Loose Leaf vs. Bags

At The Tea Spot, you will find only the finest quality, fresh full leaf teas. Why? Simply, because this is the best tea available. Steeping a fresh pot of premium Loose Leaves offers both the utmost in quality and value. Fresh loose-leaf teas will provide you with a great deal more taste, aroma, economy, antioxidants and pleasure than steeping the tiny leaf bits and stale tea dust packaged in bags.

The smaller and more numerous the leaves are in a tea bag, the more overall surface area is available, and the more steeped tea can be made from the constrained volume of the bag. Therefore, the tea used in tea bags is the generally the dust from tea leaves. This represents a tremendous compromise in quality. Finely broken tea leaves and dust have lost most of their essential oils. The remaining tannins are rapidly released when the bags are brewed, and the resulting flavor is often more bitter than a corresponding loose-leaf brew. Compare the aroma of a steeping pot of loose-leaf tea to one steeped with tea bags. You can tell the difference immediately!

Bags of tea are generally mass-produced. Often the leaves contained in a bag have been picked, processed, and packaged by machine. In contrast, premium loose-leaf teas are carefully hand-selected.

Tea is a product of nature. It is picked and processed seasonally, and many teas go stale within a year. When you are buying tea from a reputable tea merchant, you are assured that you are only purchasing this year’s crop. Bags of tea, on the other hand, are produced and packaged in larger volumes and may sit in a warehouse or on a shelf for a long time. Although most loose-leaf teas are of much higher quality than bagged teas, they are often more economical ounce for ounce. Even the most expensive teas rarely cost more than 25 cents a cup to steep.