This may sound crazy
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I’ve noticed that a cup of loose leaf just looks different in consistency as compared to bagged tea. I’ve noticed that when you add milk or cream that it blooms differently in a cup of loose leaf. Obviously it tastes a bit better, but changing to loose leaf makes going back to bag just isn’t the same. Maybe it’s just me.
I noticed the same thing. You know when you get to the bottom of a tin of loose leaf tea, and it’s a lot smaller and crunched up? That’s what it seems like tea bags are made out of. You can’t really unpackage a tea bag and use the tea in an infuser, because it would slip through the infuser.
@mirandaGou, I definitely know what you’re talking about there! The Earl Grey alone in loose leaf is a total different realm than the bag or even the K-cup version. As a matter of fact though, today I was drinking some of the Twinings Irish breakfast… Not dust but just bland really… A bit of a disappointment:(
Yup. Standard tea bags are made with broken or fannings tea, and they infuse differently. Not necessarily worse, in my opinion, but definitely differently. AFter I got into loose leaf tea, I changed how I steep bag tea — these days I use 2 teabags for 8oz, water off the boil by about a minute, and only steep for 2 minutes. That’s really improved the teabag teas.
What it is, I think, is that the smaller the tea particle, the more quickly it steeps out, and the sooner it gets into the bitter/tannic/astringent tastes I dislike. So using more tea but steeping it cooler and for less time gets me more of the good steep qualities without pushing the leaf into oversteeped.
Nowadays it’s getting easier – lots of companies are making those pyramidal teabags with the better leaf in them, and those steep a lot more like loose leaf. STill underleafed for me though, since they’re usually 2 – 2.5g of leaves per bag, and I like to brew 3g.
Take two bagged teas for instance, Zen by Tazo comes in two forms, a cheap flat tea bag filled with fannings and a more expensive bag filed with proper leaf. Exact same tea, made by the same company, and the result is a vastly different taste!
It is remarkable!
Unfortunately all this talk about the huge differences between bagged and loose leaf now has me on the fence as I see the steepster select also comes in bags. I expect a bit more from the guys at steepster but I’m iffy about taking the jump…anyone have any info???
I would assume that the Steepster Select teas are high quality teas with whole leaves, and not the loose fannings you find in cheap tea. Also, from the description, it sounds like you get the bags, but the tea comes in pouches so you bag it yourself. Someone can probably correct me if I’m wrong though.
Anyway, just because it’s bagged doesn’t mean it’s bad. Harney & Sons has silk sachets for some of their teas and I haven’t noticed any comparable difference between those and the loose teas. Those bags are big enough to hold full leaves, and are the exact same leaves inside as far as I can tell. So, I wouldn’t write them off completely is all I mean.
I am guessing I have just been so turned off by the junk you find at hotels, coffee shops and even"gourmet" supermarkets. But if I can get more info I may just take the jump… Thanks for the info, does anyone else know more of the specifics??
Folks who subscribe to select have a little thingie by their nicknames – probably be more then happy to tell you all about it. I’m on the fence about it too, and would also love more detailed info.
I thought the same thing from what I read but the steepster select teas actually don’t come in a filter bag. It comes sealed in a pouch and they provide 10 paper filter bags to use. So it’s just sealed premeasured servings of loose leaf, with an optional bag to use.
I haven’t actually opened one of the packets yet to see what the tea looks like, but from what I felt (carefully) of the packet, it didn’t seem to me to be broken up leaves and the like. If it wasn’t so relatively late and I wasn’t still nursing a mug of Rhubarb Vanilla Ale tea, I’d open one up to try…Though I might still since I’ve never been exactly reasonable on when I drink tea. XD
Thanks for the info!! I think I may a select member sooner then later after all:) looking foward to the possibilities out there. Can’t wait to see what else is out there:)!!!
I was at a tea event a few years ago (I met Jane Pettigrew!), and during the talk, one of the stories that came about was why teabags bloom differently. Turns out, people were looking at the colour of the tea for determining whether it was done steeping or not… and would often end up overdoing it, and have to spill out their bitter cup. So… the retailers added tea dust to the tea so that it would create colour in the cup immediately, and thus the consumers would rely on a timer instead. But this is hearsay, not sure if its true.
(also heard from elsewhere that they use the dust as filler)
I can definitely believe the dust as a filler:(. Often it’s just so disappointing to stop by a coffee shop like Starbucks or dunkin donuts and I know they’re primarily coffee, and that’s fine I worked and drank plenty of coffee from dunkin for years, but to ask for tea and be rewarded with a double bag of tea soaking in hot water is just sooo bland, it really disappoints.
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