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Jul 19th, '17, 03:38
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Tea bag vs Loose leaf tea?

by janet11 » Jul 19th, '17, 03:38

What’s you choice?
Many people in the world used bagged tea. At first, you might think that it’s easier and convenient to prepare a tea, and you may think the taste is quite good. But as I know there are many Potential risk factors. Paper tea bags contain pesticides,toxins,dioxin...

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Jul 19th, '17, 05:59
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Re: Tea bag vs Loose leaf tea?

by Xeractha » Jul 19th, '17, 05:59

I used to make tea bags for my father. Semi-quality leaf put in cheap tea bags. I just made those so he could brew tea easily in the morning. But it's different, what you buy at local stores are pure rubbish. Those are chopped leaf leftovers, dust, etc. And if you find quality tea bags (which is highly unlikely) the cost will be the same or more than the loose leaf version of the same tea (at least that's what I experienced). I don't think it's worth it. I've got some bagged japanese teas for samples but those are different to chinese teas. The bag it self is high quality already, the tea is good also but as I said, the price is usually too high for what it is.
I'm sure the story is different in Asia, there might be good bagged teas but as someone who lives in Europe, this is my experience.

Jul 19th, '17, 06:04
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Re: Tea bag vs Loose leaf tea?

by Bok » Jul 19th, '17, 06:04

janet11 wrote: What’s you choice?
Many people in the world used bagged tea. At first, you might think that it’s easier and convenient to prepare a tea, and you may think the taste is quite good. But as I know there are many Potential risk factors. Paper tea bags contain pesticides,toxins,dioxin...
Is that a serious question? Do not think you’ll find a lot of people on this forum who would even consider drinking a thing like that…

That said there is are also loose leaf tea bags. Which if you must, is still better than teadust. My teashop here in Taiwan also sells those for lazy people, still better to just rip them open and infuse free floating. To answer Xearctha, yes the quality is basically the same. But normally they only offer those teabags for what they consider upper-low to medium quality teas. Which in many cases is still better than the premium of some Western teashops.

The main problem apart from the taste those bags usually leave, is that it is impossible for the leaves to expand properly. For the same reason most, if not all, Western teapots are terrible for brewing tea.

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Jul 19th, '17, 14:52
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Re: Tea bag vs Loose leaf tea?

by dizzo » Jul 19th, '17, 14:52

I keep some teabags around for when im not feeling well and I make a hot toddy. With enough brandy it doesnt taste half bad!
After about 7 or 8 of them, I feel right as rain :lol:
The rest of the time...no. No tea bags!

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Jul 21st, '17, 05:09
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Re: Tea bag vs Loose leaf tea?

by kuánglóng » Jul 21st, '17, 05:09

No tea baggies over here ... color me spoiled.

Dec 2nd, '17, 03:44
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Re: Tea bag vs Loose leaf tea?

by RitikaAmble » Dec 2nd, '17, 03:44

As per my knowledge, Loose leaf tea is definitely better than tea bags. Here I've shared some of the advantages of loose leaf tea over tea bags.

- loose leaf tea can fully expand when brewed. It is not confined within a bag which restricts it from imparting the maximum taste. The better the tea expands like the loose leaf tea, the more of the natural flavors are imparted into the brew.

- The tea that is available in the tea bags is often cut and blended a lot of times. This decreases the levels of natural flavors in the tea. With loose leaf tea, the exact opposite happens. The tea is not that blended and keeps the natural flavors intact that helps in a better aroma that is imparted in the final brewed cup.

- The tea bags might seem high end and posh but tend to have lower quality tea. The loose leaf tea is the first pressed fresh variant which keeps the necessary nutrients intact. This helps in ensuring a better health which is exactly what the aim is for the consumption of the cup of tea in the morning.

I'd recommend you to do a proper research and then move along buying the best quality loose leaf tea for a healthier life.

My reference - https://techatea.com/

Dec 3rd, '17, 16:03
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Re: Tea bag vs Loose leaf tea?

by 12Tea » Dec 3rd, '17, 16:03

Loose leaf tea of course, but I've nothing against tea bags. I also don't believe they're bad for the health. It's in fact very hard to compare tea bag with loose leaf. Leaves don't expand well in tea bags, but that's why tea bags contained crushed leaves that doesn't have to expand to release flavour. It's simply convenience versus better taste.

Jan 16th, '18, 13:47
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Re: Tea bag vs Loose leaf tea?

by chapka » Jan 16th, '18, 13:47

For the most part, cheap, mediocre, mass-marketed tea dust is sold in bags, and many good teas are only sold loose, so a lot of the time your choice is made for you.

But if you can find good leaf tea in good bags, you can still make a good cup of tea from it. I've had good results with good tea in bags, especially with black teas brewed English style, but I've even had a decent cup or two of bagged Pu'er. There are also "improved" teabags that reduce the impact even more--Teapigs make a pyramid-shaped teabag that lets the leaves swish around, and I've liked the stuff of theirs I've tried.

How much difference there is between good loose tea and good tea in bags also depends on how you brew your loose tea. If you pack leaves tightly into a tea ball or infuser, you've pretty much made a teabag, and you won't see as much difference as if you spoon loose leaves into a teapot or gaiwan.

And in any case, in my opinion, the differences tend to be pretty subtle. I'd be curious to try an experiment. Have a friend brew three cups of tea; two using teabags and one tearing the teabag open and brewing with the leaves, and see if you can tell the odd one out!

Mar 30th, '18, 06:04
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Re: Tea bag vs Loose leaf tea?

by InternPrimas » Mar 30th, '18, 06:04

I've had good bagged tea and I've had bland crappy bagged tea. It all depends. I've had sub-par loose leaf that should have been jam packed with flavor. But I've also had top notch high quality loose leaf that was inexpensive but high quality. So it varies I guess. You would think that bagged tea should brew much stronger in flavor and color. But sometimes you get a bad bland batch (not expired). Just the fact the weather can affect the tea plant. The pickers themselves do their job great. It's the fact the weather can affect the flavor profile.

Jul 19th, '18, 04:00
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Re: Tea bag vs Loose leaf tea?

by sophievk » Jul 19th, '18, 04:00

Hi tea drinkers :)

I am currently doing research on the market demand for loose tea in the Dutch market. I just found out that some tea bags might contain leach chemicals and plastics when it is heated above a certain temperature. However, I cannot really find an academic article about it. I was wondering if anyone of you has read about this too or knows a good article explaining this?

Thanks!!

Aug 8th, '18, 03:58
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Additional Opinion

by ArifResto12 » Aug 8th, '18, 03:58

I think we have to keep our bodies health with the warm time

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