Early Tea Bags made of Cloth
Early Tea Bags made of Cloth

It is said that necessity is the mother of all invention, but in the case of tea bags, it was the other way round.  It was invented by accident and then quickly became a necessity when tea drinkers got into the habit of drinking tea this way. It was easy, less messy, and quick, sans the requirements of pots, strainer and others. All it needed was just a cup!

Credit for this accidental invention goes to Thomas Sullivan in USA, a tea merchant by profession. But tea bags in its form was created long ago during the Tang dynasty in China to preserve tea flavor an aromas. Then the paper tea bags were stitched from all sides to create that protective case for the tea leaves.

2000 years later, Thomas Sullivan intention was to use the tea bags as samples of teas meant as an envelope for the tea samples, which were to be opened and used. Unknowingly and by the curiosity of new packaging, the tea merchants who received the samples, thought it simpler to dunk the porous bags into cups of hot water to steep. This revolutionized how tea was brewed and sipped throughout the world.

Tea Bags
Tea Bags

Material used for making tea bags.

The earlier tea bags were made entirely of porous cloth with its loose end tied on a string. The square paper bags were introduced in the 1940s. The earlier bags used to be porous silk cloth. The paper bag is made from the processed mixture of wood and vegetable fibers. Relatively modern day bags are made from nylon and silk of various shapes like triangular and circular in shape.

Darjeeling Tea Boutique too has launched its very own Darjeeling loose leaf Darjeeling teas in tea bags. Special care is taken to ensure that the teas brewed from such tea bags are of the highest quality equivalent to those brewed from loose leaf teas itself.

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