Loose Leaf Tea vs. Bagged Tea
Loose Leaf Tea vs. Bagged Tea
I’m sure if you’ve ever had tea, you’ve come across the infamous bagged tea. Don’t get me wrong, I am a promoter of tea drinking in general, however, I truly believe that once you’ve had quality loose leaf tea, there’s no going back. I tried once and got sick to my stomach. Maybe it was just me but I’d like to talk a little more about the difference between drinking quality loose-leaf tea and drinking bagged tea that has been processed down to tea dust.
We aim to provide quality loose leaf tea blends to fellow tea lovers, by using whole leaf tea. First off, drinking tea from broken tea leaves can be bitter and won’t give you the full benefits that you would receive from drinking whole leaf tea. Who wants bitter tea with little benefits when you can have delicious full flavor tea with all the benefits? Seems like an easy answer, however, I do see why people would choose the tea bags (kind of) as opposed to searching out quality loose leaf. I get it, the tea bags are cheaper, quicker to prepare on the go (barely), and easily disposable. Loose-leaf tea is a little bit more pricey, requires (only one or two) extra tools to brew, but not impossible to brew without the necessary loose leaf brewing equipment.
I guess if you are an on the go type of tea drinker, tea bags would be the choice for you, right? But what are you compromising with you on the go, put the bag in the water, and call it a day ways? Well for starters, you’re not allowing yourself to receive the full benefits that you can be, cutting yourself short, compromising what could be very beneficial health benefits to your body, immune system, state of mind tea can do much more than we think.
Now let’s talk about the brewing methods and what differences come along with brewing bagged tea and loose-leaf tea. For instance, brewing tea in a bag, limits it to just the space it has in the bag, especially if its semi-loose leaf tea in a bag, you want the leaves to be free to brew thoroughly, ever notice how when you take the bag out it’s all puffy and full? Wouldn’t it be so much better if those leaves can roam around freely? The flavor would be more full, the benefits would be more potent, and you will find more clarity with each sip.
The quality of loose leaf versus bagged powder tea is also very significant. Bagged tea is usually processed on a larger scale, therefore the care that is put into plucking, drying, and roasting the tea is very low, in comparison to tea farms that put care and tradition into every process of handling the tea, from care for the soil to the environment it is grown in, to the way it is handled after being plucked, the quality is visible and significant in comparison. This is why we choose to use the farm to cup tea leaves from small, family-owned, and traditionally operated tea farms and blend them with locally grown herbs.
The idea of tea, of course, is the ever so lovely teatime, also known as afternoon teatime or high tea. Making the time to properly brew, smell the leaves and pour the tea does something itself to your well being, reminding you to slow down every once in a while in this crazy world we all live in. We all need the time to sit and sip some delicious tea while either having a conversation with someone or simply relaxing and resting in our minds. At the end of the day, it comes down to a simple question. Would you rather have bitter, not so beneficial tea or take a minute or 2 longer to prepare a full-flavored, full beneficial loose leaf tea?