WEBVTT - Spilling the Tea on Tea Bags 0:00:08.840 --> 0:00:11.600 Hello, and welcome to Saber Prediction of iHeartRadio. I'm Annie 0:00:11.600 --> 0:00:12.160 Reese and. 0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:14.320 I'm Lauren vocal Bum and today we have an episode 0:00:14.320 --> 0:00:16.120 for you about tea bags. 0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:21.639 Yes, oh yes. Was there any particular reason this was 0:00:21.640 --> 0:00:22.520 on your mind? Lauren? 0:00:23.000 --> 0:00:25.440 H I think this is one of the ones that 0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:28.160 I So. I have a few different methods of coming 0:00:28.240 --> 0:00:31.640 up with potential episode topics, and one of them is 0:00:31.800 --> 0:00:35.400 standing blankly in my kitchen and looking through all of 0:00:35.440 --> 0:00:40.920 my cupboards and trying to glean inspiration. And I think 0:00:40.960 --> 0:00:44.400 I opened my coffee and tea cupboard and was like, oh, 0:00:44.720 --> 0:00:45.920 what are tea bags about? 0:00:48.280 --> 0:00:56.240 What are they about? Indeed, uh, well, listeners, you may 0:00:56.320 --> 0:01:01.279 know I have some kind of issue with tea. I 0:01:01.480 --> 0:01:04.920 don't know what it is, but it makes me feel 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:05.800 a little nauseating. 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:11.080 And black tea more than other types of tea, right, yes, 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:14.080 and like not usually herbal teas except for mint tea. 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:19.640 Oh mint tea would be terrible. Yes, because I also 0:01:19.640 --> 0:01:24.840 have an issue with mint. I thought somebody gave me 0:01:25.760 --> 0:01:29.880 a product that they told me was not tea but 0:01:30.000 --> 0:01:32.119 tasted like tea, and it gave me the same reaction. 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:36.680 So I don't really know what's going on? Yeah, but 0:01:36.840 --> 0:01:38.800 I do. I love tea, but it is not a 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:41.520 thing that I can generally enjoy. I have a friend 0:01:41.600 --> 0:01:45.440 who this very weekend is like, We're going to try 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:48.640 this new tea product, and I'm like, all. 0:01:48.680 --> 0:01:51.040 Right, all right, I'll set aside some time to feel 0:01:51.160 --> 0:01:51.880 heck and awful. 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:55.200 I mean, maybe it don't worry. I don't know. I 0:01:55.240 --> 0:01:59.880 don't know what the specific issue is, but generally I 0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:02.480 don't have a good time with tea, which is a 0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:03.680 shame because it's wonderful. 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:06.920 Oh yeah, it's delicious. Uh, but I mean, you know 0:02:06.960 --> 0:02:10.680 there are right, you know, like like other than black tea, 0:02:10.840 --> 0:02:14.480 there are many kinds of teas and herbal infusions that 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:16.520 are delicious. 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:20.680 It's true. And I've been thinking about usually when I 0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:25.880 go get dim Sum, the tea they offer makes me 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:28.320 feel a little sick, but not very sick. 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:31.000 Okay, So I don't know. 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:35.080 I'm trying to figure it out. There are degrees degrees 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:39.800 of whatever it is, but I do miss it. 0:02:39.919 --> 0:02:42.960 Yeah, you've posited previously that it might be related to 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:44.519 Tannin's or something like that. 0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:45.799 Yeah. 0:02:45.880 --> 0:02:48.560 Yeah, so, and that would make sense, especially if you're 0:02:48.760 --> 0:02:50.720 kind of reactive to red wine as well. 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:55.680 Yeah, not really reactive to rip one. 0:02:55.639 --> 0:02:59.959 Non specific. 