Yorkshire Gold vs Yorkshire Red: Do You Know the Difference?

Should you try Yorkshire Gold Tea or Yorkshire Tea? Do you know the difference? Other than both are black teas and come in tea bags and loose, how are they different?

Introduced in 1977, Yorkshire Tea became best-selling brand of tea in the UK in Nov 2019 and has 28% of black tea market. It is made by Taylors of Harrogate.

Taylors tastes 900 cups of tea every day to create the specific Yorkshire Tea taste. Tea leaves from different regions are blended to achieve each Yorkshire Tea taste.

Yorkshire Gold is a premium version of Yorkshire Tea and is the best blend Taylors makes.Yorkshire Gold is a blend of tea leaves from Kenya and Rwanda in Africa and the Assam region of India.  About 66% of the tea used comes from Kenya and Rwanda because those countries are acknowledged to grow the best tea leaves.  Rwandan teas are a key ingredient in Red and Gold blends. Actually, Taylors buys 10% of all the tea grown in Rwanda.

Tea leaves for Yorkshire Gold are from the top 10 tea gardens in those regions. Yorkshire Tea, also known as Yorkshire Red or Yorkshire Original, blends tea leaves from Africa and India. Tea leaves for Yorkshire Tea are a step below the ones chosen for Yorkshire Gold.

Blending tea leaves from different regions allows tea makers to achieve a specific taste. Using more tea leaves from one region will lead to a different taste than using more from another region. Blending tea leaves allows tea makers to achieve a balance of flavor, strength, aroma and color.

Emphasizing one tea over the others changes the taste. Suppose you want to make a chocolate dessert that calls for 1 cup of cocoa powder. If you only used ⅛ cup or decided to use 2 cups, the dessert would taste drastically different. Yorkshire Tea work the same way.

Plastic

In March 2020, Taylors began replacing oil-based plastic in their tea bags with a plant-based plastic. By Jan 2021, Taylors is planning for all Yorkshire Tea products to be made with the new tea bags. Taylors does not refer to these tea bags as plastic free, but rather are made from renewabale plant-based sources. In 2018, Taylors tested this method of tea bags, but it failed. The tea bags began breaking during steeping. Taylors then worked with Sheffield University to fix the problem. Taylors explained that working with plant-based plastics is a lot harder than traditional plastic.

Award Winning

Yorkshire Gold is an award-winning tea. It has won 2 stars in the Guild of Fine Foods Great Taste Awards known as the Food Oscars. It also was recognized as the best cup of tea in England.  Taylors of Harrogate is a 3-time winner of The Queen’s Award for Enterprise for Sustainable Development, given only to companies with strong ethical, social and environmental values.

Famous "Friends"

Yorkshire Gold has made several television appearances. It has appeared on the Showtime series Homeland. Yorkshire Tea also made an appearance on the tv show Friends. Plus, it was recently revealed to be Luther's favorite tea. The popular BBC drama follows police detective John Luther, played by Idris Elba, as he solves crimes. Yorkshire Tea can be found in a scene from episode 1 of season 5. A box of Yorkshire Tea is seen in the background while he is sitting at table in the kitchen. Sharp eyed fans will notice that in episode 1 the box is turned sideways. But, in episode 2, the box faces front.

 Royalty

Taylor of Harrogate holds a Royal Warrant. Taylors supplies beverages to the household of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales.

History

Yorkshire Tea still is part of a family-owned business. It is still made by Taylors of Harrogate, which is now part of Betty & Taylors, based in Yorkshire, England. Taylors was started by Charles Taylor in 1886 in England and began as CE Taylor & Co. Taylor began his career buying teas that stores could sell as their house brand. Taylor’s specialty was creating new blends of tea tailored to each area’s unique local water. Charles and his brother Llewellyn Taylor started CE Taylor in Leeds, England as tea and coffee merchants.

But the only real way to decide which you prefer is to try both. Try each without sugar first so you can taste the actual tea. You may find other teas labled Yorkshire, so make sure you are getting Taylors Yorkshire Tea, the original and only.