23 June 2015

Twinings Chai and the Price Increase - an Open Letter @TwiningsTeaUK



So I bought another box of Twinings Spicy Chai, and as I sit here drinking a cup I’m getting slightly angry about it. I said I wouldn’t buy it again because of the price hike, but it turns out my local Sainsburys no longer sell an own brand version. Indeed the only Chai I could find was this one. My feelings of irritation were starting to make my drink taste bitter, and rather than rant any further I thought I’d email Twinings directly.

If you are annoyed by the price increases, or have spotted that it affects any of their other products do send me an email and let me know. I’ll update this when I get a response from Twinings.

Open Letter
I drink a lot of Chai tea. I used to buy 2 boxes of 50 bags of your tea usually on offer for £4 at the supermarket. At worst this was £2.75 for a box of 50, and 2 boxes of 50 for £5.50. You now seem to have discontinued Twinings Chai, and replaced it with Twinings Spicy Chai - which has a surprisingly similar recipe.

  • Twinings Chai - Tea, Ginger Root 10%, Cinnamon Bark 10%, Flavourings.
  • New Twinings Spicy Chai - Black Tea, Ginger Root 10%, Cinnamon 10%, Flavourings.

I like the new Spicy Chai, because it is VERY similar to Twinings Chai. So whats the problem? The new pack contains just 20 (albeit individually wrapped) bags, but still sells for £2.49. If I want 100 bags now I would need to buy 5 of your new boxes of 20 costing me £12.45. I used to be able to get the same amount for £4, so this is a price increase of £8.45 - which is astonishing. As an established food blogger, I was wondering if you have any comment on this?

2 comments:

Something to look forward to said...

Woah - that's quite a hike :(

I wonder if there's something going on with tea generally. I always used to get Tesco's own brand redbush for £1.99 for 80 teagbags (not an offer price). Last time I went it was over £2.80!

I've now switched to M&S which is £1.40 for 40 bags - the cheapest alternative I've been able to find, believe it or not!

cinabar said...

Yes M&S being cheapest is a bit odd... I'm thinking tea conspiracy! :-D