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:03.520 I remember reading something that was like med and tea 0:03:03.680 --> 0:03:07.400 kind of share this thing. So I don't know, but 0:03:07.600 --> 0:03:11.079 I mean, hey, similar to I'm just like, yeah, Bell Peppers, 0:03:11.520 --> 0:03:13.160 why why do you hate me? 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:19.480 Why can I not digest you? Other people can? Apparently 0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:24.040 our bodies. They just like to throw in some girl 0:03:24.120 --> 0:03:33.080 balls sometimes they do. It's true, it's cool, that's I 0:03:33.120 --> 0:03:35.680 get it. You get bored, You're like, oh, let's try 0:03:35.720 --> 0:03:39.400 something different, like nausea. 0:03:40.360 --> 0:03:42.080 I do have a lot of friends who like tea 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:46.600 this so I always have tea bags on hand. But 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:56.200 they they taught me. Oh well, you can see our 0:03:56.360 --> 0:04:00.480 past episode we did on tea time with our friend 0:04:00.680 --> 0:04:02.960 doctor Julia Skinner. That was one. 0:04:03.000 --> 0:04:08.920 Oh yeah, absolutely, Also our episode on tea we did 0:04:08.920 --> 0:04:17.720 one of those also Bubble tea dim sum Sure, yeah. 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:21.360 Yes, okay, But I think this brings us to our question. 0:04:21.640 --> 0:04:22.480 I think it does. 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:29.240 Tea bags. What are they? 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:32.920 Well, tea bags are a type of device for making 0:04:33.000 --> 0:04:36.720 tea or herbal infusions without getting bits of the tea 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:40.200 and or herbs into the drink, and there are many 0:04:40.360 --> 0:04:44.440 devices for this purpose, but tea bags are specifically Satchet's 0:04:44.440 --> 0:04:46.800 made of some kind of mesh that's closed up enough 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:50.240 to hold dried tea leaves or you know, bits of 0:04:50.640 --> 0:04:56.200 non tea herbal infusion material, but permeable enough that stuff 0:04:56.320 --> 0:05:00.320 like water and molecules of flavor and color can flow 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:04.120 through the mesh. So, you know, if you fill a 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:05.640 tea bag with stuff and then add it to a 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:07.679 vessel like a cup or a pot with hot water, 0:05:07.880 --> 0:05:10.760 the water will hydrate the stuff. The stuff will infuse 0:05:11.080 --> 0:05:13.840 the water with those flavors and colors, thus creating tea, 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:15.839 but it will prevent the bits of tea leaves or 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:21.680 whatever from getting out into the drink. Great convenient tea 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:24.760 bags can come in many shapes and materials. They can 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:27.080 be intended for a single cup or a whole pot. 0:05:27.240 --> 0:05:31.400 They can be disposable or refillable. They're often manufactured to 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:35.960 be disposable as a indeed convenience item for selling or 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:38.840 brewing a single serving of tea without the fuss of 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:43.080 measuring it out. And in these applications the bags often 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:46.080 have like a cotton string attached with a small paper 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:48.120 tag at the end and tended to hang out of 0:05:48.120 --> 0:05:50.400 your cup or pot and allow you to lift the 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:53.279 bag out of the end of the steeping period without 0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:55.960 you know, reaching in and grabbing this wet, squishy thing 0:05:56.000 --> 0:06:01.159 from water that was just boiling less fun, I can 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:08.080 tell you from personal experience, those tags often have like 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:11.640 logos or sayings or whatever printed on them. And for 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:14.680 all of that explanation, I mean, tea bags are really 0:06:14.680 --> 0:06:18.400 what it says on the tin. It's uh, it's like 0:06:19.800 --> 0:06:24.120 a tea bag is like a little transport shuttle for 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:27.279 all the flavors of tea to help them get to 0:06:27.360 --> 0:06:30.200 their final destination being your face. 