Dose loose leaf tea tastes better than tea bags?

Since loose leaf tea start to prevail these days, people are wondering if the loose leaf tea really tastes better than tea bags? Some specialty tea store claims that the loose leaf tea is far superior product than bagged tea. The following description will tell you which one tastes better.

We know that tea bag has been prevailed many years since it appeared firstly in 1904. While it exists not because some great ideas, but born in an economical way. There was a tea merchant found that bag the tea samples in hand-sewn silk bags were easier for shipping and packaging compared to the loose leaf tea in metal tins. And consumers tend to accept an easier way to brew the tea contained in the bag. They used to use infusers to make tea, while tea bags were intended to be removed. As the demand climbing to a point, the material of the bag was altered to gauze. Along with the increasing demand, there was the very important downslide of the quality of bagged tea. Tea merchants started to find economical ways to cut the cost and increase production at a higher volume, by accelerating the oxidation process. At this stage, convenience became the representative label of bagged tea, rather than the quality.

From the origin of the bagged tea, we should clearly know that the quality is not the reason why the bagged tea is so popular around the globe. To keep up the demand, the tea manufacturers opt to a crush-tear-curl method, which will lead to the release of a large amount of phytin that will affect the tea flavors. Besides the production process, tea manufacturers also were inclined to use lower quality tea leaves for this method, as you won’t see the true shape of the tea leaves while brewing. After processing, the tea leaves also are classified into grades. No doubt, the tea leaves used in tea bags mostly are low grade. Maybe worse, like dust and fannings of broken down tea leaves.

While loose leaf tea allows you to observe, you can clearly see its whole leaf or partially cut leaves. And most importantly, whole leaves contain antioxidants that are claimed with a number of health benefits. Needless to say, the full and subtle flavour that are reserved in the leaves. Because of that, the loose leaf tea also can be reinfused which can produce different flavours for each brew, and it also can cut your cost at the same time. Contrarily, most tea bags can only be used once.

It is obvious that loose leaf tea tastes better than tea bags indeed. And it’s also more expensive than most tea bags. To obtain its flavor, you need to know how to store them and how to brew them with infusers properly. As for tea bags, there are no strict rules and limitations. It allows you make a cup of tea, quick and nice, if you don’t care much about the flavor. Therefore, it is safe to say that loose leaf tea beats the tea bags in quality and flavor， while tea bags are still popular for its convenience.