Tea bags or loose leaves? Which do you use.

[Dave7]

My son (early 50s) has for some reason switched from bags to loose leaves. He says the difference is amazing.
He is using a China tea set c/w tea pot that his mum (my wife) gave him a long time ago.

 

[Electric_Andy]

Always bags for us. The only people I knew who used loose tea was my grandparents. They had a dispenser on the wall

 

[oxoman]

As per Electric_Andy above. Only addition was my parents also had the wall mounted dispenser as well. I still have 2 silver tea caddy spoons that I made them during metalwork at school from the late 70s. EEK im old.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

My son (early 50s) has for some reason switched from bags to loose leaves. He says the difference is amazing.
He is using a China tea set c/w tea pot that his mum (my wife) gave him a long time ago.

I reckon your son is right. Plus, a teapot and cozy means there's always a hot second mug waiting. Teabaggers have to start all over again.

 

[Legs]

I don't really drink much tea, but I used to make my blend of chai spices and make a really sweet, milky chai which was fab. I made up a batch again at the weekend and it was unbelievable.

5 parts ground cinnamon
2 parts ground cardamom
2 parts ground ginger
1 part ground cloves
1 part grated nutmeg
ground black pepper (optional)

I heat the milk in a jug in the microwave with a teabag and a pinch of the blended spices, then squeeze the teabag and strain it into a mug. Bliss!

 

[BrumJim]

I reckon your son is right. Plus, a teapot and cozy means there's always a hot second mug waiting. Teabaggers have to start all over again.

You can put bags in a pot, you know? And you can also use leaves to make a single mug:

Other similar strainers are available.

We've gone from bags back to leaves. The big question has been "why did we move wholesale to bags in the first place?" It isn't that much more difficult to use leaves.

 

[Dave7]

As per Electric_Andy above. Only addition was my parents also had the wall mounted dispenser as well. I still have 2 silver tea caddy spoons that I made them during metalwork at school from the late 70s. EEK im old.

If you are old what does that make me?

 

[oxoman]

older than me. 😆

 

[MontyVeda]

the difference between teabags and loose tealeaves is the tea, not the bag.

 

[oldandslow]

Loose leaves every time. I've got a strainer like @BrumJim's for when I want a single mug.

 

[Oldhippy]

Loose tea every time.

 

[SuperGalactian]

Loose tea, pre-heated Brown Betty teapot, no strainer, china mug. I like my tea piping hot. Apparently that increases the risk of oesophageal cancer, but presumably so do jacket potatoes.

 

[Reynard]

Bags if I'm just making a single mug. Mostly.

I will use one of those one mug infuser doodads if using loose leaf tea. Or herbal teas that are my own blend made from foraged ingredients.

If a pot, then loose leaf tea. Mostly. Again, using an infuser. I have pots of different sizes depending on how much tea is needed. The one that gets used the most is a two-mug capacity bone china pot.

And a saucepan if making chai.

And yes, I do have a tea cosy with cats on. And a collection of cat-shaped teapots.

 

[classic33]

I reckon your son is right. Plus, a teapot and cozy means there's always a hot second mug waiting. Teabaggers have to start all over again.

Start with a decent size cup.

They're size 10 feet either side of it.

 

[katiewlx]

I reckon your son is right. Plus, a teapot and cozy means there's always a hot second mug waiting. Teabaggers have to start all over again.

I get 3 hot cups out of my teapot, all with one teabag.

I tried tea leaves, my grandparents used to do it that way, but its lot of faffing for not much better tea imo, unless the leaves are kept really fresh.