There are lots of questions, lots of opinions, and lots of debate surrounding this issue. We hope to shed some light on the subject for you. While you may think loose-leaf teas and tea bag teas are the same product in different packaging, this could not be further from the truth.
SAME BEGINNING – DIFFERENT ENDING
ALL tea leaves, whether they come loose or in tea bags, have the same beginning in the Camellia Sinensis, or tea plant. Different processing steps and techniques turn them into either white, black, oolong, or green teas.
Okay, so aside from processing, what are the differences?
THE FOUR GRADES OF TEA
Tea leaves are graded into many categories with very subtle differences, but there are four major grades for all tea:
1. Whole Leaf |
The highest grade. Includes whole, dried tea leaves. These have the highest, strongest flavor profile, which will last through multiple steepings. |
2. Broken Leaf |
Typically darker and slightly crushed. Maintains most of the flavor of full-leaf tea, even after multiple steepings. |
3. Fannings |
Remnant leaf fragments from the crushing process. Of lesser quality than whole or broken tea leaves. Typically, do not retain their flavor after more than one steep. |
4. Dust |
The lowest tea grade. Tiny particles that are also remnants from the crushing process. Also, do not retain their flavor for multiple steepings. |
ANATOMY OF A TEA BAG
Tea bags are small, porous pouches made of nylon, bleached paper, food-grade plastic, or silk. They contain dried leaves, flowers, or herbs that are infused in hot or boiling water to brew tea. The bag is sealed with a staple or plastic-based glue and has a tag attached by a string. When you drop a tea bag into boiling water, not only are the chemical components of the leaves extracted, but so are some of the chemicals of the tea bag components. More on this later.
FIRST , A LITTLE HISTORY. . .
In 1901, Roberta C. Lawson and Mary Molaren filed the first patent for a “tea leaf holder”, which allowed easy steeping. There’s another story that says a New York tea merchant named Thomas Sullivan invented tea bags by accident in 1908. Sullivan wrapped his loose-leaf tea in silk pouches, but customers didn’t know to unwrap the tea before brewing and just placed the whole pouch directly into the hot water. |
The major tea companies at the time saw tea bags as a quick way for convenience-sensitive consumers to prepare a cup of tea. In 1929, the German firm Teekanne was the first company to manufacture tea bags. By 1930, William Hermanson patented the heat-sealed paper tea bag. It wasn’t until 1944 that the rectangular tea bag was invented. Up to this point, all tea bags were small and shapeless sacks. In 1953, the British tea company Tetley began to mass-produce tea bags.
As tea bags became more popular, the type of tea leaves packed in tea bags changed from whole or broken tea leaves to tea fannings and dust. Over the years, tea bags became the “way“ of brewing tea. So much so that today, we find ourselves needing to re-discover loose-leaf tea. The popularity of loose-leaf tea started a resurgence only a couple of decades ago. Many tea types such as green, oolong or white tea were virtually unknown in many western countries until loose-leaf tea started to gain popularity once again.
Quality
Loose-leaf tea is generally of higher quality than the tea in tea bags because whole leaves don’t degrade like fannings and dust. Tea bags use the leftover fragments of leaves from the tea production process, which are inexpensive and readily available. Tea bags can also include leaves from later harvests which have fewer nutrients or contain older leaves, stems, or other plant material.
You can literally see the difference in quality between loose-leaf tea and tea bags. Loose-leaf tea contains just whole tea leaves and/or broken leaves. Tea bags contain such tiny particles of tea you can’t tell which part of the plant they were – buds, whole branches, or just leaves. Color and shape of the whole leaves are also important. You can’t judge that in teabags. It’s important to note that the best teas in the world are all created for loose-leaf consumption.
Taste
Your taste in tea is one of those things in life to which there is no right or wrong. Simply put, if you like it, it’s right. However, many people choose loose-leaf tea as more flavorful and nuanced over tea bag tea in side-by-side taste tests.
On a personal note, as someone who had spent most of his life drinking tea bag tea from the grocery store, since Mary introduced me to loose-leaf teas I have come to appreciate how “real tea” should taste and what I have been missing all these years.
So, given a choice, I drink loose-leaf tea. I certainly do not have what one would call a refined palette, nor have I turned into a “tea snob” by any stretch, but I do know what I like. And as with most things in life, once you’ve had the “good stuff”, why would you settle for less?
Tea flavor is dependent upon several factors:
1) The amount of tea leaves used – Tea bags have a specific amount of tea (typically 1-3 grams), whereas loose-leaf tea allows you to control the strength by adjusting the amount of leaves.
2) Temperature of the water – Different types of tea (ie– black, green, etc.) require specific temperatures for optimal steeping. If the water is too cool, the flavors won’t fully extract. If it’s too hot, the leaves can “burn” and turn the tea bitter.
3) Room to bloom – To release the most flavor, tea leaves need room to expand. The limited real estate of a tea bag restricts the water flow around the leaf particles, which inhibits the ability of the leaves to infuse their flavor into the water.
