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Sky News
02-07-2025
- Business
- Sky News
Two cheap supermarket teas beat household names in decaf blind taste test
Sometimes you want a warm, comforting cuppa without the caffeine buzz that comes with it. In the latest edition of Our Verdict, the Money team tested 13 different decaf tea bags, from supermarket-own to luxury brands. As our national drink, tea elicits strong opinions, and brands can garner devout followings - but strip away the online fan clubs and official merchandise, and do the big names stand up in blind test conditions? Our test suggests not - with two supermarket own brands leading the way. In first place was Asda, scoring high marks from every tester for its smooth and malty flavour and sweet notes. At £1.65 for 80 bags, it is also one of the cheapest options. It beat Lidl into second place, followed by Yorkshire Tea. At the other end of the table was one of the most popular tea brands in the country, PG Tips. Here are the full results... First place: Asda Price: £1.65 for 80 tea bags Average score: 8.3 A great builder's brew - and one of the few teas we tried that tasted distinctly of... tea. Malty, smooth and a hint of sweetness in the brew. A great, caffeine-free substitute if you don't want to compromise on flavour. Second place: Lidl Average score: 7.3 A strong flavour with chocolatey and malty notes, and a bitter edge that fans of a stern brew might enjoy. Average score: 6.3 A clean taste - but while our testers thought this was the best of the rest, it was some way behind Asda and Lidl on flavour. "Inoffensive" was a word that came up several times. Fourth: Twinings Price: £5.29 Average score: 5.5 A slightly more bitter brew than the rest of the field, but with little aftertaste, our testers thought it was a little forgettable. Fifth: Tesco Price: £1.65 Average score: 5.3 Good reddish-brown colour, some sweetness and a pleasant aftertaste, but it didn't hit the classic tea taste profile. Take it or leave it, our testers concluded. Price: £5.90 Average score: 4.3 This tea did not test well despite the high-end price point. Its initial colour was grey and offputting to several testers even with four minutes of brewing. Watery, lacking any kind of depth and a slight soapy taste. Price: £1.85 Average score: 4.3 Our testers described this as "very middle of the road" and scored it poorly for its aftertaste. It did have some nice sweet notes to the flavour and brewed an enticing red colour, but it caused a dry mouth feeling that was unpleasant. Joint sixth: Morrisons Price: £1.65 Average score 4.3 Some interesting flavours - our tasters picked up chocolate but, again, some were left with a soapy taste in their mouth. Joint seventh: Aldi Price: £1.45 Average score: 3.3 The brewing colour was nice, but the flavour was weak other than a touch of bitterness. Joint seventh: Sainsbury's Price: £1.65 Average score: 3.3 This tea lacked flavour and was panned by our testers - one described it as "lifeless". Eighth: Tetley Average score: 3 Three words to sum this one up from our tasters: watery, bitter and bland. Ninth: M&S Price: £3.20 Average score 2.6 A sour nothingness that, like many of the lower scoring teas, left a powdery, dry feeling on the tongue. Price: £2.68 Average score 2.3 Unlike all the other teas, this one had no redeeming qualities for our testers, who described it as "unpleasant" and "watery".
Daily Mail
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Emily Atack shares loved-up snap with boyfriend Alistair Garner a year after welcoming son Barney
Emily Atack shared a loved-up Instagram snap on Firday with her boyfriend Alistair Garner as she enjoyed a sunny day off work in Bristol. Looking happier than ever, the couple cosied up outside while Emily, 35, enjoyed a glass of rosé wine. Keeping it casual in black sunglasses, Emily wore a loose brown shirt and up-do that perfectly accentuated her freckled skin. She captioned the snap: 'A lovely day off yesterday in sunny Bristol. Don't tell monkey [PG Tips].' The Inbetweeners actress has been dating Alistair since 2022 and the happy couple welcomed son Barney last June. While Emily chooses to keep her relationship out of the spotlight, she does provide fans with the occasional insight. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. Emily recently shared more snaps of the family enjoying a holiday in the Cornish village of Mevagissey, revealing that son Barney is a big fan of pasties. The couple have known each other since they were children after Emily's mother is the sister of Alistair's stepmother Jane Garner. She explained that they had hoped to have a family of their own after a year of dating and discovered her pregnancy in November 2023 when she realised she had missed a period. She told The Times: '[Alistair] joked, "Let's buy a pregnancy test then" We did and I was pregnant. 'It was the happiest, most perfect day of my life. Not long afterwards, he packed all his stuff in a van in Manchester where he lived and arrived at my house.' The actress explained that shortly after this, they bought a house together and Barney conveniently arrived the day after they finished unpacking. The sweet snap comes after Emily was recently announced as the new face of PJ Tips after signing a reported six-figure deal. The actress, who shot to fame as Charlotte Hinchcliffe on The Inbetweeners, has joined the household brand's much-loved Monkey in new adverts as he comes out of retirement. Her new role sees her replace TV comic Johnny Vegas, 54, who famously fronted the tea campaign alongside Monkey for several years. Emily's new role comes as her memorable performance in the smash hit series Rivals, which has been nominated at the 2025 BAFTA TV Awards. The new reality-TV-inspired advert, titled At Home with Monkey, follows Monkey's new life with his wife, Alice M, played by Emily. The pair share two children, Earl and Chai, and are starring in a fictional reality TV show sharing the highs and lows of marriage. 