Tea in sachets or loose leaves? Let’s look at some of the major differences and the reasons why one solution may be better than the other.
Infusion
I would start by saying that the first difference, and perhaps the most important one, is the one that can be encountered when preparing and tasting our tea.
Bagged tea is composed of broken leaves and tea powder, which results in a loss in the quality of taste, aroma, and properties of our beverage. A bagged tea turns out to be much more bitter, and the bag itself can slow down the release of antioxidants.
A tea made from whole loose leaves is composed of buds, whole leaves, and/or partially broken leaves. Our drink will turn out to taste more fragrant and sweet, more infusions can be made from the same leaves, and the taste and aroma will be retained longer.
Types of Tea
Another difference concerns the variety of teas that can be chosen. The types of bagged teas are quite limited; as much as new blends can be created, the basic teas that are used are more or less always the same.
The choice among loose leaf teas is really wide, for each type of tea (green, black, red, white, yellow, blue-green) there are so many varieties.
Types of Sachet
A compromise that has arisen in recent years is pyramid bags: thanks to their wide shape they can hold leaves that are mostly partially broken, still better than 100% broken ones.
This solution can be useful for those who want to switch to a better quality tea without having to face the “problem” of having to dose the amount of leaves to be used for each infusion.
Infusers and Disposable Paper Bags
Unfortunately, sachets are not always composed of 100% natural elements, and this not only affects the environment, but also has an effect on the taste of our drink.
Yet another reason, then, is to turn our choice to bulk leaves that we can prepare using steel or silicone infusers (thus infinitely reusable) or large disposable paper sachets that can be found for sale both in specialty stores and online.
Price
One of the disadvantages of loose leaves is the price: bagged tea is cheaper but quality rightly has its price.
Quality
It is not necessarily the case that loose leaf tea is always better than bagged tea, for a quality tea the leaves must be fresh (having been picked less than two years ago), brightly colored, kept in optimal conditions so that they do not lose their properties, and sourced from quality-controlled cultivation.
In summary, to get as many benefits as possible from our cup of tea it is better to focus on the quality and naturalness of the product, at first it may seem the most expensive choice but in the long run, it will benefit our body and nature itself.