The future of the tea bag
Multiple choice question: Bagged tea is to loose tea what:
A. Boxed wine is to Champagne
B. Instant coffee is to Kona
C. A bottle of beer is to a keg
D. A 1oz jar of caviar is to a 2oz jar of caviar
E. All of the above
If you answered anything other than E.) All of the above, you're a tea snob. Just kidding. Maybe. It used to be that bagged teas were markedly inferior to even an untrained palate. Today, while MOST bagged teas are still commodity grade, mass-market products, the gap is shrinking rapidly. Some progressive retailers have even taken the risk of putting (gasp) top quality whole leaf teas into a bag. It remains to be seen whether the average consumer will pay for it.
Before continuing the discussion on the current state of bagged teas, let's go back to the original criticisms of this ubiquitous delivery method for the world's favorite beverage:
1. Tea bags are filled with dust and fannings - the detritus left over from the production of "real tea". The West simply didn't appreciate good tea and we were too lazy or uncivilized to get beyond dipping a bag in warm water (or so the thinking went).
2. Tea bags are too small to allow whole, or even slightly broken leaf teas to properly expand and infuse. The tea bag itself was responsible for the use of dust and fannings.
3. Twinings has always recommended brewing a Black Tea between 3 and 5 minutes for optimal flavor. To their horror, they conducted a study and found that the average black tea drinker dunked that bag for only 45 seconds. The lazy or uncivilized Western tea drinker needs to be served dust and fannings so that some flavor makes it into the cup in 45 seconds or less.
4. Paper tea bags don't allow much circulation of the water and delivered weak infusions.
5. Because tea bags are primarily dust and fannings, or at best CTC teas (finely chopped leaf pieces), they go stale quickly.
6. Because of all the extra packaging, shipping and storage costs, bagged teas are more than twice as expensive as the same tea sold loose.
Historically, these truths were self evident, but over the last few years the simple tea bag has come a long way. Today we have nylon pyramid bags, biodegradable pyramid bags (made with organic if genetically modified material), large paper sachets, etc. These larger bags allow all but the largest whole leaf teas to be sold in bagged form, and negate all but complaint number six in the list above.
Today, the real questions for the tea bag market are:
1. How much of a premium will the consumer pay for premium bagged teas over loose teas? (and how many times the cost of traditional bagged teas)
2. How comfortable will the tea connoisseur be buying a "premium" product in "mass market" packaging?
This second question is playing out in a number of other products who's success or failure will be instructive for the tea industry. Boxed wine is a much less expensive delivery mechanism than 750ml bottles. Current packaging approaches make the difference in flavor negligible, but boxed wines still suffer from an image crisis. Beer distributors have been trying to replace glass bottles with plastic for several years now with mixed results. Finally, the grocery aisles are now filled with "single serving" packages of everything from high quality fish to cheese.
So what IS the future of the tea bag? I ask in part because, with two Fuso machines (for making pyramid tea bags) in-house, Adagio has the option of putting some or all of our tea collection into bags. Loose tea will always have the appeal of ritual and tradition, but will tea connoisseurs also buy their favorite Darjeeling or oolong in bagged form for convenience at the office?
We're going to test this in our new retail store, but I'd love to get some feedback from our customers and friends in the tea industry on this one.
