Loose Leaf Tea in Tea Bags

A full traditional Japanese tea ceremony can take anywhere up to five hours to carefully prepare each component and then drink the results in a leisurely way. However, what happens when us modern busy mortals want to enjoy a truly fine cup of tea but do not have the time to follow the Japanese tradition.

The dilemma may never be fully resolved, but the choice starts with exploring loose leaf versus tea in tea bags. Thomas Sullivan is reputed to have first introduced tea bags in the mid-19th century. He made samples of different teas carefully enclosed in a cloth bag for his customers, to help them select a tea. He intended them to open the bag and prepare the tea from its contents.

He soon discovered they were using the samples unopened in order to make their brew. The fine cloth mesh kept the tealeaf bits from making their way into the cup. That created the possibility of drinking it down to the last drop without having to ingest the leaves. The method was a hit.

More than a century has passed and bags and their contents have gone through much evolution, sometimes not for the better. Bags today are finer, stronger, and lighter weight. They are manufactured and inspected to the highest health standards. However, the contents are not always the best that can be had in the world of tea.

In the 1970s, 'natural' became the watchword of all food and beverage products, especially those made from plants. Tea certainly qualifies. As a result, loose-leaf tea was looked on as a superior alternative and, in many cases it is. There are hundreds of truly fine loose-leaf teas imported from many parts of the globe.

Loose-leaf teas from China, India, Japan, and elsewhere can be as pleasing to the connoisseur as a fine wine. The gentle jasmine from China stacks up well against a sweet orange tea from Turkey. Alternatively, one may enjoy an outstanding mint tea from Africa.

By contrast, many bag teas are made essentially from leftovers, called fanning’s. Scraps of tea leaf that remain from processing are fed into a machine that fills thousands of bags per hour. The result is lined up into a box that contains a hundred or more, which is shipped off to a grocery store. There it sits until someone takes it home. By the time it is actually consumed, a tea that was never very high quality to begin with may be stale.

Nevertheless, simply being in a bag is not an inevitable sign of low quality. Many vendors have evolved from the granola days to combine the high quality of a loose-leaf tea with the convenience and other benefits of a bag. Though they often go by the more elegant name of "sachet," it is still tea in a bag. However, the difference is that the tea is of the utmost quality and is sold fresh and that is an important difference.

So, retain your busy lifestyle when you must, but take a few minutes on occasion to celebrate your efforts. Treat yourself to a truly fine cup of tea, and enjoy it without a dozen distractions.