Why Loose Leaf Tea is Better Than Tea Bags

Every once in a while the topic of tea bags comes up, especially when I’m having a tea tasting with people that have never tried loose leaf tea before.

In this post I want to share with you why I prefer loose leaves over tea bags.

Loose leaves looks much better

One of the pleasures for tea lovers is just to admire the tea leaves. It’s also a way to judge to quality of a given tea.

With commercial tea bags, you can’t see much, and even if you opened the tea bag you’ll only find dust inside.

Sure, there are some higher quality tea bags that have loose leaves inside, but I find them unnecessary because they limit my flexibility.

What if I want to add just a bit more tea leaves to my cup?

Loose leaf tea is healthier

As long as it’s not old, loose leaf tea has more antioxidants than what you’ll find in tea bags.

Green tea leaves in particular lose catechins as they degrade, especially at high humidity and heat. The fresher a tea is, the healthier it will be for you.

Tea bags often have tea that has a large surface area (because it’s in dust form) and it isn’t normally packaged as carefully so that it degrades quicker.

Besides, sometimes it is kept in storage for long periods of time before it reaches the consumer.

Tea bags have an inferior taste

Don’t take my word for it, just try it at home.

You can easily tell that commercial tea bags have low quality tea in them because the taste and aroma isn’t as good as a loose leaf tea. Moreover, you can’t re-steep a tea bag much because it gives off most of the flavor in the first brew.

People new to tea often think that loose leaf tea is too much of a hassle. However, all you need to get started is a cup and an infuser.

It’s more enjoyable and not complicated at all.

_Sources:

_{Stability of green tea catechins in commercial tea leaves during storage for 6 months
Temperature, humidity affect health benefits of green tea powders
Tea polyphenols – their antioxidant properties and biological activity}