Adagio Teas
Twitter: @AdagioRetail
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Voice your opinion about this article on TeaChat! |
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Jan 15th '10 18:48
I've written an article about the history and future of the tea bag (http://www.tearetailer.com/article_29.html). Adagio has the option of putting any tea in our collection into pyramid tea bags, but the question is, what does the customer want? Will a tea connoisseur who buys loose leaf Darjeeling or Oolong ALSO want their favorite tea in bagged form for convenience at the office or on the road?We're going to test this in our new retail store, but I'd love to get some feedback from our customers and friends in the tea industry on this one. |
Chicago, IL |
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Jan 16th '10 3:23
I'm totally fine with buying premium tea in bags, but it seems like most premium bagged tea options are far more expensive than the loose tea alternative. Tea such as Mighty Leaf ends up being 50 cents a cup.This is probably because they are only selling 1.3 oz of tea at a time, instead 4oz size common in loose leaf purchases. Nonetheless I go with loose leaf tea + t-sac's when I'm looking for a simple and single cup. |
acgourley
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Jan 16th '10 3:30
Paper filters are the way I usually brew at work. I would love the convenience of a pyramid bag and would surely use them, but I do believe price is a concern as acgourley stated.For example... The Yunnan gold teabags come to $0.66 per cup whereas a 3oz tin is nearly half the price at $0.37 per cup. |
Louisiana Gulf Coast |
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Jan 16th '10 13:26
I agree with this. Even at work, I have a teaball for when I have looseleaf teas. The price of buying the tea + the 100ct. box of bags (which adds only .03 to the cost of a cup) or + teaball, or + infuser... I'll do it myself. Unfortunately, I'm cheap. Wherever I can skimp on the cost of "extras," I will, and tea prepackaged in bags is a cost I will very willingly cut, even if only so that I can purchase a better quality tea. Ex: I travel sometimes for work. Last time was a 6-week stint, where I was staying in someone else's house. Since I was driving there, I took my IngenuiTEA and a couple tins of tea. But even when flying, I'll pack a tin of tea and a teaball with no problem. |
SC |
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Jan 16th '10 13:50
I have given some thought to this for awhile now. I would of course like to see more whole leaf available in bags industry wide. I have used Adagio's for travel. They are convenient. Anytime you ask this question, I guess you need to consider who is responding. Most of us regulars here on TeaChat, would not use them on any on-going basis. But a few would use them for travel. I am all for better tea being available to the masses, but there must be a campaign and advertising. Plenty of folks are happy with Lipton and regular old bags and see no need to change. And maybe for them, there is no need. As for a connoisseur paying premium bagged teas over loose teas, it is not so much the price as loosing the experience of brewing the tea. I don't see cost as a factor in this scenario at all. We would buy for occasional or gift usage only. And the price per cup vs loose for that convenience would not be considered. I think we would be "comfortable" using a premium bag in those scenarios, but certainly not daily. |
Southern CA |
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Jan 16th '10 21:04
Not sure how much I am willing to agree with this... Those are mighty big brush strokes there.
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Louisiana Gulf Coast |
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Jan 16th '10 21:37
I think it is all the the semantics. I was saying if we buy whole leaf bagged it would be more on the occasion of gifting or for travel, and in those cases the convenience of it is what we are really paying for so, the cost factor does not come into play. As for daily brewing convenience, even at work, as you do, yes of course the cost would matter. So we would not pay, when we could either brew or make our own bags for less.
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Southern CA |
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Jan 17th '10 18:25
Honestly teabags scare me because most of the tea I have had in a bag was awful. It would depend on the reputation of the seller and even then I would trust loose leaf over anything bagged. If I could brew tea at work then I would try to find a way to do loose leaf but if that wern't possible then I would buy some teabags for work.
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Ohio |
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Jan 17th '10 21:11
It is all about the tea IN the bag, really, and the freshness.best, ................john |
Wilton, New Hampshire USA |
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Jan 17th '10 21:48
Thanks for the feedback. There were a number of comments relating to cost. Realistically, this is one of the more significant challenges. A box of premium tea bags typically contains 15 bags. At 3g each (appropriate for 8-10 ounces of water in the typical mug), we're talking a total of 45 grams, or a little less than 1.75 ounces. That's not a lot of tea. But across those 15 bags we have to spread the cost of a lot of packaging, equipment and much higher shipping and storage costs. It's easy enough to put top quality teas in a bag. It's a little harder to convince the customer to pay for QUALITY tea in a bag. Tea bag drinkers don't like the idea of paying $10 for a box of 15 premium teabags, so they go out and buy bad tea for $4 a box and don't drink it very often. It's a vicious cycle!!! |
Chicago, IL |
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Mar 2nd '10 22:37
Personally, I prefer the loose tea. I just find it to be more formal, in a way, more estoric, more... just awesome. There's a certain feeling that goes along with actual loose tea that excites me so much more than a pyramid bag. I understand the issues of convenience, and that good tea can come in bags and brew just fine, but there's something about measuring out loose tea leaves and brewing it in a tea pot (or my ingenuiTEA, which I love and have in both sizes) that speaks to a deep part of my soul. Would I personally buy tea in pyramid bags over loose tea? No, but I do the vast majority of my tea drinking at home, and when I'm going to go to class, for instance, I'll make tea to take with me rather than try to make it there. (I unfortunately am so busy at work that I do not have the time to drink much of anything.) That said, I do understand the idea of tea in bags and the convenience it offers. However, if Adagio were to switch to full on tea-bags-only sales, I would have to find my tea elsewhere.~Zachary Moore |
Zmoore0890
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Mar 3rd '10 9:41
Take heart! Adagio has no plans to discontinue sales of loose tea. We are merely debating how many of our loose teas to offer in tea bags in addition. 
