Tuesday, June 17, 2008

The tea-bag is 100 years old!!


The teabag is 100 years old this year, but not everyone is celebrating.

The perforated paper sachet transformed a time-consuming afternoon ritual into a five-second quickie, and saved the tea industry by fulfilling the modern imperative for convenience and instant gratification. But many tea drinkers believe that the invention has also reduced one of the world’s greatest drinks to a beige, tannic concoction that neither refreshes nor satisfies.

Like many inventions, the teabag came about by accident. Struggling to cut costs, Thomas Sullivan, a New York coffee merchant who turned to tea, sent out samples in small silk sachets rather than as loose tea. His penny-pinching was misunderstood by his customers who failed to realise that they were supposed to cut open the sachet and empty its contents into a pot before brewing their tea.  More...

See also: China: no tea,please; a glass of wine will be fine...

And this: First Muslim pub in the U.K. but only fruit juice please...

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