Tea bag

For other uses, see Engineering:Tea bag (disambiguation).

Commonly shaped tea bags

Tetrahedron-shaped tea bags made of polylactide (PLA), a bioplastic, shown here containing dried peppermint leaves

A tea bag being removed from a mug to stop the brewing process

A tea bag (also spelled teabag) is a small, porous, sealed bag or packet typically containing tea leaves (Camellia sinensis) or the leaves of other herbs, which is immersed in water to steep and make an infusion. Originally used only for making tea, they are now made for other tisanes (herbal "teas") as well.

Tea bags are commonly made of filter paper or food-grade plastic, or occasionally of silk cotton or silk. The tea bag performs the same function as a tea infuser. Tea bags can be used multiple times until there is no extraction left. Some tea bags have an attached piece of string with a paper label at the top that assists in removing the bag, while also displaying the brand or variety of tea. There are also special tea filters that can be used to pour loose tea into and brew it in a bag in a cup.

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Production
* 2.1 Teas
* 2.2 Shapes and material
* 2.2.1 Plastics
* 3 Recreational and practical applications
* 4 See also
* 5 References
* 6 External links

## History

Tea bag patents date from 1903, when Roberta Lawson and Mary McLaren, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, were granted US patent 723287 for a Tea Leaf Holder, which they had filed in 1901.[1] The first modern tea bags were hand-sewn fabric bags. Appearing commercially around 1904, tea bags were successfully marketed in about 1908 by Thomas Sullivan, a tea and coffee importer from New York, who shipped his silk tea bags around the world.[2] A popular legend states that this was accidental; the loose tea was intended to be removed from the bags by customers, but they found it easier to brew the tea with the tea leaves still enclosed in the porous bags.[2][3][4] The first automatic tea bag packing machine, Pompadour,[5] was invented in 1929 by Adolf Rambold for the German company Teekanne.[6] Pompadour could produce 35 gauze tea bag per minute.[5] In 1949, Adolf Rambold created the Constanta machine to produce dual- chamber tea bags.[5] Constanta worked by forming the fabric into a tube shape to hold two tea leaf portions then cutting it into sections. These sections will move into a rotating wheel by the mechanical arm to fold the section's bottom then a fixed guided press will seal each section into double chamber tea bag. Constanta allows the tea bag to be shaped and sealed into the double chamber tea bag so the water can flow better allowing the tea to develop its full flavor.[7]

Short description: Small sealed bag or packet containing tea leaves

Constanta can produce 160 double chamber tea bags per minute.[5] In 1990, Constanta upgraded to Perfecta, which can produce up to 400 double chamber bags per minute.[5]

The heat-sealed paper fiber tea bag was patented in 1930 by William Hermanson.[8] The now-common rectangular tea bag was not invented until 1944. Prior to that, tea bags resembled small sacks.[9]

## Production

### Teas

A broad variety of teas as well as other infusions, like herbal teas, are available in tea bags. Typically, tea bags use fannings, the left-overs after larger leaf pieces are gathered for sale as loose tea, but some companies sell teabags containing whole-leaf tea.[10]

### Shapes and material

Circular tea bags

File:Чайный пакетик.tif Traditionally, tea bags have been square or rectangular in shape. They are usually made of filter paper, a blend of wood and vegetable fibers related to paper found in milk and coffee filters. The latter is bleached pulp abaca hemp, a plantation banana plant grown for its fiber, mostly in the Philippines and Colombia. Some bags have a heat-sealable thermoplastic such as PVC or polypropylene as a component fiber on the inner tea bag surface, making them not fully biodegradable.[11][12] Some newer paper tea bags are made in a circular shape.

Tetrahedral tea bags were introduced by the PG Tips brand in 1997.[13] They are typically made of nylon, soilon (PLA mesh made from corn starch),[14] or silk. Nylon is non-biodegradable, so silk is preferred by environmentalists.[15] PLA on the other hand is biodegradable, but is not compostable.

Empty tea bags are also available for consumers to fill with tea leaves themselves. These are typically open-ended pouches with long flaps. The pouch is filled with an appropriate quantity of leaf tea and the flap is closed into the pouch to retain the tea. Such tea bags combine the ease of use of a commercially produced tea bag with the wider tea choice and better quality control of loose leaf tea.