'We met on that celebrity dance show didn't we, he just took my breath away,' Emily says whilst looking at Monkey, poking fun at Strictly Come Dancing. The pair then take a leaf out of David, 50, and Victoria, 51, Beckham's book as they recreate a viral moment from their Netflix documentary. The family had fans in hysterics last October thanks to a scene in the documentary which saw David poke fun at his wife's claim about her 'very working class' roots. David interrupted, incredulous, and asked Victoria to be honest to which she replied: 'I am!' He then repeatedly asked Victoria to reveal what car her dad used to drive her to school in. The Spice Girl eventually gave in and said: 'OK. In the '80s, my dad had a Rolls-Royce.'
Daily Mirror
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Tragic life of last PG Tips chimpanzee from poaching injuries to death
Choppers, a Western Chimpanzee, played grandmother Ada Lott in the long-running marketing campaign while she was still a juvenile Nine years on from the passing of a "beloved" chimpanzee, Choppers, famed for starring in PG Tips tea adverts, scientists have uncovered disturbing truths about her past. Astonishingly, the Western Chimpanzee who played the character of grandmother Ada Lott while still young, was housed at Twycross Zoo in Leicestershire for over four decades until she died in 2016, ITV reports. Groundbreaking revelations about her life have come to light via National Museums Scotland (NMS) researchers, employing what they describe as "cutting-edge" techniques to narrate her life "like never before." Interestingly, this state-of-the-art method is similar to that used to decipher the history of King Richard III, whose remains emerged from beneath a Leicester car park. Known as osteobiographical analysis, it necessitates meticulous inspection of an individual's skeletal and soft tissues. While the technique typically sheds light on the lives of human entities, detailing their histories with impressive precision, its application to contemporary animal subjects is unheard of. Yet, NMS asserts that this occasion marks possibly the first time such a comprehensive use of this approach has been undertaken to probe the existence of a zoo creature. Choppers, a former TV-star chimp who was famously rescued from West African poachers at six weeks old and later became a beloved character known as Ada Lott on British screens, tragically passed away with her skeleton being exhibited at the National Museum of Scotland (NMS), reports the Express. Before settling into retirement around the age of six or seven, Choppers featured in countless living rooms, eventually leaving show business due to her maturing age. Back in 2014, the very zoo that trained chimps for television admitted to the BBC that utilising apes in entertainment was a mistake that led to lasting harm for the animals. In an enduring contribution to science after death, Choppers's remains were given to NMS by the Twycross Zoo, adding to a vast natural science trove boasting more than 10 million artefacts. NMS's Dr David Cooper, who conducted a cutting-edge osteobiographical study, said: "Choppers was beloved by audiences across the UK for years. Now the innovative application of osteobiographical analysis has allowed us to tell her story like never before. "Her life is a testament to the many thousands of chimpanzees that were taken from the wild and charts a crucial shift in the priorities of zoos away from entertainment and towards education, conservation, research and welfare." The research revealed personal hardships experienced by Choppers, including distressing injuries obtained during her capture as a baby. These afflictions affected her mobility and exacerbated age-related degenerative conditions, confirmed by scientific investigation. Experts have discovered that Choppers, a chimpanzee who was once a TV star, experienced significant changes in her diet and geography between the ages of three and four, coinciding with her move to the UK where she was introduced to a zoological diet. The study revealed that Choppers's upper jaw was "significantly elongated" compared to wild chimpanzees, a result of an early diet rich in sugary soft fruit. Researchers have noted that zoo primates' diets have recently changed to include tougher, less sugary vegetables, leading to marked improvements in their health and behaviour. The findings, detailed in the journal Scientific Reports, were a collaborative effort involving experts from the University of Exeter, the University of Reading, Twycross Zoo, and the University of Edinburgh. Phillipa Dobbs, veterinary services manager at Twycross Zoo, expressed delight at participating in the research, stating: "Choppers was an important part of our history and this pioneering research offers new insights into her life and the evolving role of modern zoos." She added: "By supporting studies like this, we can continue to learn from the past and drive progress in animal care, welfare, science and conservation. It's an honour to be involved."
