Bagged Tea

Tea bags were not always the standard way of preparing tea.   They are a relatively new development in the preparation and enjoyment of tea.  They also did were not always made out of filter paper, prefilled,  and found for sale on the shelves of every grocery store.  Now, paper fiber tea bags are the most common, but can be found in silk or plastic. Originally tea bags were made of very thin silk each was hand sewn.  They began appearing as early as 1903 in applications for patents.  Tea bags became commercially available in 1904.  It was originally intended that end users would remove the tea leaves from the bags and brew them as loose leaf tea.  However, users discovered that brewing directly in the bags made it easier to get the leaves out.  Many tea bags today, have a short string with a label at the end to allow for easy removal from the cup. Today, most tea bag teas are made from tea fannings or dust, which brews faster but yields a lower quality tea.  There are companies that do fill tea bags with whole leaf tea but this is much less common.

Black tea, white tea, and green tea can all be found in tea bags.  Flavored teas can also be purchased in tea bags as can many herbal teas.   So there are quite a few varieties available for tea enthusiasts to choose from.  If a tea drinker would like the convenience of a tea bag without sacrificing the quality of tea, there are bags available that can be filled by the user with loose leaf tea.  This is one way of guaranteeing the best of both worlds: quality and convenience.Aside from brewing tea, tea sachets can be very useful for relieving burns or under eye puffiness.  Tea often has anti-inflammatory properties and can be soaked in cool water then applied to a minor burn to ease discomfort.  In this application of tea bags- the quality of tea is not of primary importance.   Tea bags soaked in cool water can also be applied to under eye puffiness to ease swelling and reduce the appearance of dark circles. Tea bags- enhance the convenience of tea and also allow tea to be used for many purposes.