Canadian tea drinkers- Red Rose tea - what happened to quality? (2026 Update) FAQ

I have been a devoted Red Rose tea drinker since the old days. To me it has now lost it's distinctive flavour and tastes just like Salada. This is very unfortunate. Does anyone else agree and is there anything we can do or is this what happens when the big Yankee companies take over?? .

Yes, absolutely. I used to drink it exclusively, now i only use it if it is given to me in a restaraunt. If you want to try something alot better, try 'King Cole' tea, with gauze. You can get it at Sobeys and Loblaws.

Sometimes the tea changes, sometimes the taste changes ...

PG Tips through Amazon.com.

What usually happens is that a new generation of executives takes over the company, and they start looking for ways to increase profits.

Using cheaper tea is one way.

Rowntree Fruit Pastilles has changed their recipe, and they are not nearly as good. I complained to the company and got a weak excuse in a reply - "We wanted to make it vegan"

Tetley has created a box of their own brand of "red Rose tea that looks similar and has the same name with modifications which probably makes it legal. It IS NOT the orginal "Red Rose" which is still available. This happened to me as well, Tetly is fooling peope into thinking it is the real "red rose". very unscrupulous.

I am facing the same issues recently regarding its different tastes. So during searching for its substitute I have found Adagio Teas Coupons and I have purchased this for the taste and this gives me the same pleasure, So from now onwards I am using this adagio tea.

Exactly , it’s been my families tea for a couple generations and now it’s not drinkable !

I just brewed a pot of Red Rose from a new purchase and was SSSOOOOO disappointed. Bitter, odd flavor so reminiscent of LIPTON, which I dislike very much! The old wonderful Red Rose, so smooth, flavorful, distinct is gone?

Maybe Twinings breakfast tea? It tastes like Lipton did 1950s

I experience the same thing as Roseanne. I have been drinking Red Rose for a long time. All of a sudden it became the worst tea I have ever had. Had to switch to another brand, now I am enjoying me tea again. Not sure how they expect to make a profit selling tea that tastes like gutrot.

ahmad tea special blend

The Tetley bagged teas are definitely CTC.... I am kind of curious exactly what Red Rose was inside the bag.

--scott

Buy loose leaf tea !

It's way better than the dusty bits of broken leaves that the big names put in to bags and call "tea".

Proper loose leaf tea is worth the extra dollars.

At this point I mostly go for Barry's Tea, for Irish breakfast style, and Qilan Wuyuan Oolong Tea (Organic Positively Tea Company), when I want something more meditative - both loose leaf and both available from Amazon.

The problem with cheap commodity tea blends is that the people who blend them and the saources they are blended with aren't always consistent and so the tea changes with time.

Red Rose was an orthodox process blend that tasted to me like it was mostly African sourced. If you like that, you might try Upton's Tea Imports TK120 "Ruken Estate Rwanda BOP" which is a much higher grade version of the same kind of thing. You will find the smell very familiar.

--scott

Scott Dorsey wrote on 27/9/24 8:53 pm:

Hmm!! Interesting! Here, in Australia, one of the bigger brand names of Tea is Lipton's ..... which, if your eyesight is failing a bit, might look somewhat like 'Upton's"!!

Thank God there is no connection!

--scott

Liptons is s**te.

Get real tea from the source. India. If they ship to Canada, they'll ship anywhere ! The only bag you need is in your pants. Loose leaf tea is the way to go.