Daily Record
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Tragic life of last PG Tips chimpanzee exposed in groundbreaking study
Choppers was a long-term resident at Twycross Zoo in Leicestershire and starred in a series of adverts for the tea brand before her death in 2016 after a childhood of cruelty Nine years on from the passing of Choppers, a "beloved" chimpanzee famous for starring in PG Tips tea adverts, scientists have unveiled distressing insights into her life. Portraying the character grandmother Ada Lott while just a juvenile, the Western Chimpanzee was a long-standing inhabitant at Twycross Zoo in Leicestershire, where she lived for over four decades until her death in 2016, ITV reported. Recently, revelations have emerged thanks to researchers at National Museums Scotland (NMS), who employed what they term "cutting-edge" techniques to piece together her life story in unprecedented detail. Interestingly, this same technology was used to piece together the history of King Richard III after his remains were discovered in a car park in Leicester. Known as osteobiographical analysis, this innovative scientific method meticulously examines an individual's bones and tissues. It is typically utilised in archaeology to forge comprehensive biographies of ancient human beings, revealing intricate elements such as their living conditions and personal histories. The NMS, however, highlights that its application on contemporary animal subjects is quite extraordinary, and it's believed that this is the first instance where the method has been so extensively applied to delve into the narrative of a zoo animal's life, reports the Express. Choppers, the chimpanzee who was rescued from poachers in West Africa at a tender age of six weeks and later became a beloved television star in the UK, has had her life story told through osteobiographical analysis. After retiring from her role as Ada Lott when she hit puberty at around six or seven years old and Choppers's life took a turn away from the limelight. In 2014, the zoo that once trained chimps for TV appearances admitted to the BBC that using apes on television was a mistake, acknowledging the long-term damage suffered by the animals. Following her passing, Twycross Zoo contributed Choppers's skeleton to NMS, where it joined a vast natural science collection exceeding 10 million specimens. Dr David Cooper, the NMS researcher who led the study, commented: "Choppers was beloved by audiences across the UK for years. Now the innovative application of osteobiographical analysis has allowed us to tell her story like never before. "Her life is a testament to the many thousands of chimpanzees that were taken from the wild and charts a crucial shift in the priorities of zoos away from entertainment and towards education, conservation, research and welfare." The research provided detailed insights into Choppers's significant life events, including traumatic injuries she suffered as an infant due to poaching. These injuries affected her mobility and exacerbated age-related degenerative conditions, according to the scientists involved in the study. An analysis of Choppers's teeth revealed geographical and dietary shifts between the ages of three and four, corresponding with her move to the UK where she was placed on a typical zoo diet. The study highlighted that her upper jaw was "significantly elongated" when matched against that of wild chimpanzees in their natural environment, which researchers attributed to an early diet rich in sugary soft fruit. Experts have noted that recent years have seen a change in zoo primate diets to include tougher, less sugary vegetables, resulting in marked improvements in health and behaviour. Findings from the research have been detailed in the journal Scientific Reports, with contributions from academics affiliated with institutions such as the University of Exeter, the University of Reading, Twycross Zoo, and the University of Edinburgh. Phillipa Dobbs, the veterinary services manager at Twycross Zoo, expressed pleasure at participating in the research, commenting: "Choppers was an important part of our history and this pioneering research offers new insights into her life and the evolving role of modern zoos." She added: "By supporting studies like this, we can continue to learn from the past and drive progress in animal care, welfare, science and conservation. It's an honour to be involved."
Times
20-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- Times
Brews (on the) up: the best teapots to buy now
Gen Z are bringing the teapot back from the brink of extinction with a new enthusiasm for a brew. A quick dunk of a PG Tips teabag not good enough for them? Are they spending all their money on loose-leaf Darjeeling? A survey by Nationwide on the topic has failed to reveal the answers to these pressing questions. What the survey of 2,000 does disclose is that more than half (59 per cent) of 16 to 28-year-olds have used a teapot in the past week, 74 per cent say tea is 'essential to their lives' and that the Zoomers prefer tea over coffee, juice and energy drinks as the first drink of the day. And there is more. As part of its Make Every Cuppa
