the milk, you can also enjoy this as a black tea. Same instructions as above, just don't add milk.
We don't really know/understand iced tea, sweet tea etc. that many seem to drink here in the U.S. so I can't advise on that. It's not something we drink in England.
One last important thing. Whilst it's fine to make one cup and enjoy it with a good book on an arm chair, tea is more enjoyable together with friends and family. "Putting the kettle on" is an appropriate response to almost any situation, but certainly something we do whenever guests arrive at our door. Sit down, have a cuppa, a biscuit (no, not the kind with gravy) and enjoy a good chin-wag!
If you really want to enjoy the tea with friends, invest in a good teapot and tea cosy (to keep it nice and hot). 3 Punjana teabags are enough to make a good pot of tea for 4/5 people. Warm the pot first with a bit of boiling water, then pour that water out, add the teabags, then fill with fresh boiling water, stir and brew for 3-5 minutes.
We don't drink any coffee in our household, only tea. It's much healthier and Punjana does a great job of giving you a little caffeine kick in the morning.
Punjana really does top the charts for a classic British cuppa! ENJOY!”
“The Punjana Original Blend Tea is excellent. It is some of the best tasting tea I have had. A full bodied flavorful tea that really pleases me. I will definitely be a customer from now on.”
“Ive been drinking Punjana for years. Whenever I make tea for my friends they always ask what kind of tea I use because they cant seem to get the flavor quite right with any other brand! So happy I found teadog.com! Excellent service.”
“I've turned plenty of my tea-drinking friends on to Punjana, which I first encountered in London quite a few years back. It is one of the finer teas in the world.
Teadog.Com sells it at a very reasonable price and is quick to fill the order. Excellent choice of teas and well run company.”
“Love Thompsons Punjana original tea blend! Super smooth with no bitterness!! It is fantastic! Its the only tea Ill make at home. Ive been using it 3 years now. Tea Dog made it and easy process with great pricing and quick delivery.”
“This is the only tea that I will drink has a terrific taste to it to be very mild I love making ice tea with it you have a customer for life just dont run out of my tea thank you again and I hope everyone is safe and healthy God bless”
“I love Irish teas. (Campbells is still a good, strong wake-up-in-the-morning tea.) I've tried most of them but Punjana is my first venture north of the border. I wish I hadn't waited so long. It's my new favourite. Rich and full of wonderful tea-flavour. Is it the best tea in the world? Well, I haven't tried them all so I couldn't say that. But it's certainly the best of the perhaps 20 or more I've tried.”