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:36.800 Oh yeah, thanks t bags, Yeah, thank you. 0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:43.920 The satchets themself can be made with anything with good 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:47.000 permeability to it. You know, like with any with any 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:49.360 of these materials, you're looking for a balance of function, 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:53.880 expense and environmental safety. Right, so, you know, you've got 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:58.640 biodegradable options like paper or paper fiber composites, or more 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:02.680 expensive materials like polylactic acid, which is made from plant starch, 0:07:02.920 --> 0:07:05.800 or soilon, which is made from corn starch. And then 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:10.440 you've got non biodegradables plastics like nylon or pet And 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:13.560 if you've ever seen silk tea bags, they were almost 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:16.000 certainly made with one of these. I don't think anyone 0:07:16.040 --> 0:07:19.520 is using real silk fiber for tea bags anymore. Tea 0:07:19.560 --> 0:07:22.360 bags are shaped in ways that will allow the stuff 0:07:22.400 --> 0:07:26.000 inside to expand as they soak up water, you know, 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:29.680 like puffy envelope shapes or folded shapes that expand along 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:33.880 with the contents are popular because they pack fairly flat. Yeah, 0:07:34.080 --> 0:07:36.280 but there are also three D shapes like pyramids, with 0:07:36.360 --> 0:07:40.840 more room inside from the start. Depending on the material, 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:43.160 they might be sealed with a heat press or with 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:46.680 a small staple, or with stitching or with glue. The 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:48.520 tag can be attached to the string in the same 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:52.600 ways that the bags can be sealed. And then, because 0:07:52.760 --> 0:07:57.040 you know, anything with such good permeability is going to 0:07:57.120 --> 0:07:59.400 need to be properly sealed up in some kind of 0:07:59.440 --> 0:08:03.440 outer layer for you know, transport, so that the tea 0:08:03.480 --> 0:08:05.760 doesn't just start like brewing itself on its way to you. 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:09.920 Individual tea bags are packaged either in single or multi 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:13.400 bag pouches made from things like waxed paper or foil 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:17.640 lined paper, or plastic or tins. In these days, tea 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:21.840 bags can be manufactured, filled, sealed, tagged, and packaged entirely 0:08:21.840 --> 0:08:28.320 by machine as many things can. You can also buy 0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:32.840 or make reusable tea bags with things like cotton or muslin. 0:08:33.320 --> 0:08:35.400 These will typically have a draw string to keep the 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:38.160 tea you know, mostly inside pretty much all. 0:08:38.120 --> 0:08:46.360 Yeah, okay, okay, okay, Well what about the nutrition. 0:08:47.800 --> 0:08:52.800 Well this is not Willy Wonka, and generally speaking, tiacoutrement 0:08:52.960 --> 0:09:00.640 is not edible. But okay, actually kill joy corner. If 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:05.480 you're concerned about minimizing microplastics in your food and drink, 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:09.679 and you probably should be, Tea bags made from plastics 0:09:09.720 --> 0:09:14.880 can release billions of micro and nanoparticles into every cup 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:19.640 that you brew, like ranging around fourteen to fifteen billion particles. 