Recently my local supermarket was out of Tetley British Blend teabags, and I had to resort to buying the "regular" Tetley teabags, which I had not used in many years and did not remember with much fondness. Later, when I brewed a pot (using an extra bag to compensate for less tea per bag than British Blend), I was pleasantly surprised. This tea was MUCH better than I remembered. I did notice that it was now called Tetley Classic Blend, whereas it used to be Tetley Original Blend, but I thought that was just a change brought about due to some market research. But then I found the following article on the web:
Apparently Tetley quietly discontinued its Original Blend about five years ago and replaced it with Classic Blend, which is allegedly the same blend that Tetley sells in the UK. I suppose they kept quiet about it to avoid a "New Coke"-like fiasco. But the story makes sense because Classic Blend is definitely not the Tetley I remembered. The old Tetley had a very peculiar aftertaste. If they'd been selling Classic Blend all along, I would never have stopped using it.
I still prefer the British Blend, which yields a stronger cuppa but it is nice to know that the ubiquitous Classic Blend makes a reasonable substitute in a pinch.
Pat