#### Plastics

In 2017, Mike Armitage, a gardener in Wrexham, UK, found that tea bags left a plastic residue after being composted. He started a petition urging Unilever to remove plastic from bag production.[16][17][18] In January 2018, Co-op Food announced that they were removing plastic from their own brand 99 tea bags in conjunction with their supplier Typhoo.[19][20] In February 2018, PG Tips announced that their pyramid bags would now use corn starch adhesive in place of polypropylene.[16][21][22]

Microplastics may be found in the tea meant for human consumption. A 2019 study showed that "steeping a single plastic teabag at brewing temperature (95 °C; 203 °F) releases approximately 11.6 billion microplastics and 3.1 billion nanoplastics into a single cup of the beverage".[23][24] A 2021 study analyzed purportedly cellulose tea bags and found that 15 of the 22 bags tested also contained polyester, polyethylene or polypropylene, which are known to shed microplastic fibers.[25][26] Although cellulose is considered to be biodegradable, the plastic components are not and release microplastics to the environment when composted.

## Recreational and practical applications

Decorative tea bags have become the basis for large collections and many collectors collect tea bags from around the world. Tea bag collector clubs are widely spread around the world and members consist of people interested in items related to teas. Online collector clubs often include catalogs of tea bags,[27] as well as collection tracking tools. In addition, tea bag collectors often collect other tea-related items such as labels.[28] These websites also provide forums for discussions and trade arrangements between collectors.

Teabag folding began in the Netherlands and is often credited to Tiny van der Plas. It is a form of origami in which identical squares of patterned paper (cut from the front of tea bag wrappers) are folded, and then arranged in rosettes. These rosettes are usually used to decorate gift cards, and it has become a popular craft in both the US and UK since 2000.[29]

Soil scientists have used standardized tea bags to measure the decomposition rate of organic materials in different soils.[30][31]

## See also

Piles of tea bag holders

* 3-MCPD, a chemical compound that is carcinogenic, and can occur in some resin-reinforced tea bag materials
* Builder's tea, a variety of strong black tea typically prepared by steeping a tea bag in a mug
* Melitta 401 and Melitta 402 tea filters
* Tea leaf grading
* Tea strainer, a small mesh utensil that can filter out stray tea leaves when whole-leaf tea is poured from a teapot
* Tetley, the British tea company that introduced tea bags in the United Kingdom in 1953

