Along with cucumber water and acai berries, green tea has been a victim of the viral “superfood” trend in recent years. I usually watch these trends go by with a hot mug of tea in hand, but this time, when Twinings Glow popped up all over my Instagram feed, I decided to see what the fuss was all about.
If this is news to you, let me recap. Twinings Glow has been gaining traction on TikTok, Instagram, and even small media outlets for it’s supposed benefits for your skin. The tea is part of Twinings’ Superblends range which feature added ingredients to give their teas purpose. The Glow blend features biotin, which contributes to the maintenance of normal skin and hair (according to Twinings).
So, let’s see if this tea will really make you glow and, more importantly, whether it actually tastes good.
Twinings Glow Tea Bags at a Glance
Izzy’s Rating
- Blend: Green tea with natural flavourings and biotin
- Flavour: Simple green tea with a basic strawberry flavouring
The flavour of this tea is an utter letdown. It tastes of basic green tea with a touch of strawberry flavouring – not real strawberry, more like a Haribo sweet strawberry. There’s no hint of cooling cucumber, aloe vera, or peppermint despite all ingredients being listed.
Full Review – Twinings Superblends Glow for Skin
- Type: Tagged paper filter teabag
- Tea: Green tea
- Additives: Apple pieces, nettle, peppermint, biotin, natural aloe vera juice granules, natural strawberry flavouring, natural cucumber flavouring, other natural flavourings
- Health Benefits: Maintain healthy skin and hair
- Flavour Notes: Sweet, fruity, fake strawberry, basic green tea
- Aroma: Sweet strawberry, herbal, refreshing
- Milk or Lemon: Neither
- Where to Buy: Twinings Teashop or Amazon UK
Okay, I’ll get to the health benefits in a moment. First, let’s examine the aroma and flavour of the tea.
When you first open the teabag wrapper, the aroma is quite subtle. The strawberry scent is sweet and there’s a vague hint of something herbaceous and slightly bitter. Not a bad start. Once you add water and brew it into a marigold-yellow cup of tea, it goes downhill.
The aroma from the steam isn’t nice to inhale. It screams artificial strawberry! That herbaceous note that was balancing the sweetness has faded and the green tea aroma that takes its place isn’t quite fresh enough.
But let’s take a sip and see if it can win me back.
No, not really.
The green tea is basic yet quite nice, with a smooth texture and gentle grassy flavour. The strawberry, however, continues to give off artificial vibes. It reminds me of Haribo sweets. For a cup of tea that is supposed to be good for my skin, it’s all wrong.
I’m also really disappointed to not find even a hint of cucumber or aloe vera, despite these ingredients being listed on the front of the teabag wrapper. It’s a shame because the freshness of those ingredients is just what this cup of tea needs.
Ultimately, I finished this cup of tea feeling disheartened. I was expecting something bright, fresh and invigorating. Something that made me at least feel like it was doing something good for my wellness. Instead, it just reminded me of TWG Silver Moon (another over-hyped strawberry-flavoured green tea).
Sorry, Twinings. You know I love most of your herbal blends… but this one falls too short.
How to Brew Twinings Glow
Traditionally, you should brew green tea at 80°C rather than in boiling water. This lower temperature prevents scalding the gentle green tea leaves and creating bitter notes in your cup. However, Twinings simply recommend brewing in freshly boiled water for 3 minutes. So, that’s what I did.
Compared to black tea, green tea is typically lower in caffeine and a better beverage for the evenings. However, I’d still recommend abstaining from Twinings Glow Tea before bed if you’re really sensitive to caffeine.
Does Glow Tea Work?
I like the idea of having a cup of tea as part of your skincare routine, but is Twinings Glow the one? First, here are the real ingredients in the tea:
- Green tea (39%)
- Apple
- Nettle
- Peppermint
- Aloe vera juice granules (1%)
- Biotin (1%)
The strawberry and cucumber are added through natural flavouring, so it’s doubtful you’ll get any nutrition from them.
Green tea, nettle, peppermint and aloe vera are all common skincare ingredients. As green tea makes up the majority of this tea blend, let’s focus there first. You can find numerous studies showing that green tea has potential benefits for your skin, from reducing skin aging to preventing wrinkles and inflammation. Some studies look at the benefits of green tea when ingested, while others look at green tea applied topically. However, it’s still not clear exactly how much tea you need to drink/apply, or how it works (though we believe it has something to do with polyphenols).
I’m also calling BS on the articles and social media posts talking about the benefits of aloe vera in this tea. At 1% of the ingredients, I can’t even justify wasting time in this review talking about how it could potentially benefit your skin.
Instead, let’s talk about biotin. This ingredient is simply water-soluble vitamin B7 which you will find naturally in eggs, milk and bananas according to WebMD. Biotin helps your body break down substances like carbs and fats. If you have a biotin deficiency, you may have thinning hair or a rash on your face.
I think the most important line from the WebMD Biotin entry is this:
“Biotin is used for biotin deficiency. It is also commonly used for hair loss, brittle nails, and other conditions, but there is no good scientific evidence to support these uses.”
And I think that really sums it up. Twinings have basically taken a skin-healthy green tea and added a host of ingredients that may be beneficial for your skin. The problem is, there’s no science here. We don’t know what dose is effective for skin or how much is in the tea.
Summary
Is Twinings Glow good for skin, hair and nails? In short, I think the answer is yes simply because it’s hydrating and green tea’s health benefits have been widely studied (even if conclusive evidence is a bit wishy washy).
Unfortunately, I think the added biotin, aloe vera and cucumber flavouring are just a gimmick. The strawberry flavouring makes the tea taste too sweet to feel healthy as well.
My verdict is that hydrating your body, inside and out, is an important part of your skincare routine. But Twinings Glow is no more effective at this than any other green tea, as far as I can tell.
Buy this tea if you like the flavour. Don’t fall for the clever marketing.
Tea Recommendation
If you’re interested in teas that have health benefits, then I recommend reading my article Is Twinings Tea Healthy? next. It covers what you need to know about cutting through marketing spiel and finding the truth about herbal ingredients and whether they can have any impact on your body when consumed as a daily cuppa.