4) The size of the tea leaves – Smaller tea leaf particles deteriorate faster than larger ones. Consequently, the degraded fannings and dust in a tea bag will have less flavor and less nutrients to release into the water than loose-leaf tea.
A word about re-steeping is in order here. . .
Tea bag teas break down faster than loose-leaf teas, and thereby lose their essential oils, which are responsible for the complex flavors and aromas of a tea. Tea bag teas are good for a single-steep, releasing all its flavor and nutrients in one shot.
Loose-leaf teas on the other hand are higher-quality leaves, which have more of their essential oils intact and have more concentrated flavor and nutrients available to release. They will yield more nuanced flavors that can be discovered through successive multiple steepings.
Some whole-leaf teas can be steeped 10-15 times. The less tea leaves are processed the more essential oils they contain, and the more successive steepings they can endure.
*Chai House Tea Tip*
Successive steepings endured by tea type from most to least:
1. White
2. Green
3. Oolong
4. Black
Health Benefits
While the FDA has not verified these claims, numerous studies have concluded that tea can boost your immune system, relieve stress, help you fall asleep, increase your energy, reduce blood pressure, promote a healthy heart, and reduce inflammation, to name a few.
By the way, tea drinking cultures have known of tea’s health benefits for thousands of years.
Whole, loose-leaf teas contain more antioxidants, minerals, and nutrients than the fannings and tea dust found in tea bags.
In contrast, tea bags generally contain dust and fannings created during the CTC or crush-tear-curl method of production. Unfortunately, this process results in the degradation of the healthy compounds such as theanine and antioxidants inherent to the tea plant that help to detox the body and improve overall health.
Consequently, loose-leaf teas contain higher concentrations of these healthy nutrients. While tea bags certainly provide some of the health benefits found in tea, they are not nearly as potent as loose-leaf.
Cost
To most people, it seems obvious that loose-leaf tea is more expensive than tea bags.
However, it’s not necessarily as simple as that.
Comparing initial purchase price, loose-leaf tea does generally cost more than tea bags from the grocery store. However, when you factor in the ability to re-steep loose-leaf teas, the cost per cup becomes quite comparable, if not downright affordable. Especially, when one considers the upgrade in quality and flavor and the enhanced experience offered by loose-leaf teas.
Consider this, a 40-gram bag of loose-leaf green tea that costs $14.00 can make 40-50 cups of tea depending on how much tea you use — that works out to between 28-35 cents per cup.
Safety
Safety is the biggest concern when comparing tea bags to loose-leaf teas.
A study has found toxic levels of lead and aluminum, which can cause a variety of health issues, in a majority of the tea bags sampled.
Then there is also the lesser-known issue of microplastic levels in tea bags. Most tea bags are made from plastic — either nylon or polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Just one plastic tea bag can release 11.6 billion microplastics and 3.1 billion nanoplastics into a single cup of tea when you use a tea bag, according to research from McGill University.
Microplastics in tea bags aren’t recyclable or compostable. Whereas, loose-leaf tea is biodegradable, making it excellent compost for house plants, backyard gardens, and flower beds.
Even paper tea bags can be dangerous. Some use chlorine-bleached to make them white, which contains harmful chemicals such as dioxin and epichlorohydrin. These chemicals are commonly found in processed tea bags and have been proven to increase the risk of disease. When epichlorohydrin comes inc ontact with water, it can hydrolyze into a carcinogen.
Preparation
The only real advantage tea bags hold over loose-leaf teas is ease and convenience in preparation. All you need is hot water and a cup.
However, while the ritual of making a cup of loose-leaf tea requires a bit more equipment and bit more time, it also provides an experience that is much richer than just drinking it. It’s a process that engages the senses. This ritual can soothe the soul and calm the mind, as you make a cup of tea just the way you like it.
Variety, Varie-tea There are more than 4,000 varieties of loose-leaf teas. For me, one of the unexpected joys of becoming a tea drinker has been discovering and trying new teas. Truth be told, I still enjoy my occasional coffee. While I have my favorites and my “go-to teas”, I truly enjoy the experience of finding, sampling, and adding new teas to add to my shortlist. Not to mention, learning about the people who grow them and the cultures where they are found. |
Loose-leaf teas are produced by thousands of small, family tea farms around the world. Their production is generally limited to small quantities, but their quality and diversity of flavor can’t be matched by tea bag tea.
THE BOTTOM LINE
For most of us, when we think tea, we think tea bags. It’s how most of us are introduced to tea drinking at an early age.
While tea bags offer convenience, once you open the door to loose-leaf teas, you will discover a whole world you never knew existed. Loose-leaf teas give you access to thousands of tea varieties from thousands of family tea farms in vastly different cultures that can be made using numerous brewing methods. Loose-leaf tea offers you the opportunity to experiment to find your perfect cup of tea.
So, yes, we are staunch proponents of loose-leaf teas, but we do encourage you to not be afraid to explore and try new teas of all kinds.
Yes. . . even if they come in a tea bag.
However, we hope you at least rip it open and brew the leaves loosely in a teapot.
Gaumarjos! (To All the Victory!)
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