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:24.280 So if that's the thing you're concerned about, I would, uh, 0:09:24.520 --> 0:09:29.840 you know, not use nylon or pet or other plastic 0:09:29.880 --> 0:09:32.440 based tea bags. Sorry. If any of you really are 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:34.800 fond of those little pyramid shapes, that's usually what they're 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:41.920 made of. Yeah, and how concerned should you be? That's 0:09:41.960 --> 0:09:45.400 a different episode maybe that we're gonna get an expert 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:48.440 opinion on because Annie's friends with that one person at 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:54.120 the CDC. But you know, like if you can minimize it, great, 0:09:54.840 --> 0:09:56.600 of all the things that are giving you cancer, right, 0:09:56.640 --> 0:09:58.920 now I don't know. Don't keep yourself up about it. 0:09:59.240 --> 0:10:08.319 They're who's sleeping anymore these days? Please contact us and 0:10:08.520 --> 0:10:20.040 tell us, well, we do have some numbers for you, some. 0:10:19.960 --> 0:10:23.720 Additional less kill joy numbers. I suppose, yes, all right. 0:10:23.880 --> 0:10:27.000 So the tea bag packing machines on the market, the 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:28.959 ones that I saw anyway, I didn't look at all 0:10:29.000 --> 0:10:31.720 of them. Most of them reported being able to create 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:36.560 some two hundred and fifty bags per minute. The global 0:10:36.640 --> 0:10:40.160 market for tea bags is something l like eight billion 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:44.720 dollars a year because they are very popular. Even in 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:50.880 the United Kingdom, which is serious about tea, people buy 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:54.800 some ninety six percent of their tea in tea bags. 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:03.640 There is as record for the largest tea bag produced 0:11:03.640 --> 0:11:07.480 by Saudi tea company Rabia Tea in twenty fourteen. It 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:11.360 measured four meters tall and three meters wide and weighed 0:11:11.400 --> 0:11:14.720 two hundred and fifty kilos. I'm not sure whether it 0:11:14.760 --> 0:11:16.440 had any tea in it or if that was just 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:19.040 the bag. Photos made it look like it was empty, 0:11:19.200 --> 0:11:24.320 but other reports of previous winners seemed like they were 0:11:24.360 --> 0:11:27.280 filled with tea and that the numbers would extrapolate out 0:11:27.280 --> 0:11:30.240 to it being filled with tea. I'm not sure at 0:11:30.280 --> 0:11:33.199 any rate. I was just giving that in metric. Let 0:11:33.200 --> 0:11:35.840 me give you the imperial that's thirteen by ten feet, 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:40.280 weighing five hundred and fifty pounds. If it was indeed 0:11:40.320 --> 0:11:43.080 filled with tea, it held the rough equivalent of one 0:11:43.160 --> 0:11:46.559 hundred thousand cups worth of tea leaves. 0:11:47.640 --> 0:11:50.880 These Guinness records need to be more clear about what 0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:51.840 the record. 0:11:51.600 --> 0:11:56.640 Is, Okay, I I you know, I tracked down some 0:11:56.640 --> 0:11:59.880 some news articles about it. I couldn't. I couldn't entirely 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:02.800 figure it out. It's all right, I'm okay with there 0:12:02.800 --> 0:12:08.520 being mystery in the world. There's also a record for 0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:17.680 the most tea bags tossed into mugs in thirty seconds. 0:12:18.040 --> 0:12:20.439 That record was set in twenty twenty two by one 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:24.800 Dan Douglas of Massachusetts, who tossed thirteen tea bags in 0:12:24.880 --> 0:12:31.400 thirty seconds into mugs. Good for you, Yeah, good for 0:12:31.480 --> 0:12:34.080 your Yeah. Absolutely. 