(Fu Ling, 2013)
The
arrival of tea in Britain in the seventeenth century altered the drinking
habits of this nation forever. The late eighteenth century saw black tea
overtake green tea in popularity for the first time, which also accelerated the
addition of milk. In the nineteenth century widespread cultivation of tea in
India began, leading to the imports of Indian tea into Britain overtaking the
imports of Chinese tea. And in the twentieth century there was a further
development that would radically change our tea-drinking habits - the invention
of the tea bag.
popular
infusers included tea eggs and tea balls
The
purpose of the tea bag is rooted in the belief that for tea to taste its best,
the leaves ought to removed from the hot water at the end of a specific brewing
period. Then there is the added benefit of convenience - a removable device
means that tea can be made as easily in a mug as in a pot, without the need for
a tea strainer, and that tea pots can be kept clean more easily. But the
earliest examples of removable infusing devices for holding tea were not bags.
Popular infusers included tea eggs and tea balls - perforated metal containers
which were filled with loose leaves and immersed in boiling water, and then
removed using an attached chain.
THOMAS
SULLIVAN AND AN ACCIDENTAL AMERICAN INVENTION
Needless
to say, it was in America, with its love of labour-saving devices, that tea
bags were first developed.
In
around 1908, Thomas Sullivan, a New York tea merchant, started to send samples
of tea to his customers in small silken bags. Some assumed that these were
supposed to be used in the same way as the metal infusers, by putting the
entire bag into the pot, rather than emptying out the contents. It was thus by
accident that the tea bag was born!
Responding
to the comments from his customers that the mesh on the silk was too fine,
Sullivan developed sachets made of gauze - the first purpose-made tea bags.
During the 1920s these were developed for commercial production, and the bags
grew in popularity in the USA. Made first of all from gauze and later from
paper, they came in two sizes, a larger bag for the pot, a smaller one for the
cup. The features that we still recognise today were already in place - a
string that hung over the side so the bag could be removed easily, with a
decorated tag on the end.
USE
OF TEA BAGS IN THE UK
While
the American population took to tea bags with enthusiasm, the British were
naturally wary of such a radical change in their tea-making methods. This was
not helped by horror stories told by Britons who had visited the USA, who
reported being served cups of tepid water with a tea bag on the side waiting to
be dunked into it (an experience which is still not as uncommon in the USA as
it should be!).
The
material shortages of World War Two also stalled the mass adoption of tea bags
in Britain, and it was not until the 1950s that they really took off. The 1950s
were a time when all manner of household gadgets were being promoted as
eliminating tedious household chores, and in keeping with this tea bags gained
popularity on the grounds that they removed the need to empty out the used tea
leaves from the tea pot. The convenience factor was more important to the
British tea-drinker than the desire to control the length of infusion time,
hence the appearance of tea bags that did not have strings attached.
by 2007 tea
bags made up 96 per cent of the British market
It
was Tetley in 1953 that drove the introduction of tea bags in Britain, but
other companies soon caught up. In the early 1960s, tea bags made up less than
3 per cent of the British market, but this has been growing steadily ever
since. By 2007 tea bags made up a phenomenal 96 per cent of the British
market, and there can hardly be a home or workplace in Britain that does not
have a stash of the humble, but vital, tea bag.
My review--
I found some useful research about the history of British tea help me to develop my project, especially the portion of packaging. For instance, through the research, I learned the main type of tea- drinking packaging in 1950s; therefore, when I designed the shape of packaging that is based on it.
Reference:
Denys Forrest, Tea for the British (London, 1973)
Roy Moxham, Tea, Addiction, Exploitation and Empire (London, 2003)
Jane Pettigrew, A Social History of Tea (London, 2001).
The United Kingdom Tea Council Ltd,
