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Tea bag

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, seeTea bag (disambiguation).
A tea bag being removed from amugof hot tea to stop thebrewing process
Tetrahedron-shaped tea bags made ofpolylactide(PLA), abioplastic,shown here containing driedpeppermintleaves
Three different teas in commonly shaped tea bags

Atea bagorteabagis a small, porous, sealedbagorpacket,typically containingtea leavesor the leaves of otherherbs,which is immersed in water tosteepand make an infusion. Originally used only for tea (Camellia sinensis), they are now made with othertisanes( "herbal teas" ) as well.

Tea bags are commonly made offilter paperorfood-grade plastic,or occasionally ofsilk cottonorsilk.The tea bag performs the same function as atea 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.

History

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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 tea bag packing machine was invented in 1929 byAdolf Ramboldfor the German companyTeekanne.[5]

Theheat-sealedpaper fiber tea bag was patented in 1930 by William Hermanson.[6]The now-common rectangular tea bag was not invented until 1944. Prior to that, tea bags resembled small sacks.[7]

Production

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Teas

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A broad variety of teas as well as otherinfusionslike herbal teas, are available in tea bags. Typically, tea bags usefannings,the left-overs after larger leaf pieces are gathered for sale as loose tea, but some companies sell teabags containing whole-leaf tea.[8]

Shapes and material

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Circular tea bags
Microscopic view of a synthetic tea bag

Traditionally, tea bags have been square or rectangular in shape. They are usually made offilter paper,a blend of wood andvegetable fibersrelated to paper found in milk andcoffee filters.The latter isbleachedpulpabaca hemp,aplantationbanana plant grown for its fiber, mostly in the Philippines and Colombia. Some bags have a heat-sealablethermoplasticsuch asPVCorpolypropyleneas a component fiber on the inner tea bag surface, making them not fully biodegradable.[9][10]Some newer paper tea bags are made in a circular shape.

Tetrahedral tea bags were introduced by the PG Tips brand in 1997.[11]They are typically made ofnylon,soilon (PLAmesh made from corn starch),[12]orsilk.Nylon is non-biodegradable,so silk is preferred byenvironmentalists.[13]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

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In 2017, Mike Armitage, a gardener inWrexham,UK, found that tea bags left a plastic residue after beingcomposted.He started a petition urgingUnileverto remove plastic from bag production.[14][15][16]In January 2018,Co-op Foodannounced that they were removing plastic from their own brand 99 tea bags in conjunction with their supplierTyphoo.[17][18]In February 2018,PG Tipsannounced that their pyramid bags would now usecorn starchadhesive in place ofpolypropylene.[14][19][20]

Microplasticsmay 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".[21][22]A 2021 study analyzed purportedlycellulosetea bags and found that 15 of the 22 bags tested also containedpolyester,polyethyleneorpolypropylene,which are known to shed microplastic fibers.[23][24]Although cellulose is considered to be biodegradable, the plastic components are not and release microplastics to the environment when composted.

Recreational and practical applications

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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,[25]as well as collection tracking tools. In addition, tea bag collectors often collect other tea-related items such as labels.[26]These websites also provide forums for discussions and trade arrangements between collectors.

Teabag foldingbegan in the Netherlands and is often credited to Tiny van der Plas. It is a form oforigamiin which identical squares of patterned paper (cut from the front of tea bag wrappers) are folded, and then arranged inrosettes.These rosettes are usually used to decorategift cardsand it has become a popular craft in both the US and UK since 2000.[27]

Soil scientistsused standardized tea bags to measure the decomposition rate of organic materials in different soils.[28][29]

See also

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Piles oftea bag holders
  • 3-MCPD,a chemical compound that is carcinogenic, and can occur in some resin-reinforced tea bag materials
  • Builder's tea,refers to a basic method of preparing tea in a mug with tea bags
  • Melitta 401andMelitta 402tea 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