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:41.120 I feel like the weight would be very difficult to manage, bud, yeah, hey, yeah, 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:42.000 making it work. 0:12:44.000 --> 0:12:49.280 There's also a record for the most unopened single wrapped 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:52.960 tea bags in a collection, which at least as of 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:55.840 twenty nineteen, was one thy two hundred and thirty seven 0:12:56.480 --> 0:12:58.920 amassed by a girl from Denmark. 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:00.400 Wow. 0:13:00.679 --> 0:13:15.679 Yeah, okay, okay, So clearly tea bags are popular. That 0:13:15.760 --> 0:13:19.000 has not always been the case, especially in certain parts 0:13:19.000 --> 0:13:19.600 of the world. 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:23.280 No, and also they're a relatively recent invention. 0:13:23.400 --> 0:13:27.080 Actually, yes they are, and we will get into that 0:13:27.440 --> 0:13:29.000 when we'll get into the history. 0:13:29.040 --> 0:13:30.679 Which we are going to do after we get back 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:33.280 from me. A quick break for a word from our sponsors. 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:46.320 And we're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you, all right. 0:13:46.400 --> 0:13:50.800 So cee ort episode that I apparently forgotten I did. 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:59.560 But tea originated thousands of years ago in China. According 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:02.800 to most historians, it arrived in Europe in the sixteen 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:07.400 hundreds and to America soon after. And notably for this 0:14:07.520 --> 0:14:12.080 episode and the opinions therein, tea has a lot of 0:14:12.120 --> 0:14:13.520 traditions around it. 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:17.480 Yep, a thing. It's a thing that people are passionate about. 0:14:18.240 --> 0:14:23.040 They certainly are, Lauren, all right. So that brings us 0:14:23.080 --> 0:14:26.640 to our next question of the episode. Who invented the 0:14:26.720 --> 0:14:31.880 tea bag? As always with these episodes, there's a lot 0:14:31.920 --> 0:14:36.640 of discussion and disagreement. But with that disclaimer, let's get 0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:41.520 into some of the theories. One of the theories with 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:46.160 the most credence dates back to nineteen oh one, when ROBERTA. C. 0:14:46.440 --> 0:14:50.200 Lawson and Mary Malarin filed for a patent for a 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:56.000 quote tea leaf holder out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In their filing, 0:14:56.280 --> 0:14:59.000 they described a process that would create a single cup 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:03.000 of tea involve less waste. Basically, they identified that a 0:15:03.040 --> 0:15:06.160 lot of tea made in the more traditional ways often 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:09.680 went stale and got thrown away, so they were trying 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:13.760 to find a solution to this. For their holders. They 0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:19.040 used a stitched meshed fabric, and this was to prevent 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:23.000 the leaf particles from floating into the mouth and to 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:26.800 give the water ample space to infuse. Hot water was 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:30.520 poured over the bags and balla cup of tea. However, 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:33.440 the product never really took off. There's not much about 0:15:33.440 --> 0:15:38.000 it after this patent filing that you could find, all right. 0:15:38.120 --> 0:15:38.280 So. 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:42.040 Another one of the popular legends is that tea bags 0:15:42.080 --> 0:15:47.680 were invented or perhaps popularized sort of by accidents, by 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:53.680 Thomas Sullivan, an American tea importer. Allegedly, he sent out 0:15:53.800 --> 0:15:56.480 samples of his product in nineteen oh eight in these 0:15:56.480 --> 0:15:59.600 small silk pouches in an attempt to save costs by 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:02.640 not shit whipping the samples in the traditional metal tin. 0:16:03.840 --> 0:16:06.560 His intention was not that customers put the pouches directly 0:16:06.560 --> 0:16:08.560 in the hot water to make a single cup of tea. 