I prefer fresh tea

Tea in tea bags is the dust that remains after sorting the tea

Tea for tea bags is picked by machine and that is bad

When picking, the old leaf is picked

Flavorings are always added to the tea to give the tea a little taste

The tea always tastes bitter

Loose tea is always better quality

Companies that produce tea bags don’t understand tea

The tea can’t expand so it can’t release its beautiful taste

With tea bags it’s only about the packaging, not the quality

Sounds like an open door right? I hear all of the above reasons almost every day during my classes, but are they really true? Let’s take a look at them point by point:

Freshness has nothing to do with whether tea disappears in a tea bag or is sold as loose tea. In fact, you will be the only customer of a tea shop who likes and buys a particular tea. Even with loose tea, you can drink the same tea for years…

This is partly correct. With the orthodox method of making tea, after sorting on leaf size, small pieces remain. Indeed, these pieces often end up in tea bags. Keep in mind that those small pieces come from the same leaf as the largest pieces. Furthermore, tea for tea bags is usually made in a different way. To get even small pieces the CTC method: Cut Tear Curl is used. The leaves are cut into smaller and smaller pieces with machines. Continue until the desired size is reached. The reason for this production method can be twofold. For the Indian market, for example, it is important that the tea does not disappear in the milk and spices that are added to the Masala Chai. By increasing the extraction surface you automatically get more extraction. For tea that ends up in tea bags, we don’t want an extreme extraction, but a very fast one. In the words of the tea connoisseur Karel Thieme: ”in the Netherlands we know the fishing rod dangle ashtray culture”. In other words, we swing the bag through the glass of water a few times until the water has the right color and then quickly throw the bag away. If you move the bag up and down for too long, the tea would become too tart and bitter. No junk or unwanted