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A tea bag consists of two parts, the tea and the bag. The tea is brewed still inside the bag, making it easier to dispose of without a tea strainer.
The first tea bags were made from hand-sewn silk muslin bags and tea bag patents of this sort exist dating as early as 1903. First appearing commercially around 1904, tea bags were successfully marketed by tea and coffee shop merchant Thomas Sullivan of New York, who shipped his tea bags around the world. Modern tea bags are usually made of paper fiber.
A design of empty tea bag is available for consumers to fill with tea themselves. These are typically an open-ended pouch with a long flap. The pouch is filled with an appropriate quantity of leaf tea and the flap is closed into the pouch to contain the tea. The resulting tea bag combines the ease of use of a commercially-produced tea bag with the wider tea choice and better quality control of loose leaf tea.
A well-produced tea bag, with enough space for the tea to infuse properly, is a convenient alternative to loose leaves. On the other hand, because tea bags are often pre-filled, they may contain poor quality tea—small, dusty leaves from many different sources ('floor sweepings') which tend to release tannin more quickly, making the tea taste harsh.
Traditionally, tea bags have been square or rectangular in shape. More recently circular and pyramidal bags have come on the market, and are often claimed by the manufacturers to improve the quality of the brew. This claim, however, only holds with a proper preparation. Certainly preparations of tea with a teabag in a cup often results in poor infusion time. Some tea bags also have a string stapled to one side, long enough for a paper tag stapled to the other end to remain out of the hot water while brewing. This allows for easier removal of the tea bag, without using a spoon, or fingers.
Tea bag paper is related to paper found in milk and coffee filters. It is made with a blend of wood and vegetable fibers. The vegetable fiber is bleached pulp abaca hemp, a small plantation tree grown for the fiber, mostly in the Philippines and Colombia. Abaca hemp is the longest/strongest papermaking fiber available, surpassing even Douglas fir. Heat-sealed tea bag paper usually has a heat-sealable thermoplastic such as PVC or polyproplyene, as a component fiber on inner side of the teabag surface.
Some tea drinkers claim that loose leaves brew a superior cup of tea, and believe that the ritual of leaves is part of the experience of your tea. Many blends of tea are not available in tea bags, and with loose leaves you are free to experiment with your own creations.
The concept of pre-measured portions to be infused in disposable bags has also been applied to coffee, although this has not achieved such wide market penetration (similar to the market penetration of instant tea as compared to instant coffee).
In non-English speaking countries the term tea bag is used more often for the paper or foil wrapper than for the mesh. They are usually square or rectangular envelopes with the brand name and flavour printed on them, as well as interesting decorative patterns. Decorative teabags have become the basis for large collections, and also for the hobby of teabag folding. Begun in the Netherlands, and often credited to Tiny van der Plas, teabag folding is a form of origami in which identical squares of patterned paper (cut from the front of teabag sachets) are folded, and then arranged in rosettes. These rosettes are usually used to decorate gift cards and it has become a popular craft in both the US and UK since 2000.
Since 1996, Original Tea Bag Designs, located in South Africa, has been improving the lives of its workers, with their work with hand painting used tea bags, turning refuse into art.
See also
- Teabagging (Warning: contains adult content)
External links
- History of the Tea Bag from The United Kingdom Tea Council
- Chinatown Dim Sum and Tea Parlors
- Teabag Folding
- www.ima.it - Manufactor of Tea bag machines (to go on: click on "The Group", "IMA Divisions", "Tea, Coffe & Beverage")
- One-Cup Teabag
- Home of Handpainted Tea Bags Made in Africa