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Tea Bags
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A tea bag is a small bag that holds loose tea leaves. Each tea bag usually holds enough tea to brew at least one cup, but there are tea bags that are big enough to use in a tea pot. As the tea is held within the bag, it is easy to brew a cup of tea and then dispose of the bag / bags.

The invention of the tea bag was accidental. An American tea importer called Thomas Sullivan had the idea to send out samples of his tea to clients in small silk bags. His customers thought that they were supposed to put the entire tea bag into the pot, and in doing so they stumbled across the idea of the convenient disposable tea bag.

By the 1920s the idea of the tea bag had spread to the masses and was being commercially manufactured in America. The silk had since been replaced with a gauze material, which in turn was replaced with paper. It wasn't until the 1960s that the idea of using a tea bag took off in the UK, where 85% of all tea consumed is today brewed using a tea bag.

If a tea bag is well produced it will have ample space for the tea to infuse properly. However, some people are put off by tea bags as some companies use lesser quality tea in them. This is not the case with Barry's Tea, which uses only the finest blend of Indian Assam tea and Kenyan black tea.

A typical tea bag will be either square or rectangular in shape, but there are now circular or pyramidal shaped tea bags being produced. Manufacturers often claim that these more modern shapes improve the taste of the tea by allowing better infusion, but in our opinion, this remains to be seem. The difference in terms of body and taste between the traditional and modern shaped tea bag is barely even noticeable.

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