Tea bag



Background

Tea has existed as a beverage since 2000 B.C. The brewing, serving, and drinking of tea are time-honored rituals throughout the world. While there is general agreement that the tea trade began in China, both China and India lay claim to discovering the dietary properties of tea leaves. The Chinese tell the story of a mythical emperor named Shen Nung who was so particular about his nutrition that he boiled his drinking water before he drank it. One day, the story goes, the wind caught some of the leaves on the tree branches that he had used to build a fire. The leaves floated into his boiling water and, lo, tea was created.

In India, the discovery is attributed to Bodhidharma, an actual person who founded the Ch-an School of Buddhism. In A.D. 527, after four years of a self-imposed nine-year meditation, Bodhidharma grew sleepy. In an attempt to stay awake, he began to chew on the twigs of a nearby tree and suddenly found himself wide awake; he had discovered tea.

The tea bush is a white-flowered evergreen in the Camellia family. Chinese documents record it as indigenous to the Hunan province in southwest China. In modern times, it is generally accepted that the original tea bush grew in India and was brought to China. It thrives in a rocky terrain. In approximately A.D. 350, tea cultivation was also reported in the Szechwan province along the Yangtze River.

During the T'ang Dynasty in the eighth century, tea drinking achieved the status of an art form. Tea merchants hired a man named Lu Yu to compile the first written record of Chinese tea ceremonies. Entitled Ch'a Ching (The Class of Tea), the three-volume work revolutionized the tea industry. The second volume includes an exhaustive list of the equipment necessary to brew tea correctly; all-told, 24 items are listed.

In the 12th century, monks from the Zen sect of Buddhists brought the tea-brewing process home to Japan from their travels in China. Yeisei, a Buddhist abbot, is credited with writing Japan's first tea book: Kitcha-Yojoki (Book of Tea Sanitation). Since then, Zen Buddhism and tea have grown inseparable.

Several Europeans mentioned bringing tea back home from their visits to the Orient. One of them was Giambattista Ramusio, an editor of travel books and a diplomatic representative of the Venetian government. Gaspar da Cruz, a Portuguese Jesuit priest and missionary, also brought tea when he returned. In 1520, Ferdinand Magellan discovered the straits that now bear his name around the southern tip of South America and opened the door to a what would become a well-traveled westward trade route between Europe and the Orient.

Holland was the first to record the purchase of tea in 1607. The tea was first sold at apothecary shops, then in stores where spices and sugar were sold. By the 18th century, stores devoted entirely to the sale of tea and coffee had opened. The first tea sold to the English public occurred in 1657 at a coffee house called Exchange Alley. When King Charles HI married the Portuguese princess Catherine of Braganza in 1661, her dowry included tea. Fifty-five years later, on October 12, 1712, Thomas Twining opened England's first tea shop.

England's East India Company grew prosperous from its opium trade to China and

Tea bag
although the English addiction to tea was not as detrimental as the Chinese addiction to opium, the company also profited by the sale of tea it brought back in exchange. The English government ignored the questionable nature of the company's business so that it could levy a high import tax on tea. In spite of the tariff, or perhaps because of it, a great deal of tea was smuggled into the country. The tea tax also figured prominently in the American Revolution, as witnessed by the infamous Boston Tea Party when rebellious colonists pitched a shipment of East India Company tea into the harbor.

Until the early 20th century, tea was sold loose. Tea bags were invented quite by accident in 1904 when Thomas Sullivan, an enterprising merchant, wrapped samples of tea leaves in silk bags and sent them to prospective customers, some of whom dipped the bags directly into boiling water. The silk bags gave way to gauze pouches and eventually to specially treated filter paper.

Herb teas, caffeine-free and cultivated from a variety of plant leaves, flowers, roots, bark, and seeds, have become enormously popular over the last 20 years. Although they were probably brewed as early as prehistoric times, herb teas were primarily consumed for medicinal purposes.

Raw Materials

Tea bags are composed of two main ingredients: processed tea leaves and filter-paper

Tea bag
bags. The top tea leaves and leaf buds are hand-picked from the plant. The leaves are then subjected to several processes including withering, rolling, drying, cutting, and blending. The intensity and duration of each process differs according to the type of tea.

The filter paper is made primarily of abaca, the leafstalk of Philippine bananas also known as Manila hemp.

The Manufacturing
Process

Withering

Crushing

Drying

Milling

Blending

Measuring

Tea bag assembly

Quality Control

Professional tea tasters check each batch of tea before it is inserted into the filter paper. Tea tasting is an art, not unlike wine tasting. Cups of brewed tea are lined up along with bowls of the tea leaves from the same batch. Tasters slurp the tea to the back of their throats, atomizing the tea so that they can taste it and smell it at the same time. The tasters also examine the unbrewed tea leaves to check for cleanliness, purity, and freshness.

The tea must also meet company standards. Each tea is blended to achieve a particular taste and appearance, therefore company recipes are strictly followed for consistency. Consistency is also maintained through computerized control systems that regulate the speed of the manufacturing machinery and heating processes. The systems alert plant workers to breakdowns and jams.

The Future

In spite of coffee's popularity, tea continues to be a fashionable beverage. The Tea Council of the United States estimates that Americans alone consume 122 million cups of tea each day. Worldwide, it is the second most popular beverage, preceded only by water.

Recently, the scientific community has become interested in the potential health benefits of tea, particularly in those properties that could lower blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels, stabilize blood sugar, prevent tooth decay, and inhibit the growth of cancerous tumors.

Where To Learn More

Books

Goodwin, Jason. A Time for Tea. Alfred A. Knopf, 1991.

Perry, Sara. The Tea Book: A Gourmet Guide to Buying, Brewing, & Cooking. Chronicle Books, 1993.

Woodward, Nancy Hyden. Teas of the World. Macmillan Publishing Company, 1980.

Periodicals

Booe, Martin. "Tea Tempest." Chicago Tribune, January 16, 1995, Sec. 5, p. 1.

Carton, Barbara. "Tea Companies Get Steamed Up About Who Invented the Wheel." The Wall Street Journal, January 12, 1995, p. B1.

Charles, Dan. "A Cup of Green Tea a Day May Keep Cancer Away." New Scientist, September 14, 1991, p. 17.

Evans, Mary Anne. "A Perfect Cup of Tea." Gourmet, November 1993, pp. 52, 54.

Raloff, Janet. "Add Tea to That Old 'Apple a Day' Adage." Science News, October 30, 1993, p. 278.

Mary F. McNulty



Also read article about Tea bag from Wikipedia

User Contributions:

1
kindy kukosa
I would like to know about the staple....is it steel....is it aluminum...amd what
happens when it gets MIRCO WAVED..

Sincerely,
Kindy Kulosa
I use to learn so many things from this article. I am interested about establish a small tea bag manufacturing factory in my city.in my country we have lots of raw materiel and I need only packing machine.its will be great for me if i will be know about the prices of the tea bag peaking machine.
3
Joyce
I must say that i am very glad with the information given to me concerning the various processes in tea making. I would like to know the various machines and the prices formaking tea and tea bags. Thank you.
4
Holly
I have been told that the material used in making tea bags is very harmful to our health. Is this true?

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