Let me Loose
Let me Loose!
Britain’s daily newspapers bid “Happy 100th Birthday” to the tea bag on 13th July 2008, with William Gorman, Executive Chair of the Tea Council quoted as saying that there is no way we’d have the time or inclination to make tea “the old way” with today’s busy lifestyles. Tetley’s Director of Corporate Communications added to the praise of the tea bag by telling us that getting up in time to measure the leaves, brew our tea, strain it and clear away the tea leaves just doesn’t have the same appeal.
It’s all about rushing, grabbing a quick cuppa, an easy life – or so we’re told. What they failed to mention, however, is that frankly some of the ‘tea’ in the ‘great British tea bag’ is so poor it’s no wonder our supermarkets can sell packs of 80 for 31p. We’re also told that Tetley alone uses enough tissue to make its tea bags every week to cover 128 football pitches. Isn’t that just a colossal waste of resources?
Many Britons today are, in fact, considerably more discerning, don’t want to spend their lives at high speed, clutching hastily made mugs of tea made by dunking a tea bag unceremoniously into hot water, and care about the quality of the tea they consume. We’ve heard of the slow food movement, well all hail slow tea! It tastes good, it’s relaxing to sit down over a pot of ‘proper’ tea and, in today’s world, there are many solutions to the perceived problem of the leaves. Internal strainers, Bodum-style teapots, ‘magic’ teapots that strain your brewed tea magically into the cup, to name but a few. Come to mention it, the clever old tea strainer is quite effective and the leaves are great for composting.
So, as the tea bag celebrates its centenary, maybe it better watch out as its old enemy the loose leaf is re-gaining its popularity. Margaret Thornby, long time researcher of quality tea rooms and Editor of tea talk magazine tells us,
“Loose leaf tea consumption may still be, by far, enjoyed by a minority but I’m certain it’s steadily growing in popularity. Tea rooms, delis and cafés are casting aside the tea bag in favour of good, fashioned loose leaf tea served in a teapot. Some do use ‘modern’ teapots with internal strainers; some bring a timer to your table so you know when the brew is ready. After all, is three minutes so very long to wait for our favourite brew? I think not.”