## References

1. ↑ "Tea-leaf holder". USPTO. https://patents.google.com/patent/US723287. US patent 723287 was issued on MAR. 24, 1903 to R. G.LAWSON & M. McLAREN for a 'novel tea-holding pocket constructed of open-mesh woven fabric, inexpensively made of cotton thread'.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Begley, Sarah (3 September 2015). "The History of the Tea Bag". Time. https://time.com/3996712/a-brief-history-of-the-tea-bag/.
3. ↑ Stone, Sarah (27 April 2015). "How the Tea Bag Was Invented". https://gizmodo.com/how-the-tea-bag-was-invented-1700351584.
4. ↑ Inventive Genius. New York: Time-Life Books. 1991. p. 99. ISBN 0-8094-7699-1. https://archive.org/details/inventivegenius00time.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 "Teekanne History – TEEKANNE" (in en). https://www.teekanne.com/teekanne-history/.
6. ↑ Rexing, Bernd (2011-05-14). "14. Mai 1996 - Teebeutel-Entwickler Adolf Rambold stirbt" (in de). WDR. https://www1.wdr.de/stichtag5332.html.
7. ↑ "Adolf Rambold Inventions, Patents and Patents Application". https://patents.justia.com/inventor/adolf-rambold.
8. ↑ Bloxham, Andy (2008-06-13). "Tea bag to celebrate its century". The Telegraph. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2120094/Tea-bag-to-celebrate-its-century.html#prof.
9. ↑ Dubrin, Beverly (2010). Tea Culture: History, Traditions, Celebrations, Recipes & More. Charlesbridge Publishing, p. 35. ISBN 1607343630
10. ↑ Fabricant, Florence (2000-02-09). "Whole Leaves, No Strings For a New Tea Bag". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/09/dining/food-stuff.html.
11. ↑ Smithers, Rebecca (2 July 2010). "Most UK teabags not fully biodegradable, research reveals". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/jul/02/teabags-biodegradeable.
12. ↑ "Composting teabags". Which?. 2010-07-02. https://www.which.co.uk/news/2010/07/composting-teabags-218651/.
13. ↑ "PG Tips reclaims number one position with pyramid teabag". 22 April 1999. https://www.marketingweek.com/pg-tips-reclaims-number-one-position-with-pyramid-teabag/.
14. ↑ "Tea Stick Brewing Package and Method". Freepatentsonline.com. http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2008/0017043.html.
15. ↑ Fabricant, Florence (September 13, 2006). "Tea's Got a Brand New Bag". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/13/dining/13tea.html.
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 "Remove plastics from PG Tips tea bags". 38 Degrees. https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/remove-plastics-from-tea-bags.
17. ↑ "Teabags 'a cause of plastic pollution'". BBC News. 2017-12-19. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-42412492.
18. ↑ "PG Tips teabags to be made plastic-free". BBC News. 2018-02-28. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-43224797.
19. ↑ "The New 'Green' Tea: Co-op Brews Up Solution To Plastic Tea Bags". 2018-01-30. https://www.co-operative.coop/media/news-releases/the-new-green-tea-co-op-brews-up-solution-to-plastic-tea-bags.
20. ↑ Smithers, Rebecca (2018-01-28). "An eco-friendly cuppa? Now teabags are set to go plastic-free". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jan/28/teabags-plastic-free-co-op-eco-friendly.
21. ↑ "What We're Doing with Our New Decaf Tea Blend". PG Tips. http://www.pgtips.co.uk/article/detail/846805/what-were-doing.
22. ↑ Smithers, Rebecca (2018-02-28). "PG tips announces switch to plastic-free fully biodegradable teabags". https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/feb/28/pg-tips-announces-switch-to-plastic-free-fully-biodegradable-teabags.
23. ↑ Chung, Emily (25 September 2019). "Some tea bags may shed billions of microplastics per cup". CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/tea-bags-plastic-study-mcgill-1.5295662.
24. ↑ "Plastic Teabags Release Billions of Microparticles and Nanoparticles into Tea". Environmental Science & Technology 53 (21): 12300–12310. 25 September 2019. doi:10.1021/acs.est.9b02540. PMID 31552738. Bibcode: 2019EnST...5312300H. https://figshare.com/articles/Plastic_Teabags_Release_Billions_of_Microparticles_and_Nanoparticles_into_Tea/9901514.
25. ↑ Yurtsever, Meral (2021-05-11). "Are nonwoven fabrics used in foods made of cellulose or plastic? Cellulose/plastic separation by using Schweizer's reagent and analysis based on a sample of tea bags". Process Safety and Environmental Protection 151: 188–194. doi:10.1016/j.psep.2021.05.016. Bibcode: 2021PSEP..151..188Y. https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0957582021002482.
26. ↑ "Bags of tea are dangerous! Nearly 13,000 microplastic particles detected". Women About. 2022-06-07. https://www.womenabout.net/food-health/bags-of-tea-are-dangerous-nearly-13000-microplastic-particles-detected-14116.html.
27. ↑ "Tea Bags on Colnect". https://colnect.com/teabags.
28. ↑ "Tea Labels on Colnect". https://colnect.com/en/tea_labels.
29. ↑ Britton, Jill (2009-06-29). "Tea bag folding". http://britton.disted.camosun.bc.ca/jbteabagtiles.htm.
30. ↑ Keuskamp, Joost A. (July 2013). "Tea Bag Index: a novel approach to collect uniform decomposition data across ecosystems". Methods in Ecology and Evolution 4 (11): 1070–1075. doi:10.1111/2041-210X.12097. Bibcode: 2013MEcEv...4.1070K.
31. ↑ Ogden, Lesley Evans (5 June 2019). "How teabags became a secret weapon in the fight against climate change". New Scientist. https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24232330-400-how-teabags-became-a-secret-weapon-in-the-fight-against-climate-change/.

