PG Tips Special Blends

The teas have rolled into Tesco stores and will land in Sainsbury’s later this month

PG Tips has unveiled a new range of specially blended black teas.

Four brews – Earl Grey, Chai, Gold, and English Breakfast (rsp: £3.40/70 bags) – have rolled into Tesco stores. They will land in Sainsbury’s later this month.

The new blends are the first piece of NPD from PG Tips since the brand was reset by owner Lipton Teas & Infusions (LT&I) last autumn.

They had been “crafted to encourage regular black tea drinkers to explore new flavours and integrate more special tea occasions into their daily routines”, said PG Tips.

All four had been designed to be consumed with either plant-based or regular milk, it added.

PG Tips’ English Breakfast was “bold, strong and flavourful”, while its Earl Grey was “refreshing, light & citrusy”, the brand said.

The “warm, comforting and deliciously spiced” Chai, meanwhile, offered “all the delicious taste of PG Tips black tea expertly blended with a medley of aromatic spices”.

Completing the range is a new “indulgent, luxurious and full-bodied” Gold blend that will replace the existing PG Tips Gold.

“Our master blenders at PG Tips have created these wonderful new blends, which we think will be a hit with regular black tea drinkers,” said Eleanor Barker, LT&I chief marketing officer for UK & Ireland. “We know the nation’s favourite way to drink tea is to drink it with milk, and these quality blends are robust enough to create that optimum drinking experience.”

Following years of sales declines, PG Tips was relaunched by LT&I in September 2023 as part of a bid to add value back into the black tea category.

The private equity-owned LT&I has spent £40m to upgrade PG Tips’ factory in Manchester.

It has overhauled PG Tips’ teabag and packaging, as well as spending a further £12m on a new campaign featuring Top Boy actor Ashley Walters.

So far, however, the reset is yet to pay off. PG Tips sales have declined by 14.6%, to £74.3m, while volumes have slid by 36.0% [NIQ 52 w/e 15 June 2024].