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Chicago, IL |
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Mar 3rd '10 12:13
I like tea bags because they are very convenient. however, like everyone has been saying, the are also more expensive. I don't really mind just buying the paper filter from adagio and putting my tea in that. I think it's cheaper, and I can't fill up a few bags one day during the week and have different flavors through out the week. Whereas, if I buy tea bags (that are premium) I will usually just have a few flavors until I am finished with them because I don't want to waste money. So...if adagio were to offer some of their teas in tea bags, that would be nice, as long as they don't discontinue selling those teas in loose-leaf form as well.
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sxelsharif
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Mar 3rd '10 21:02
In a retail store, where I don't have to worry about shipping costs, I buy bagged premium tea over loose leaf tea, because it is convenient for me to take to work and quickly brew a cuppa good tea. If I'm buying for home, I love loose leaf tea, but that can add up in price too.I like that the bagged tea is already pre portioned, but I also like to blend my loose teas, so both options are nice for me. I have about half loose leaf and half pyramid bags in my cupboard right now. |
Bourbonnais, IL |
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Mar 3rd '10 21:33
To me the cost of bagged tea is a major concern. The best teabags I've had are from tea farmers and tea dealers, who made the teabags themselves. Some tea farmers in China sell their teabags (made from crushed tea leaves from the final stage of tea processing) for less than $0.10 and I think they are actually much better than some expensive teabag products that contain whole leaves. Problem is, these teabags, if not wrapped with foiled/mylar or at least plastic bags, will lose flavor with time being. But it may cost a lot more than $0.10 to pack the teabags properly. By the way I think Adagio's little paper bags for wrapping tea are very cool. I am cheap too. If I have to choose, I will surely take those little bags and some loose leaf tea, instead of pre-made teabags, for traveling. |
Massachusetts |
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Mar 7th '10 20:15
What are the pyramid tea bags made of? Are they biodegradable? I prefer loose tea b/c it reduces the materials we use to brew tea. I'm probably more environmentally conscious than most tea drinkers, but I know there are some of us out there that prefer environmentally friendly products that still deliver quality. |
TeaPeople
Fort Collins, CO |
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Mar 9th '10 17:37
I am retired so drink most of my tea at home. The ingenuiTEA and the tea filters make brewing tea almost as easy as bagged tea with the added plus of blending my own (not always successful  , but fun  ), an option I wouldn't have with pre-made tea bags. I rarely drink tea in restaurants because it is almost always awful and even asking for hot water, if you bring your own bag, doesn't work because the water that's brought usually isn't hot enough. However, teabags would be an excellent way to introduce people who are used to mass market teabags into the taste and variety of quality tea. |
San Diego, California U.S.A. |
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Apr 23rd '10 0:09
Hi Charles,I would like to know how these pyramid tea bags are made, and what kind of material these tea bags are made of. To my knowledge, they are nylon, which is very damaging for the environment and thus a huge deterrent to using tea bags. In addition, I don't know what the process of making a tea bag using a Fuso machine means, and I would be curious to know if the tea is affected (in terms of quality, taste, or appearance) when it is put through the machine and turned into a tea bag. I think it would be useful to educate us tea drinkers about how this Fuso machine works. |
b.wan07
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Apr 23rd '10 2:27
Personally, I would never use a teabag. I love using teapots, fair cups, and teacups to brew tea. It adds tremendously to the experience in my opinion. If I don't have the time to brew tea with a teaset, I drink something else. I have tea sets for travel and teasets in my office, my shop, and at home, so I never am without. Anyhow, that is just my opinion. I'm sure there are many people who would dig the idea.
