Who Invented the Tea Bag?
Tea bags were invented by Mr Thomas Sullivan a tea trader in 1908 initially to cut down costs for sending samples to prospective buyers. There has been a phenomenal rise in the consumption of tea bags since then. However a tea bag generally contains the lowest quality of tea possible and hence it is advisable to purchase tea in its loose form from a trusted dealer in tea in order to really enjoy the beauty of tea.
The most popular beverage in the world, tea was first drunk under the Chinese Emperor Shen-Nung around 2737 B.C. An unknown Chinese inventor invented the tea shredder, a small device that shredded tea leaves in preparation for drinking. The tea shredder used a sharp wheel in the center of a ceramic or wooden pot that would slice the leaves into thin strips. The first tea bags were made from hand-sewn silk muslin bags and I have found tea bag patents of this sort dating as early as 1903. First appearing commercially around 1904, tea bags were successfully marketed by tea and coffee shop merchant Thomas Sullivan of New York, who shipped his tea bags around the world. A machine was soon invented to replace the hand sewing of tea bags. Looking to save money, Sullivan reportedly distributed small samples of tea in silk bags instead of little metal tins. It wasn’t until after he saw restaurant and coffee shop owners brewing the entire bag of tea leaves that he realized the potential of his a
San Francisco based tea merchant Thomas Sullivan began distributing samples of his tea, in 1907, in small silk bags with a drawstring. People didn’t realise that he intended them to empty the contents into the tea pot – it seemed obvious to simply leave the tea in the bag. The tea bag wasn’t commercially produced until 1930, however, when William Hermanson, of the Boston-based Technical Papers Corporation, patented the heat-sealed paper fibre tea bag. British people trying them complained that the resulting beverage tasted more of paper than of tea. The tea bag was commercially launched in the UK in 1953 (after rationing ended), by Tetley. Though by the early 1960s tea bags still accounted for just three per cent of tea sales. It was Joseph Tetley and Co who invented the tea bag as we know it today when they introduction of the perforated bag in 1964. By the late 1960s the tea bag had overtaken loose tea in sales.
In 1904, Tomas Salivan, a distributor of tea, was putting a sample of tealeaves into a silken bag in New York. He put it into the teapot with boiling water. The manager of the restaurant looked at it, and thought it easy and simple, then developed the idea of the tea bag. Therefore, the tea bag was the accidental invention. Typically American! What a strange way of drinking! A long ago, when English people drank tea, they poured the tea out of the teacup into the saucer, then they drank it noisily. It was etiquette to show their thanks to their host in polite society. This story came from the manager in a teashop in Oomiya. If true, it is surprising. They hate to make a noise while drinking soup. The Model Teacup The model teacup is part of oolong tea set. In the old days, tea was used as medicine; it was natural to drink it from a small receptacle. The cup with a handle was informal. However, it was inconvenient to hold a hot cup, so the cup with a handle, which was used for alcohol,