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  1. ^"Tea-leaf holder".USPTO.Retrieved25 October2013.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. ^abBegley, Sarah (3 September 2015)."The History of the Tea Bag".Time.
  3. ^TodayIFoundOut.com, Sarah Stone- (27 April 2015)."How the Tea Bag Was Invented".Gizmodo.Retrieved2021-06-28.
  4. ^Editors, Time-Life (1991).Inventive Genius.New York: Time-Life Books. p.99.ISBN0-8094-7699-1.{{cite book}}:|last=has generic name (help)
  5. ^Rexing, Bernd (2011-05-14)."14. Mai 1996 - Teebeutel-Entwickler Adolf Rambold stirbt"(in German).Retrieved2018-08-03.
  6. ^Bloxham, Andy (2008-06-13)."Tea bag to celebrate its century".Telegraph.co.uk.Retrieved2009-07-15.
  7. ^Dubrin, Beverly (2010).Tea Culture: History, Traditions, Celebrations, Recipes & More.Charlesbridge Publishing, p. 35.ISBN1607343630
  8. ^Fabricant, Florence (2000-02-09)."Whole Leaves, No Strings For a New Tea Bag".The New York Times.Retrieved2009-07-15.
  9. ^Smithers, Rebecca (2 July 2010)."Most UK teabags not fully biodegradable, research reveals".the Guardian.
  10. ^"Composting teabags – Which? News".Which? News.2010-07-02.Retrieved2018-03-26.
  11. ^"PG Tips reclaims number one position with pyramid teabag".Marketing Week.22 April 1999.Retrieved4 May2021.
  12. ^"Tea Stick Brewing Package and Method".Freepatentsonline.com.Retrieved2018-08-16.
  13. ^Fabricant, Florence (September 13, 2006)."Tea's Got a Brand New Bag".The New York Times.
  14. ^ab"Remove plastics from PG Tips tea bags".Campaigns by You.Retrieved2018-03-26.
  15. ^"Teabags 'a cause of plastic pollution'".BBC News.2017-12-19.Retrieved2018-03-26.
  16. ^"PG Tips teabags to be made plastic-free".BBC News.2018-02-28.Retrieved2018-03-26.
  17. ^"The New 'Green' Tea: Co-op Brews Up Solution To Plastic Tea Bags".Retrieved2018-03-26.
  18. ^Smithers, Rebecca (2018-01-28)."An eco-friendly cuppa? Now teabags are set to go plastic-free".the Guardian.Retrieved2018-03-26.
  19. ^"What We're Doing with Our New Decaf Tea Blend – PG tips".PG Tips.Retrieved2018-03-26.
  20. ^Smithers, Rebecca (2018-02-28)."PG tips announces switch to plastic-free fully biodegradable teabags".the Guardian.Retrieved2018-03-26.
  21. ^Chung, Emily (25 September 2019)."Some tea bags may shed billions of microplastics per cup".CBC News.Retrieved25 September2019.
  22. ^Hernandez LM, Xu EG, Larsson HC, Tahara R, Maisuria VB,Tufenkji N(25 September 2019)."Plastic Teabags Release Billions of Microparticles and Nanoparticles into Tea".Environmental Science & Technology.53(21): 12300–12310.Bibcode:2019EnST...5312300H.doi:10.1021/acs.est.9b02540.PMID31552738.S2CID202761863.
  23. ^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.Bibcode:2021PSEP..151..188Y.doi:10.1016/j.psep.2021.05.016.S2CID236273472.
  24. ^"Bags of tea are dangerous! Nearly 13,000 microplastic particles detected - Women About".2022-06-07.Retrieved2022-06-07.
  25. ^"Tea Bags on Colnect".colnect.com.Retrieved2018-12-18.
  26. ^"Tea Labels on Colnect".colnect.com.Retrieved2019-03-01.
  27. ^jbritton (2009-06-29)."Tea bag folding".Britton.disted.camosun.bc.ca. Archived fromthe originalon 2009-08-03.Retrieved2009-07-15.
  28. ^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.Bibcode:2013MEcEv...4.1070K.doi:10.1111/2041-210X.12097.
  29. ^Ogden, Lesley Evans (5 June 2019)."How teabags became a secret weapon in the fight against climate change".New Scientist.Retrieved31 July2019.
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