As we continue to explore the health benefits of tea, many questions remain unclear to some about the right way to drink tea for optimum health benefits, and the greatest flavor experience. There are certain key points to keep in mind for the right way to drink tea which I have outlined on the TEA FAQ page, but today I will focus on the Comparison of Loose Tea versus Bagged Tea.
First, it is important to understand the process of tea.
The Journey of Tea Leaves
The four main types of tea… black, green, white, and oolong all come from the same plant called Camellia sinensis. It is actually how they are handled after they are gathered from the plant that makes them different. A full in-depth explanation of the process is explained in a great article on the How It Works website here. They explain the journey of the leaves from the moment they are picked through the processes of withering, rolling, oxidation, drying, & sorting.
Caring for Tea
The important thing to know is that the care of loose leaf tea is delicate.
It must be kept fresh, sealed, and whole to extract the best flavor and the most health benefits.
Important points ~ Loose Tea vs. Bagged Tea
1. Quality – Bagged tea is generally the remains of what is left after the whole loose leaf tea is prepared and packaged. Often referred to as “dust” or “fannings”, this tea tends to be older tea since it sits the longest, & will often contain mixtures of teas.
2. Size – The smaller the leaf, the more quickly bitter tannins are released, and the more quickly tea becomes bitter. Most loose leaf tea is whole leaf, while tea bags are filled with the small fannings, from the bottoms of crates and barrels of teas.
3. Freshness – When teas are bagged, often they are not sealed well, like in a cardboard box or with a paper wrapper. Tea should not breathe, it should be well sealed to keep the flavor & nutrients intact. Teas can be kept well in proper storage containers for up to a year or sometimes more, but if not stored properly (cool, dark place, in a sealed container), it can quickly get stale, tasteless and lose its nutritional qualities.
4. Space – Also, teas wrapped in bags do not have the space it needs to flow freely & unravel, allowing the full flavor to be released. The new pyramid style bags work better in this regard, but the general flat wrapped bags are no good. Also, it is important what the tea bag is made of. Many cheaper teas have tea bags that have been bleached, an unhealthy and unseen chemical that becomes part of the tea you may be drinking!
5. Consistency – Tea bags should only really be used once; rather than a pure full tea that can be used more than once & with consistency every time.
If convenience is your answer to why you may choose tea bags, there are several options to use your favorite loose leaf teas such as bagging the loose tea yourself with good quality bags, or considering the many types of infusers so that you aren’t using a teabag at all. There are even travel mugs that have infusers built in for even more convenience. http://www.theteatreeshop.com/all-teaware
After all, the whole point of tea is to really enjoy it, as well as to absorb all if the fine health benefits nature provides us through tea.
If you have questions, please take a look at the TEA page with common answers to tea questions, or feel free to email me at mahra@theteatreeshop.com, also connect with me on Twitter
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