Tea bag

A tea bag or teabag is a small, porous, sealed

The heat-sealed paper fiber tea bag was patented in 1930 by William Hermanson.^[6] The now-common rectangular tea bag was not invented until 1944. Prior to that, tea bags resembled small sacks.^[7]

Production

Teas

A broad variety of teas as well as other

Traditionally, tea bags have been square or rectangular in shape. They are usually made of

In 2017, Mike Armitage, a gardener in Wrexham, UK, found that tea bags left a plastic residue after being composted. He started a petition urging Unilever to remove plastic from bag production.^[14][15][16] In January 2018, Co-op Food announced that they were removing plastic from their own brand 99 tea bags in conjunction with their supplier Typhoo.^[17][18] In February 2018, PG Tips announced that their pyramid bags would now use corn starch adhesive in place of polypropylene.^[14][19][20]

Microplastics may be found in the tea meant for human consumption. A 2019 study showed that "steeping a single plastic teabag at brewing temperature (95 °C; 203 °F) releases approximately 11.6 billion microplastics and 3.1 billion nanoplastics into a single cup of the beverage".^[21][22] A 2021 study analyzed purportedly cellulose tea bags and found that 15 of the 22 bags tested also contained polyester, polyethylene or polypropylene, which are known to shed microplastic fibers.^[23][24] Although cellulose is considered to be biodegradable, the plastic components are not and release microplastics to the environment when composted.

Recreational and practical applications

Decorative tea bags have become the basis for large collections and many collectors collect tea bags from around the world. Tea bag collector clubs are widely spread around the world and members consist of people interested in items related to teas. Online collector clubs often include catalogs of tea bags,^[25] as well as collection tracking tools. In addition, tea bag collectors often collect other tea-related items such as labels.^[26] These websites also provide forums for discussions and trade arrangements between collectors.

Soil scientists used standardized tea bags to measure the decomposition rate of organic materials in different soils.^[28][29]

See also

• 3-MCPD, a chemical compound that is carcinogenic, and can occur in some resin-reinforced tea bag materials
• Builder's tea, refers to a basic method of preparing tea in a mug with tea bags
• Melitta 402
  tea filters
• Tea leaf grading
• Tea strainer, a small mesh utensil that can filter out stray tea leaves when whole-leaf tea is poured from a teapot
• Tetley, the British tea company that introduced tea bags in the United Kingdom in 1953

References