Tea bags: types, advantages and disadvantages

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Tea bags are a tribute to modernity. They are very convenient when you rush to the office in the morning, at work or in the evening, when you don’t have the strength to bother with brewing this drink. With them, everything is simple: I put the bag into a mug of boiling water - and that's it, in three minutes delicious tea is ready. But there is a lot of controversy about the benefits of such a product. For most people, such tea is the drink of the lowest grade and they generally refuse to drink it. But, nevertheless, this kind of tea exists and takes pride of place on store shelves. Therefore, before making hasty conclusions about the benefits and harms of a product, you need to carefully read it.

Historical information

Thomas Sullivan, a merchant from America, in 1904 was the first to offer an unusual method of drinking tea. He began to send his customers a drink packed in silk bags. It could only make one cup of tea. These were test packs. They allowed customers to try different types of tea, choose the best ones, and place a large order.

DuringDuring World War I, the Dresden tea company Teekanne took advantage of Mr. Sullivan's idea. Having slightly modified his idea, the company began to supply gauze tea bags to the army. The soldiers gave this product the name "tea bomb" because it was possible to drink a mug of a tonic drink at any moment.

In the 1920s, manufacturers tried to replace gauze and silk with cotton, and then glued parchment paper. But when drinking tea from parchment bags, there was a taste of glue. Then, until 1950, perforated cellophane began to be used.

In 1950, the Teekanne company proposed to produce two-chamber bags for tea from the finest filter paper. Glue for them was not used at all, thanks to which the taste of the drink became the best. And bagged tea began to spread rapidly around the world and in the 1990s it reached the expanses of our country.

Varieties of tea bags

The modern market produces a wide variety of tea bags:

• Empty bags - they are used for convenient brewing of the drink. The required portion of tea leaves is poured into an empty bag, tied with a thread and lowered into a container. So, even a granular product can be filled up and enjoyed without the slightest discomfort from floating grains.
• Heat-sealed pouches - for such packages only filter paper is used, which contains thermoplastic fiber.
• Flat round pouches are incredibly popular in England. Such bagsput on the bottom of the cup and pour boiled water. They can also be brewed in teapots or coffee pots.
• Pyramidal sachets - they are closed with a metal bracket, as glue can make the final drink taste unpleasant.
• Pouches with a stretched thread are the most common type of packaging. By pulling on it, such a bag can be pulled out of a mug of liquid at any second.
• Knotted pouches are packages tied with thread, not rolled up in the usual way.

Every tea lover can choose the most convenient bag for him and enjoy the great aroma of the drink.

Packaging for tea bags

Today, tea bags and boxes are packed automatically. The filling of dry mix pouches takes place on specially designed machines, which are specially designed to reduce the air impact of the brew on the wrapping paper with maximum efficiency and prepare the product boxes for international distribution.

Now such teas are sold in all sorts of options: you can buy boxes of different shapes and volumes. So, bright packages with colorful images are offered on the shelves of supermarkets.

Pros and cons of tea bags

Tea bags can be brewed directly in the mug. This is the first advantage of such a product. Its second advantage lies in the fact that the bags contain the dosage of the dry product, whichneeded to get one cup of drink. The choice of these teas is simply amazing, so you can buy the one that you like best in terms of quality, aroma and taste, and is best suited for the price.

Dignity advantages, but the disadvantages of bagged tea has quite a few. All such products contain quite a lot of fluoride. Because of it, the strength of the teeth decreases, joint pains appear, the risk of kidney diseases increases, muscle weakness occurs, and bone spurs form. In addition, excess fluoride in the body provokes osteoporosis and fusion of the vertebrae.

The negative impact of the drink on human he alth begins when the daily allowance of fluorine is exceeded - more than three or four milligrams.

Features of tea bags

Everyone knows that in order to make tea bags, tea leaves processing waste is used - tea dust. It is overcooked small pieces, sprinkled during the processing of tea leaves. These bits are almost enriched with nothing useful.

When brewed, tea dust does not provide a rich color, which is pushing some manufacturers to add dyes to the product. Flavorings are also added to discourage the taste of paper and glue. But, on the other hand, teas in bags are much stronger than ordinary ones. This feature is explained by the fact that during brewing, a whole leaf has a much smaller area of \u200b\u200bcontact with water than the smallest particles of tea dust.

Recommendations,that will help make tea drinking safe

If you prefer to drink black tea in bags, you must follow some rules for its use. Before purchasing a product, it is important to carefully study its packaging. A quality product is packaged in bags made of rayon, corn starch or nylon. In a bag made from paper, the quality and taste of tea will be lower. It is better to buy a tea pack in which each bag is packed in a separate envelope that protects the powder from moisture, light and drying.

Bag tea must be transparent when brewed. Turbid liquid indicates poor quality products. There should be no smell or taste of glue.

Cheap fruit and flower tea bags are almost completely artificial products that consist of flavors and colors only. All this can be read on the package.

You should always follow this pattern: a better drink is always contained in expensive packaging. Therefore, it is better to buy the one that is more expensive.

Which bag is better

Tea in pyramid-shaped tea bags will become richer if left in the cup for three to five minutes. If you just dip the bag, you will only color the water, or you will need to continue the procedure for three minutes in order for the drink to acquire taste. But here it is important to take into account the fact that tea of different varieties must be left in a mug for different times.

It is better to buy tea, scattered in bags or pyramids, which aresize visually look large. In such packaging, the tea leaf will have enough space to unfold, which will provide a richer aroma and taste.

The material from which the tea bag is made is also of great importance. The best way to convey the taste and smell of the drink is a nylon or silk bag. The difference is noticeable after you try the product from such a package. You won't want to buy tea leaves in paper bags anymore.

Another use of tea bags

Used tea (25 bags or any other quantity) should not be thrown away immediately. Bags from under it are useful for pasta and cereals. The used bag is dipped into a container of water in which pasta or cereals are boiled. As soon as the liquid boils, the bag must be removed. The taste of the dish will be just amazing.

To get a very strong tea, you need to add an already used one to a fresh bag. The drink will become not only stronger, but also much tastier.

No office option

It doesn't matter what package you bought tea in (100 bags, 25 or 50), but if you brew it in a plastic cup, you will make the drink as unhe althy as possible. And the economical product box will turn into a ticking time bomb. This method of preparing a packaged drink is mainly used in offices, since it is not necessary to wash the dishes every time. But it's better to bring a china mug from home and drinkonly from her.

Happy tea!