​The Journey to Quality Tea

The Journey to Quality Tea: Overcoming the Popularity of Inferior Tea Bags This lesson discusses one of modern tea's biggest challenges: the widespread use of low-quality tea bags. Currently, about 95% of all tea sales in the U.S. are in the form of tea bags. Unfortunately, these bags often contain the lowest-quality tea, resulting in a subpar drinking experience. 

Given this poor standard, it's no surprise that tea's popularity has declined.

The history of tea and the advent of tea bags is quite fascinating. Tea bags are a relatively recent invention. When the first tea leaf supposedly fell into Emperor Shen Nung's cup in ancient China, it didn't have a labeled string attached. 

Tea was enjoyed in loose form for thousands of years, with various methods used to separate the leaves from the water. Several ancient texts offer detailed instructions on how to enjoy tea best.

The most famous of these teachings is "The Classic of Tea" (Ch'a Ching), written around 800 AD by the Chinese philosopher Lu Yu. 

As you might expect, it does not mention unwrapping tea by pulling a string.

The first tea bags were created by accident. Thomas Sullivan, a tea and coffee retailer in New York City, wanted to save money on sampling costs. Instead of using expensive tins, he sent samples of loose tea in small hand-sewn silk pouches. When potential clients received the samples, they were puzzled by the new packaging and placed the entire silk pouch in hot water. This inspired Sullivan to receive numerous requests for these convenient "tea bags," he realized he had stumbled upon a lucrative idea. The easy cleanup and convenience of the pouches made tea bags famous. 

The Cost of Convenience: Sacrificing Flavor Regrettably, this convenience came at a high cost: flavor. Tea leaves require ample space to expand and fully release their flavor. Tea bags, however, restrict this expansion. Smaller tea leaves, which need less room to enlarge, were used to address this. This change allowed merchants to use cheaper grades of tea, known as "fannings" or "dust," which are the lowest quality tea available. 

While these tiny fragments add color to your cup, they lack significant flavor. Furthermore, companies began using paper filters for the tea bags, further hindering water flow and reducing tea quality.

"The same transformation is happening with tea today. Most people no longer drink instant coffee, and the quality of tea in local supermarkets is finally improving. Western markets are finding ways to make finer teas more accessible, heralding a new era for tea enthusiasts."