If you’ve v isited one of the many new tea shops Los Angeles has seen appear over the last few years, you’ll know that there are all kinds of amazing blends available. You may also know that tea comes loose in the box or in convenient little bags. The question is – are loose leaves or tea bags the best option?
Before we answer that particular question, we’re first going to take a look at how tea bags came into being, as it’s quite an interesting story. Despite being everywhere in the modern age, however, they’re only a recent addition to the tea-drinking world.
You’ll Find Many Blends At the Tea Shops Los Angeles Residents Enjoy
Before the year 1904, no one in the world had ever seen a tea bag. It wasn’t until 1908 that they began to be sold on a widescale basis. A man going by the name of Thomas Sullivan was responsible for the invention of the humble tea bag, and it happened by luck.
You see, at the time, the tea merchant would give out samples to people in amazing little hand-made silk bags. The reason was because of presentation and due to it being a cheaper method to ship tea leaves around the world in this way. The alternative was metal tins, which were expensive.
So, the tea bags tea shops Los Angeles wide now sell might never have been invented if metal hadn’t been more expensive than silk in the early 20th century.
Are Loose-Leaves or Tea Bags Best?
In order to answer the question, we have to look at the manufacturing process of each. Firstly, creating tea bags involves using the cut, tear curl (CTC) method, which releases huge amounts of phytins, which have a habit of making all the leaves taste exactly the same. It often involves using lower-grade leaves.
On the other hand, when loose leaves are processed by hand, they’re sorted out into grades from the best to the worst. That means the highest-grade leaves get put into loose-leaf tea, with the rest going into the tea bags.
The knock-on effect of this is the tea bags won’t have quite the same depth of flavor as loose-leaf blends, particularly as when leaves are broken in this way, they release tannins, which deliver a more bitter taste.
They won’t have the same levels of antioxidants either, meaning you’re not going to get the same level of health benefits from drinking them.
Our Advice is Buy Loose-Leaf Tea From Tea Shops Los Angeles
So, while the popularity of tea bags across the world is undeniable, you do pay a price for the convenience that’s provided. That price is the taste of the tea, as tea bags will typically contain lower-grade leaves and will have lost much of the goodness the plants had when they were growing in the ground.
Whichever way you slice it, loose-leaf tea is just better. The CTC method that’s used to create most tea bags is just too harsh to create the same grade of taste.
All things considered, the only wise option is to by loose-leaf. If you’re serious about getting all the taste and body support, it has to be loose leaf.
