Tea Bags

Most Americans are only familiar with tea bags, as they are convenient, don't require you to own a teapot or infuser, and come in pretty little boxes. I always liked the Celestial Seasonings Sleepy Time box with the bear on it. The sleepy bear. Granted, bears tend to be more dangerous when they're tired, but that's besides the point.

The point here is that if your tea comes in a bag like the one to the right, you are drinking crappy tea.

Tea bags are filled not with whole leaf tea that produces a superior brew, but with what are called "fannings" and "dust." These are also known as "floor sweepings." Floor sweepings are the smallest particles of tea produced, and are often simply left over from whole leaf production. They tend to produce a cup of tea that has a deep color, but a really terrible flavor, often very bitter and astringent. Whereas with whole leaf tea this occurs when you steep your tea improperly, it almost always happens with tea bags.


The above are your typical teabag. Most mainstream bags you'll find in the store are like this. There are also circular bags, as in the picture on the right. The idea behind them is that a circular shape will allow the tea particles more exposure to water. I confess I have some of these in my office (loose leaf tea is too hard to deal with usually). If you MUST use this kind of tea bag, go with a more respected brand like Republic of Tea.

Finally, there are pyramidal tea bags. These are rather new and aren't actually too bad. They tend to have bigger pieces of tea leaf in them and seem to produce a better cup of tea. However, most are made of nylon, which doesn't biodegrade and is made from fossil fuels, so look for bags made from silk.

Of course, the best bagged tea of all is the kind you stick in a bag yourself. One can buy disposable tea infusers and simply load their tea for later use.

As a sidenote, bagged tisanes typically aren't inferior to the loose varieties, so you can still buy that awesome Sleepy Time tea with the bear on the box.