Loose Leaf
or Tea Bags?
Under certain circumstances there are few hours
in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known
as afternoon tea . - author Henry James (1843-1916)
I dedicate this
page to all who understand the joy of a good cup of tea.
Loose leaf
I recently purchased, from Amazon.com, a box of Ahmad loose leaf Earl Grey green tea for around $6 (plus shipping). The equivalent amount of the same tea in tea bag form was $26. That is a significant savings! While loose leaf can be a lot less expensive many believe it has a more pronounced flavor. Why? Loose leaf is more likely to contain bigger pieces of rolled leaves. Bag tea is often made from smaller flakes or dust pieces. Dust is the lowest grade of tea. It is usually reflected in the price if a company is using dust, unless you are paying extra for the name. Dust or no dust, bag tea is more expensive per cup than loose leaf.
The down side to loose leaf is you will need some way to hold the tealeaves during brewing, unless of course for some reason you want the leaves floating in your cup. My son uses a coffee maker for this purpose. It is a unit used only for tea, as it would pick up coffee flavor otherwise. I use a tea ball. I find the mesh balls work better, as the metal ones with holes allow more grounds to escape into the cup.
It is a trade off here. The coffee maker does an excellent job of keeping the grounds out of the cup but you cannot easily control the steeping time. The tea ball will deposit a small amount of grounds in your cup but you have total control of brewing time.
Using a tea ball is a bit of an art. Don’t worry; you will catch on rather quickly. For green tea, I recommend a 2” tea ball (roughly 50mm) for a single cup of tea. They make slightly smaller ones but the leaves really need the room to expand. The smaller ball will not allow the water to flow around the leaves as easily. With my 1 3/4” ball (45mm) the ball is packed with swollen leaves after brewing a cup of green tea. The 2” ball is only about 2/3 full after brewing. The smaller ball works fine for me with black teas as they don’t seem to expand as much.
I use one slightly heaping (not mounded) teaspoon of leaves per cup. It fills the ball less than half full when dry. Finding the proper amount to suit your tastes is part of the art and the fun. The first time I used a tea ball I used two spoons. It tasted like coffee – it was horrible! A few more attempts and I became quite pleased with the results.
Tea Bags
Tea bags, while more expensive, are so easy to use I keep several varieties around at all times. They are especially great for when you are in a hurry. Even though tea bags are more expensive than loose leaf, they are still quite a bargain per cup. If a box of twenty costs you $5 then it is only a quarter per cup.
Tea bags are a recent American invention. Thomas Sullivan is credited with inventing them in 1904. As I understand it, Sullivan furnished small pouches of tea to New York area merchants as samples of his available product. The merchants (being lazy or crazy) put the sample, pouch and all, in water and voila the tea bag. The first commercial use of tea bags came in 1920 when Joseph Krieger supplied them to caterers. It was an idea that soon caught on in homes across the land.
You can decide on your own whether you need strings and tags, round or square bags, flo-thru or whatever, what you really need to know about tea bags is what they contain. More precisely, how much they contain. Tea strength is not determined entirely by steeping time. The amount of tea in the bag is important to brewing a cup of tea that is not bitter or so weak you can’t taste it.
The average tea bag sold in America contains 2 grams (2g) of tea. I include in this group most of the offerings by Ahmad, Bentley, Lipton, and Twinings. I am most familiar with these, but I suspect the majority of major brands will follow suit. A notable exception is Stash, whose products I have used contained only 1.33g. Depending on the tea, this can be acceptable, as I like several Stash teas though some are too weak for my tastes. New to add to the list is Bigelow tea which has been downsized to 1.65g.
Also in this category is Earl Greyer by Republic of Tea. Despite their clever packaging and the wonderful smell of the tea bag, it also contained only 1.3g of tea but the amount of bergamot flavoring in the bag was too great to allow me to use two tea bags to reach a passable amount of actual tea for my tastes. I don’t mean to be a tea snob here, just warning you. Check the label. To be fair, two ladies in my office tried this tea and liked it very much.
Another notable exception to the 2g rule is Yorkshire tea. Their bags are oversized at a whopping 2.5g per bag. This makes for a very stout cup of tea. I say use a bigger cup and enjoy!
Another thing to consider when buying tea bags is how many are in the box. You may be paying more for less. One box may contain 18 tea bags while the box next to it contains 20 or 25 yet they will be the same price. Tea is inexpensive enough per cup that you may not mind that your favorite is a little more expensive but you should be aware so you are comparing product prices on a per cup basis.
Personal Ramblings
In the debate over the difference in taste between loose leaf and bags I offer the following thoughts.
First, I fear it is sometimes the ego, that delights in the claim that one form is superior to the other. How delightful is my cup of tea and how disgusting the bilge water you poor slobs ingest. There should be no room for such an attitude! A cup of tea should bring with it, or be preceded by, harmony and unity. It should not result in division and exclusion. So where the debate revolves around some form of snobbery, I choose not to participate.
The question though remains , is there a real taste difference between bagged and loose leaf of the same blend by the same company? Any other comparison is not an apples to apples taste test. Comparing a poor quality grocery store blend to a high dollar gourmet blend is hardly fair now is it? So what is the answer?
Part of the answer is in the blend. When you use a bagged tea, it has been prepared to deliver a very predictable product. Especially in the case of companies such as Lipton for instance, the blend is controlled to deliver the same taste and aroma every time. In most cases I suspect this is what is prompting the negative response of some loose leaf lovers. The bagged tea seems lifeless, even inferior, to them because it is too even. It is a lot harder to control loose leaf to that extreme since it is made up of larger leaf pieces. The resulting difference from cup to cup is seen as adding character, thus raising the enjoyment level of those who desire it. To others this variation is annoying as they want each cup to be consistent. To each his own. So yes, there can and often is a real difference in taste between loose and bagged.
On the other hand, I wonder if some of the difference is in perception. When you use a tea bag the contents are carefully measured out for you, but when you use loose leaf the amount used is often less precise. Even a slight change in the measure will change the brew. If the tea is carefully measured to match the bagged contents it becomes increasingly difficult to taste the difference - at least to me.
Another issue is historical. Early tea bags definitely did change the taste of the brew because of the material from which they were made. The purist would not put up with such tampering with the taste and would refuse to use bagged tea. Today's tea bags don't alter the taste at least not to my palate. It doesn't matter, as the perception of difference is part of our folklore. Tradition is a difficult thing to change.
In the final analysis you will need to decide for yourself if you can tell the difference between bagged or loose. Go with what you will actually use and enjoy.
Final ramble...
You want to know why some teabags have strings and tags and some don’t? Some say they eliminated them (and the staple) to save the environment. Others say it is so the string does not get in the way of the spoon. Maybe a point can be given in favor of the first, but not on the second as you are not supposed to leave the teabag in the cup when adding sugar or whatever else. I am suspicious the real reason some have no string or tags is it saves the cost of these items, it speeds up production, and it increases profits. A fraction of a penny times many thousands of bags adds up. If you really want to help the environment, switch to loose leaf in a reusable tin. It has no string, tag, staple, or bag!
Loose leaf or bags?
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