## External links

* v
* t
* e

Tea (Camellia sinensis)

Common
varieties|

| Black tea|

* Assam
* Bohea
* Ceylon
* Congou
* Darjeeling
* Dianhong
* Kangra
* Keemun
* Lapsang souchong (Jin Jun Mei)
* Nilgiri
* Tibeti
* Rize
* Yingdehong

|

Oolong tea|

* Bai Jiguan
* Ban Tian Yao
* Bu Zhi Chun
* Da Hong Pao
* Darjeeling oolong
* Dong ding
* Dongfang Meiren
* Gaoshan
* Huangjin Gui
* Huang Meigui
* Jin Xuan
* Qilan
* Pouchong
* Rougui
* Ruanzhi
* Shui Jin Gui
* Shui Hsien
* Tieluohan
* Tieguanyin

Green tea|

* Anji bai cha
* Aracha
* Baimao Hou
* Bancha
* Biluochun
* Chun Mee
* Dafang
* Genmaicha
* Lu'an Melon Seed
* Gunpowder
* Gyokuro
* Hōjicha
* Taiping houkui
* Huangshan Maofeng
* Hyson
* Kabusecha
* Kamairicha
* Konacha
* Kukicha
* Longjing
* Matcha
* Maojian
* Mecha
* Mengding Ganlu
* Sencha
* Shincha
* Tamaryokucha

White tea|

* Bai Mudan
* Baihao Yinzhen
* Darjeeling White
* Shoumei

Yellow tea|

* Junshan Yinzhen
* Huoshan Huangya

Fermented tea|

* Pu-erh
* Doncha
* Lahpet

Blended or
flavoured teas|

* Earl Grey (Lady Grey)
* Breakfast tea (English, Irish)
* English afternoon tea
* Jasmine tea
* Lapsang souchong
* Masala chai
* Mint tea
* Maghrebi mint tea
* Prince of Wales
* Russian Caravan

General|

* Australian
* Chinese
* British
* Korean
* Nepali
* Taiwanese
* Turkish
* Vietnamese

Culture|

| Customs|

* Afternoon/High tea/Evening meal
* Tea party
* Tasseography
* Tea ceremony
* Japanese
* Chinese
* Korean
* Yum cha

|

Areas|

* Tea garden
* Teahouse or tearoom
* Cha chaan teng
* Chashitsu
* Mizuya
* Sukiya-zukuri
* Roji

By country|

* American
* Arab
* Argentine
* Azerbaijani
* Brazilian
* Chinese
* Dominican
* Hong Kong
* Indian
* Mexican
* Pakistani
* Russian
* Senegalese
* Taiwanese

History|

* China
* India
* Japan

Production and
distribution|

* Leaf grading
* Processing
* Decaffeination
* Tasting
* Cultivation
* Diseases
* Predation
* Companies
* Consumption by country
* Auctions
* London
* Chittagong
* Guwahati

| By country|

* Bangladesh
* Kenya
* Sri Lanka
* United States

|

Preparation|

* Flowering teas
* Infusion
* Decoction
* ISO procedure
* Steeping
* Tea bag
* Tea brick

Health|

* Health effects
* Phenolic content
* Compounds
* Caffeine
* Theanine
* Flavan-3-ol
* Catechin
* Epigallocatechin gallate
* Theaflavin

Tea-based
drinks|

* Bubble tea
* Builder's tea
* Butter tea
* Chifir
* Doodh pati chai
* Hong Kong-style milk tea
* Iced tea
* Arnold Palmer
* Jagertee
* Kahwah
* Lei cha
* Milk tea
* Noon chai
* Seven-layered tea
* Shahi haleeb
* Suutei tsai
* Sweet tea
* Teh tarik
* Thai tea
* Troq chai
* Yuenyeung

See also|

* Teaware
* Chest
* Caddy
* Strainer
* Infuser
* Teacup
* Teapot
* Gaiwan
* Tea set
* Literature
* Classical
* Coffee
* Herbal tea
* Dried lime
* Ginger
* Guayusa
* Koththamalli
* Kuding
* Mate
* Kombucha
* Bak kut teh
* List of Chinese teas
* Lipton Institute of Tea
* Teas of related species
* Camellia japonica
* Camellia sasanqua
* Camellia taliensis
* Tea Research and Extension Station
* Tea seed oil
* Boston Tea Party

* Drink Portal
* Category:Tea
* Coffee & Tea Task Force

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