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:13.720 But they did, and they liked it, and they ordered more. 0:16:14.560 --> 0:16:18.120 Sullivan sent the orders back in tins, but then he 0:16:18.120 --> 0:16:21.360 heard back from them that they wanted the satchels. They 0:16:21.400 --> 0:16:25.560 didn't want these tins. Yeah, Sullivan made a few tweaks, 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:30.000 including replacing the silk with a gaze fabric. He used 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:35.960 finer tea leaves, and he really really leaned into marketing. However, 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:39.800 there isn't too much evidence to back this up either, 0:16:40.760 --> 0:16:43.640 but it is a very popularly told story. 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:47.640 Yeah it's fun, you know. I love an accidental invention story. 0:16:47.680 --> 0:16:51.560 Sure, I kind of loved the idea that customers were 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:55.280 just like, oh, I'll just put this right. And I 0:16:55.320 --> 0:17:03.040 love the idea that the customers invented the tea Almost yes, okay, 0:17:03.240 --> 0:17:07.680 so whatever happened. By the nineteen twenties, tea bags were 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:12.000 fairly popular in the United States. Early tea bags may 0:17:12.080 --> 0:17:16.359 have used glue to secure the bag, which affected the taste, though, 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:19.120 and some of the fabrics did too, so that there 0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:21.240 was quite a lot of adjusting that was done to 0:17:21.280 --> 0:17:25.480 the packaging to hone in on the method. The nineteen 0:17:25.520 --> 0:17:28.479 thirties is certainly when a lot of this innovation seemed 0:17:28.520 --> 0:17:32.439 to be happening. Many in the sectors started experimenting with 0:17:32.480 --> 0:17:35.440 their own products. They tried out all kinds of materials, 0:17:35.600 --> 0:17:40.159 and they eventually landed on paper fiber bags, moving away 0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:44.560 from hand sewn to machine made. The heat sealed tea 0:17:44.560 --> 0:17:49.960 bag was invented in nineteen thirty and during World War One, 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:53.240 tea bags were included in the rations for some soldiers, 0:17:53.280 --> 0:17:56.520 and I saw that in some places reported as one 0:17:56.560 --> 0:17:59.199 of the reasons tea bags started to grow popularity as 0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:02.120 soldiers came back. We're like these tea bags. 0:18:01.840 --> 0:18:02.480 Though, Okay. 0:18:04.000 --> 0:18:06.800 Another thing to consider when it comes to tea bags 0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:11.440 is the tea itself. A superintendent of the Amgori Tea 0:18:11.560 --> 0:18:14.919 Estate in India named William mc kersher often gets the 0:18:14.960 --> 0:18:19.359 credit for inventing the crush, tear, curl or CTC method 0:18:19.440 --> 0:18:23.119 of manufacturing and processing tea. Very basically, this turned the 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:26.680 tea leaves into small bits perfect for putting it into 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:29.560 a tea bag. And this all happened in nineteen thirty 0:18:29.560 --> 0:18:36.760 one also very basically people have thoughts about this. 0:18:38.280 --> 0:18:42.920 Yes, so so to expand just a little bit here, 0:18:43.680 --> 0:18:48.080 the CTC either crush tair curl or cut tair curl 0:18:48.600 --> 0:18:51.920 method of processing tea right creates these little bits of tea. 0:18:51.920 --> 0:18:55.560 They're perfect for putting into tea bags and not ideal 0:18:55.680 --> 0:18:58.960 for any other use. You know, it's a machine process 0:18:59.040 --> 0:19:02.320 that bruises, cuts, and twists the tea into these even 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:07.439 little granules like like fine gravel. CTC made tea bruise 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:11.960 quicker and stronger