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Guilin, Guangxi China |
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Apr 23rd '10 9:54
Hi Charles,I would like to know how these pyramid tea bags are made, and what kind of material these tea bags are made of. The pyramid bags can be made from nylon or a biodegradable material (made from corn). We stock both materials. The process itself doesn't do anything to harm the tea. The Fuso machine simply drops the leaf onto a scale and then into the pouch which is sealed and dropped into another container. Without question the "best way" to experience tea is loose, but for those who prefer tea bags, pyramid bags are the way to go... |
Chicago, IL |
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Apr 23rd '10 13:04
That is good news that there are biodegradable pyramid tea bags available Is there a reason the nylon ones are still being used? Do the nylon ones work better? Do they cost less to produce?
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TeaPeople
Fort Collins, CO |
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Apr 23rd '10 13:38
I would think the nylon might be more neutral. With a robust tea, a bit of added "flavor" from the actual material might not make a difference, but I would think it would for more delicate ones if you would use the ones made from corn ... and the ones made from paper definitely can translate into the brew.
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Back in the TeaCave atop Mt. Fuji |
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Apr 24th '10 8:34
I am not aware of a difference in flavor but there is definitely a difference in price. The nylon is much less expensive. At the end of the day the typical American consumer will buy green/organic/biodegradable products when they are the same price or slightly more expensive. If the cost is more than marginally higher, the "green" products just sit on the shelf. Unfortunately the minority of true believers, while vocal, are still the minority. Adagio is currently packaging our new line of organic bagged teas in the biodegradable tea bags and conventional teas in nylon. The theory is that the customers willing to pay more for organic will pay more for bio, whereas those who are not, will not pay more for the bio bags either. |
Chicago, IL |
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Jun 8th '10 9:43
Hi Charles,You mentioned that the tea bags are sealed in the Fuso machine...I wonder what type of adhesive is used to seal it...now I am a little concerned as to what kind of chemicals are going into my hot water whenever I use a pyramid tea bag. Does anyone else know? |
b.wan07
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Jun 8th '10 9:59
The Fuso machines use ultrasonic technology to fuse the pyramid bags closed. No glue, no staples, no chemicals.
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Chicago, IL |
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Jun 8th '10 14:01
I prefer loose leaf as well. Brewing it makes me feel like it's my own creation. I enjoy watching the leaves, smelling the tea, and holding the tea. It's not just making it. For me , it's more personal with loose leaf 
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Phoenix Arizona |
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Jun 14th '10 22:17
I still don't understand how one more piece of packaging to throw away (usually two since many teabags are packaged individually) is more Convenient? When I don't have time/space for a pot I just toss tea leaves in the cup, wait for them to settle and sip.
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Bakersfield CA |
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Sep 2nd '10 15:08
Since switching from tea bags years ago to the filter tea bags, I encourage my customers to use the filter tea bags, that way they can decide how much they want in their bag. Some of the tea bags don't give you enough tea to determine what you are drinking. I like to know that if I want a cup of orange tea that I am going to taste the orange flavor and not just a hint of orange. Tea filter bags are not an inconvenience if you do it ahead of time. I just fill up the bags (five to ten bags)with my choice of teas, put them in a ziplock baggie and off I go. Take one bag out, put in my 8 oz or 12 oz. mug, pour hot water over it, let it steep, take the bag out and I am ready for my favorite tea or rooibos.
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tea4you&tea4me
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Sep 9th '10 18:36
correct me if i am wrong... and i am sure someone will but isn't it true that for something to "biodegrade" it has to get oxygen to it? so when something get buried in a landfill it will remain regardless of the fact that is it made from biodegradable material. i have seen this same debate with the biodegradable doggie poop bags, etc.
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bunnylebowski
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Sep 18th '10 23:53
All this walk about biodegradable tea bags and such I just had to put in my 2cents for what it is worth. I don't see much benefit to the tea bag at all. 1. You need to be certain what the paper is made from, dioxins etc2. Biodegradable fine but why not go without? More paper for the landfill. Loose tea biodegrades a lot faster in earth and provides good nourishment for the soil. Actually as a traditional tea drinker I miss the loose tea, take away that tea character - reading tea. You can't read tea with tea bags.
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NingMing, Guangxi |