Loose tea is the original form of tea, dating back over 5,000 years to China. Tea bags were invented by accident in the early 1900s and have become hugely popular, accounting for 94% of the tea market. However, some tea lovers prefer loose leaf tea for its higher quality and flavor.
Loose tea is really just tea: dried leaves or fruit for steeping in hot water, except without the bag.
Tea historians claim that people started drinking tea more than 5,000 years ago. According to history, there was an emperor named Shen Nung in China at that time, who was a scholar and a student of sciences. Because he believed that water was made pure by boiling, he insisted that all water be boiled before members of his court could drink it.
One afternoon as the members of the court were traveling, a leaf from a nearby tree flew into her cup of boiled water. Curious, he let the leaf sit in his cup and saw that the leaf infused his water with a tan color and refreshing taste. Ever since then people in China, then Japan, and now all over the world have been enjoying a nice cup of tea.
Loose tea was the only type of tea available for many centuries. Ancient books have been discovered explaining what type of tea leaves were preferred, how people of the time prepared loose leaf tea, and the methods used to filter loose leaf tea from tea.
Ironically, the invention of the tea bag was an accident. A tea merchant, tired of shipping loose tea in the bulky, heavy metal tea boxes, came up with a packaging innovation: He packaged his loose tea in silk bags that weighed less and could be compacted for shipping. When he got responses from customers requesting it, he sent loose tea in his own convenient tea bags, a new concept was born. By 1904, tea bags were commercially successful around the world.
The practicality of the tea bag – making things like tea strainers or tea balls redundant – has made it hugely popular. While avid loose tea fans must develop the skill to remove loose tea from the teapot or teacup, many consider the technique an integral part of tea drinking rituals and traditions.
Sales of tea bags still account for 94% of today’s tea market, but that trend could change. Since some of the tea used in tea bags is sieves or broken leaves, tea lovers have reverted to the quality of loose leaf tea to fully enjoy the flavor. The types of teas fall into three basic categories: Black, Oolong and Green.
Loose tea, as opposed to tea made from tea in tea bags, will likely remain the choice of true tea connoisseurs.
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