King Cole Orange Pekoe Tea

Box of King Cole tea bags

This box of King Cole tea bags arrived as a gift from a friend in Canada. This is a really top-notch blend of tea with a full-bodied taste. On the box it says, “We believe our King Cole is the highest quality tea available. If you do not agree, return the unused portion for a full refund.” They were also keen to promote their use of gauze tea bags for better infusion. However, I saw from their website that they’ve gone back to using perforated paper because they can’t source the gauze any more. Pity, but at least the blend of tea is still the same.

King Cole is produced by a family company in Canada. They celebrated their 100th anniversary in 2010. You can read more about them on their website.


Comments

7 responses to “King Cole Orange Pekoe Tea”

  1. It certainly is very good tea. As you can see on the box, they claim that each bag can make two cups. I normally drink tea by the mug, strong, with milk and one sugar (builder’s tea, more or less ;-)) and these bags were more than equal to that particular task, so they should easily manage two standard-sized teacups.

  2. Not Delia

    I agree, the Kong Cole blend is an exceptionally good tea. I would buy it if it was available in our area. It’s so much better than the usual tea bag offerings. I usually have to ask for two bags with some of the stuff they give you in restaurants.

    I don’t usually like tea bags that much anyway, and prefer loose tea. But this is a really good one. It tasted like real tea. I don’t take sugar or milk in mine so I maybe notice the taste of the tea a bit more.

    I’d definitely recommend this to anyone who can get it.

  3. betty f marsh

    i love your tea grow up drinking king cole tea but do not like that you on’t use gauze anymore .my stepdad said the same thing it is not the same tea anymore . i wil keep buying and rinking it , wish you would go back to the old gauze bags . thanks for the best tea ever betty f marsh

  4. Matthew

    I just found out that Barbour’s stopped using gauze for King Cole, what a disappointment. I know, late to the game, but I’m American and stocked up last time I went to see the family cemetery in St. Stephens back in 2009. It makes fantastic ice tea. I still have several hundred bags of gauze and will have to do a direct comparison to decide if it is really worth the premium I pay to get it shipped to me. If it isn’t I’ll have to settle for my grandmother’s second favorite Red Rose which is locally available in Virginia.

  5. M. Brenke

    Is King Cole available in the US?

  6. Not Delia

    It doesn’t seem as though it was – people were either getting it from friends in Canada or going there to stock up on it.

    You can try contacting them via their website and ask if they ship it. If not, they might know of some suppliers who import it.

    Failing that, perhaps you can try the tea that Matthew suggested above.

    Good luck!

    PS: Matthew, I usually like to reply to every comment. I’m really sorry for missing yours, I don’t know how that happened. Most likely I was travelling when you posted it. Sorry!

  7. Linda

    I’m a little late to the game, but I’ve found over the past while that if I drink a cup of tea that comes from GMO-sourced tea bags, I wake up in the middle of the night with terrible cramps and diarrhoea. However, when I drink King Cole tea made with the paper tea bags before bed, I have absolutely no problem. I do have celiac disease, and it makes me wonder if the material sourced for the GMO bags might contain gluten. Has anyone else with CD had this problem?

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