Tea Bags vs. Loose tea leaves

Penny-Pincher!!

Hey All

Reading this thread through yesterday and remembered that I always used tea leaves up till about 5 years ago....just got lazy I expect..lol.

So, I have just added a box of Asda tea-leaves to my online shop. Very good value £0.98p for 250g :eek: I have tried the Asda own before at my sisters and it was lovely (compared to typhoo which I used to drink). Then I realised that I didnt have a tea strainer and Asda didnt have any online, so went on ebay and got a solid stainless steel one with a holder for after use. This was £2.99 Inc Postage!

I will let you know if it still tastes good, as shopping is being delivered in the morning

Only think Im worried about is that Im disabled and most days my hands give me alot of trouble, so may have to buy a small (2 cup) teapot as anything bigger will be hard for me to lift.

Thanks

Penny-Pincher!!
xxx

ribenagirl

When we went on holiday to Sri Lanka in March we went to a tea plantation and factory where we saw how they 'made' tea.

It was really interesting - the technology they use over there to make the tea is kind of what I guess you might have seen in factories here in the 1950's. They had a man sitting at a desk, watching a load of women turn the tea when it was drying and recording weights of the tea in a BOOK, and they were still using a generator which they'd bought from the UK in 1890!!! I don't think they'd even heard of Health and Safety - they took us round the factory without any safety gear, inches away from moving machinery (with no guards on it) and right past a giant open furnace It was actually one of the most interesting bits of our holiday! But straying from the point, which was....

To make tea bags, they blow all the tea dust off the leaves with these big blower things and collect it together before scraping it into bags, so when you buy tea bags you're actually getting the leftover scrapings!

They told us afterwards that they think it's hilarious that us Brits go so mad for teabags because to them it's just dirty bits of tea that isn't worth bothering with. Since then, I've always tried to make leaf tea when I know I have time....but still admit to grabbing a bag first thing in the morning

spendaholic

ribenagirl wrote:

They told us afterwards that they think it's hilarious that us Brits go so mad for teabags because to them it's just dirty bits of tea that isn't worth bothering with. Since then, I've always tried to make leaf tea when I know I have time....but still admit to grabbing a bag first thing in the morning

Perhaps we'll try loose tea again after all ...

filigree_2

Eww, dregs! I remember the horror of getting a mouthful of grit, so since I was very young I always left about 1/2 inch of tea at the bottom of the mug. I've been using teabags for years, but I still leave a bit in the bottom because of those non-existent dregs

I usually use Sainsbury's Red Label one cup bags, and a proper pot for posh leaf tea when I'm in the mood. I've got one of those mugs from Whittards with the plastic insert, but I find the plastic gets tainted by whatever you use in it so your green tea tastes of last weeks fruit infusion *yuk*

Now I have to go and put the kettle on

spendaholic

filigree wrote:

Eww, dregs! I remember the horror of getting a mouthful of grit, so since I was very young I always left about 1/2 inch of tea at the bottom of the mug. I've been using teabags for years, but I still leave a bit in the bottom because of those non-existent dregs

I do this too! When I was a kid I thought they were ants, and it kind of stuck. People moan that I can't finish a cup of tea off. Teabags leave a residue at the bottom of the cup too, especially dusty ones.

mazza245

I'm the same! I always leave an inch at the bottom of my cup, whether it's tea leaves or bags. I always say I only like the top half! It's just from the days when we always had loose tea. I have only started in the last year or so to buy tea bags but I must admit I might go back to loose tea if I can find Typhoo which is the best. I know it will be cheaper but I can't really say I've noticed that tea made from tea bags isn't as nice. It's just a faff as we only like weak tea (my husband has it black) - and too mean to use one each (people say!) so one tea bag is plenty so there's all that squeezing and squashing as you always drip on the floor from cup to bin! The main problem with loose tea was pouring it down the sink made the sink all black and mucky - but I suppose it kept the drains clean! Anyway, now we have a compost bin, it can all go in there.

Loadsabob

ribenagirl wrote:

To make tea bags, they blow all the tea dust off the leaves with these big blower things and collect it together before scraping it into bags, so when you buy tea bags you're actually getting the leftover scrapings!

They told us afterwards that they think it's hilarious that us Brits go so mad for teabags because to them it's just dirty bits of tea that isn't worth bothering with. Since then, I've always tried to make leaf tea when I know I have time....but still admit to grabbing a bag first thing in the morning

I have long thought this...and must have heard somewhere. Though I use teabags, I always imagine it as the sweepings from the teabag factory floor... (I used to think the same about Cadbury's Fuse Bars - that they were made of all the bits that fell off the machines making the other Cadbury bars!!!)

Loadsabob

pol wrote:

loadsabob

have you tried the oxfam shop? That's where I get my stuff from.

pol

AH!! Of COURSE - thank you Pol! They'd slipped my mind for some reason...silly, as I've often got my bags in there to avoid lining Tesco's pockets!! And they're just down the road from the Health Food Store I use so often!

Excellent plan, they're bound to have some loose tea, I'll pop there after work on Friday!

Mental block...!

spendaholic

mazza245 wrote:

Anyway, now we have a compost bin, it can all go in there.

Roses are also rather partial to tea, if you have them ... but I think it needs to have water in too, i.e. the end of the teapot, rather than a handful of loose, damp tea.

I might try out our little cups ...

Midas

Clipper have fairtrade tea (including loose leaf) available from their online shop:

http://www.clipper-teas.com/