than whole leaf tea. But again, it's 0:19:12.000 --> 0:19:14.160 really only good for going into tea bags because it's 0:19:14.160 --> 0:19:17.720 sort of icky to use loose because the process also 0:19:17.800 --> 0:19:20.000 produces a bunch of dust and like weird little bits 0:19:20.000 --> 0:19:22.639 of debris that might not sink as readily as whole 0:19:22.720 --> 0:19:25.560 tea leaves do, leaving you with just sort of crowding 0:19:25.600 --> 0:19:30.040 your cup and that's not fun. It can this is 0:19:30.080 --> 0:19:32.320 part of where some of the controversy here comes. And 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:36.560 it can be tremendously cheaper to produce tea via CTC, 0:19:37.320 --> 0:19:40.840 to the point that eighty to ninety five percent of 0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:46.360 black teas today are made using this process. And it's 0:19:46.440 --> 0:19:50.360 cheaper because you don't have to be that careful with it, 0:19:51.280 --> 0:19:54.640 Like it opens the door to machine harvesting and machine 0:19:54.680 --> 0:19:59.239 processing of tea leaves, whereas traditional methods use experienced and 0:19:59.320 --> 0:20:03.760 expensive u human labor. I'm hopefully expensive, well paid at 0:20:03.760 --> 0:20:06.720 any rate. Yeah, tea experts say that you lose a 0:20:06.720 --> 0:20:10.560 lot of subtletea in the flavor with CTC processing because 0:20:10.600 --> 0:20:14.760 all of that man handling or machine handling can flatten 0:20:14.800 --> 0:20:18.760 the flavor of tea because it over oxidizes it. And 0:20:18.960 --> 0:20:21.440 it can also open the door to mixing in lower 0:20:21.520 --> 0:20:26.760 quality ingredients. And so all of these things are reasons 0:20:26.760 --> 0:20:31.320 why humans who are passionate about tea are sometimes passionate 0:20:31.720 --> 0:20:37.760 about CTC being goofy. Goofy is not the word that 0:20:37.760 --> 0:20:38.639 they would use. 0:20:38.920 --> 0:20:47.960 I know, it's definitely not. But in spite of that, 0:20:49.280 --> 0:20:52.440 tea bags still were making they were making a name. 0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:57.440 In nineteen forty five, William Uker's work All about Tea 0:20:57.640 --> 0:21:01.119 described four different types of individual sized tea bags that 0:21:01.200 --> 0:21:07.240 were commercially available. World War Two material shortages did impact 0:21:07.280 --> 0:21:10.680 tea bags. If you want to read about it, there's 0:21:10.720 --> 0:21:14.800 a whole thing about tea bags in the UK specifically, 0:21:15.080 --> 0:21:17.239 But this was one of the reasons they gave that 0:21:18.720 --> 0:21:23.040 one to reiterate of the reasons they gave that it 0:21:23.080 --> 0:21:25.840 took a long time for the UK to get to 0:21:25.880 --> 0:21:31.159 get on board with tea bags. A company out of 0:21:31.240 --> 0:21:36.600 Germany called Tikane is credited with coming up with the rectangular, 0:21:36.760 --> 0:21:39.360 double chamber bags that many of us are familiar with 0:21:39.560 --> 0:21:44.639 in nineteen forty nine. And then I just had to 0:21:44.680 --> 0:21:50.280 include this. Lauren and I were sharing our the fun 0:21:50.359 --> 0:21:54.240 we had reading some of these quotes from other countries 0:21:54.359 --> 0:22:02.600 about the tea bag that were not very pressed. I 0:22:02.640 --> 0:22:06.639 have to say I limited myself with this one. Okay. 0:22:07.200 --> 0:22:12.080 An Australian publication in nineteen fifty wrote quote, I wonder 0:22:12.119 --> 0:22:15.679 how many Australians know what a tea bag is. It 0:22:15.760 --> 0:22:19.440 is a device used by Americans who are coffee lovers 0:22:19.800 --> 0:22:23.840 for making tea. They drop a little muslin bag of 0:22:23.880 --> 0:22:28.399 tea leaves in a pot of hot not necessarily boiling water, 0:22:28.920 --> 0:22:32.760 or perhaps into the tea cup itself. They later removed 0:22:32.760 --> 0:22:36.280 the bag, whether to keep it for another day, I'm 0:22:36.320 --> 0:22:45.480 not sure. This whole thing kind of summed up the 0:22:45.560 --> 0:22:49.120 feeling a lot of countries outside of the US how 0:22:49.160 --> 0:22:52.400 they felt about this tea bag situation in the United 0:22:52.440 --> 0:22:54.040 States in particular. 0:22:54.800 --> 0:22:57.760 Yeah, I mean, I suppose one way or another we 0:22:57.760 --> 0:23:01.680 were kind of responsible for it. So uh yeah, I 0:23:02.040 --> 0:23:08.960 really do need to emphasize the extreme shade attached to 0:23:09.480 --> 0:23:11.200 not necessarily boiling. 0:23:12.400 --> 0:23:22.240 Yeah, yes, there were there were several others, And one 0:23:22.280 --> 0:23:26.640 of them was like Americans try this tea and then 0:23:26.720 --> 0:23:29.640 they decide they like coffee after all. 0:23:34.320 --> 0:23:36.320 To be fair, the one time I was in England, 0:23:36.359 --> 0:23:38.560 a lot of the coffee I had there would make 0:23:38.600 --> 0:23:39.840 me prefer tea, So. 0:23:41.400 --> 0:23:49.280 You know, you know, it was a You can find 0:23:49.280 --> 0:23:57.639 plenty of these quotes, should you decide? Okay, So the 0:23:57.680 --> 0:24:00.600 tea bag did get a boost during the nineteenth fifties, 0:24:00.680 --> 0:24:02.960 and as a reminder of the fifties was a time 0:24:03.000 --> 0:24:07.440 when convenience and modern food products like television dinners were 0:24:07.480 --> 0:24:10.200 all the rage, and the tea bag got caught up 0:24:10.440 --> 0:24:13.840 in that popularity, especially in the United States, but it 0:24:14.280 --> 0:24:16.320 got a little traction in other places. 0:24:16.359 --> 0:24:17.919 Oh yeah. 0:24:17.960 --> 0:24:21.320 A nineteen fifty two Lipton ad claims that they were 0:24:21.359 --> 0:24:23.840 the first to print instructions on how to use their 0:24:23.880 --> 0:24:26.919 tea bags on the tags of the tea bags that 0:24:26.920 --> 0:24:32.200 they sold, and they called their bags flow through, So. 0:24:32.320 --> 0:24:34.960 I mean that's what they were all doing this whole time. 0:24:35.000 --> 0:24:38.720 But yeah, but they put a new name on it. 0:24:40.800 --> 0:24:46.120 And yeah. According to National Geographic the UK resisted tea 0:24:46.160 --> 0:24:49.320 bags for a long time and the nineteen sixties they 0:24:49.320 --> 0:24:52.919 accounted for only three percent of the UK market. But 0:24:53.359 --> 0:24:57.120 as mentioned, nowadays that percentage is almost the inverse, accounting 0:24:57.160 --> 0:25:04.560 for almost ninety six percent. So yeah, a journey, Yeah, 0:25:04.600 --> 0:25:10.440 a real journey. In nineteen ninety two, Tetley Tea launched 0:25:10.520 --> 0:25:12.399 a round tea bag. 0:25:13.200 --> 0:25:15.960 It's just another it's just another type of flat envelope shape. 0:25:16.000 --> 0:25:18.159 It was just a marketing thing, but they were like, 0:25:18.200 --> 0:25:26.800 oh ours is round. It's yeah, but yes, uh, Tea 0:25:26.840 --> 0:25:33.160 bags are growing in popularity and partially because they are 0:25:33.400 --> 0:25:39.920 growing higher in quality and because of marketing gimmicks. For example, 0:25:39.960 --> 0:25:42.560 that Saudi company that made that dang giant tea bag 0:25:42.600 --> 0:25:45.760 as it did it as a marketing stunt for putting 0:25:45.800 --> 0:25:50.320 out non CTC tea bags like whole leaf tea bags. 0:25:51.560 --> 0:25:53.800 And there's a lot of there's a lot of innovations 0:25:53.880 --> 0:25:58.240 in the industry, you know, like they're they're definitely the 0:25:59.160 --> 0:26:02.200 Some of the market ports say that those pyramid tea 0:26:02.200 --> 0:26:04.000 bags are going to be even more popular in the 0:26:04.000 --> 0:26:07.239 future because they a feel fancier and be A lot 0:26:07.240 --> 0:26:10.080 of companies are trying to switch away from the non 0:26:10.160 --> 0:26:14.600 biodegradable materials to something a little bit more friendly for 0:26:14.680 --> 0:26:16.080 our bodies and or the planet. 0:26:16.359 --> 0:26:23.760 So yeah, yeah, that's what I read too. Uh, We're 0:26:23.760 --> 0:26:28.000 going to see a lot more fancier tea bags perhaps. 0:26:29.200 --> 0:26:32.119 I you know, I I love I love getting a 0:26:32.119 --> 0:26:33.959 box of tea bags. I mean, I love tea in general. 0:26:34.000 --> 0:26:37.880 I love herbal teas, I love the whole shebang. I 0:26:37.920 --> 0:26:41.880 love making a pot of tea. And I've got I'm 0:26:41.880 --> 0:26:45.200 one of those humans who has collected an improbable amount 0:26:45.240 --> 0:26:49.119 of tea, Like I should really be drinking more of it. 0:26:49.200 --> 0:26:52.480 If I am going to insist upon continuing to buy it, 0:26:52.960 --> 0:26:55.199 you know, it's not. It doesn't last heck and forever. 0:26:55.359 --> 0:26:59.359 So uh but yeah, it's just nice. It's nice. It 0:26:59.440 --> 0:27:03.280 is nice. It's like a nice little treat. And a 0:27:03.280 --> 0:27:05.960 bag does make it really convenient to just make one cup, 0:27:08.440 --> 0:27:08.880