A tea bag is a tiny partially permeable sealed bag or packet that contains tea leaves in it, and when you put it inside of water, it steeps and makes an infusion.
A typical tea bag is made of either food-grade plastic or filter paper or sometimes silk cotton. The functions of a teabag and a tea infuser are similar. You can use teabags plenty of times until you can extract anything from them again. Some tea bags carry an attached piece of string with a paper label at the top that helps remove the bag, and the label also shows the brand of the tea.
Most tea bags come in either square or rectangular shapes. They are produced with filter papers and a mixture of both wood and vegetable fibers. Some companies make empty tea bags, and they allow the consumers to fill them with tea leaves by themselves. They are usually open-ended pouches that have long flaps. The flap contains a reasonable amount of leaf tea that needs to be closed into the pouch to seal the tea.
When you are making your tea, you can either choose to make it float or sink. No rule says your teabag float or sink. Brew your tea in whichever way that suits your taste.
What happens when you put a teabag in water?
When you put a tea bag in water, it makes the tea leaves move and triggers a diffusion of the leaves. What is diffusion? It is simply the movement of a liquid from a higher concentration area to an area of lower concentration.
There are plenty of tea molecules in the teabag, but none is outside. The leaves in the tea bag cannot pass through the bag, but the tiny particles that contain the color and flavor can pass through the bag. So, the teabag has a partially permeable membrane. If you add hot water to the teabag, it causes its molecules to move faster than at room temperature. The energy is quickly released in a shorter period than a teabag filled with room temperature or cold water.
Brewing your tea with cold water or hot water performs the same job. You can brew your hot tea within five minutes, but if you want to brew a cold tea, it will have to take about two to twelve hours.
No matter the type of water you use to brew your tea, they do the same thing because you will always get a chemical reaction mixing tea leaves and water. But cold water brews tea for a long time than hot water. The chemical properties that hard water and hot water exhibit vary because of the difference in oxidation. You can quickly speed up oxidation when you use hot water to make your tea because of the heat involved in it thus, giving it a somewhat bitter taste, but for cold brewing of tea, the oxidation process is slower, and it gives you a smooth and clean taste.
How long should you leave your teabag in?
If you are a tea drinker, it will be fantastic if you stick to the three-minute rule of brewing tea. Always steel your tea bag in hot water for at least three minutes so it can exude all its quality for you to enjoy. And before you decide to put your teabag in your teacup, try and shake it carefully so you can loosen any compacted tea, thus allowing water to flow easily through the tea leaves. Immediately you put your teabag in the water; you don’t need to keep shaking it.
It is also good you don’t over soak your teabags. Don’t allow them to remain in the water for more than six minutes; if you do, it will start to release tannins. And these tannins will give your tea a bitter taste that you may not like.
So, always make sure you leave your tea bag in hot water for a range of three to five minutes. But if you a tea drinker that loves consuming a strong cup of tea, soak two tea bags at the same time. Or you can soak them one after the other within three to five minutes each.
How do you make teabags float?
Many things will make your tea bag float. So, if you like seeing your teabag float in the cup of your tea, you should pay attention to those things.
Your teabag float’s primary reason is that the weight of the teabag is lower than the with of the water you put it in. The materials used to make tea bags are lighter than water, and that it why your teabag ends up floating on the surface of the water.
You can also make your tea bag float by the way you place it in the cup. If you put the teabag first in the cup before pouring the hot water over it, your tea bag will float because air bubbles will form in the bag, but if you want your tea bag to sink, pour your hot water first into the teacup before adding the teabag. Feel free to make your tea in the way that is most suitable to you, whether your teabag floats or sinks.
Does the shape of the teabag affect the floating factor?
The shape of your teabag doesn’t affect its ability to float or not. It is the kind of material your teabag is made of that affects it more and the weight of the tea in the teabag too.
It doesn’t matter if your tea bag floats or not in terms of brewing and taste. You can still enjoy a well-brewed tea, whether the teabag floats or not.
But if you are not comfortable with a teabag that floats, you can easily use a teaspoon to weigh it down so it stays at the bottom.
How to make sure your teabags sink
If you like seeing your teabag sink into your teacup after brewing it, then you need to be selective with the kind of teabag you buy. If you want your tea bag to sink, purchase one with a lighter material. If you get a teabag with soft paper or material, it will quickly absorb water and eventually sink.
But if you buy tea bags made of plastic, it means they will float at the top and not sink. Even if you try to push the tea bag down with a teaspoon, it will still float at the top.
How can you tell if a tea bag is bad?
Teabags don’t go rancid quickly except water or any fluid that touches it. And if something like that occurs, there will be mold. That’s how you know that a teabag has gone bad. When that happens, it is time for you to discard the teabag.
If you brewed your tea with old teabags and noticed that it has a stake taste or the flavor is not lovely, you should dispose of it. You don’t need to drink a tea that is unsafe for drinking.
Don’t drink your brewed tea if it sits down on the counter for more than one day. Just get throw it away because the taste will not be suitable for you to consume.
If you don’t want your tea bags to go wrong before reaching their expiry date, you should allow them to sit in a dark and dry place from any source of light, air, or heat. If you have a cupboard in your kitchen, it will be a perfect place to store your teabags.
Also, immediately you open the package of your tea bags, ensure you seal it tightly because if you expose it to air, the air will end up speeding up the aging process, and you won’t want that to happen. The storage process of your tea is similar to that of coffee.
If your tea bags have paper packaging, sealing them tightly may be difficult, so you should transfer them into a container that can be sealed tightly.
Should you remove the tea bag before drinking?
It is good you allow your teabag to steep for at least three minutes before you remove it. Removing the tea bag will stop the steeping process and enable the tea to cool to a reasonable temperature. Some tea drinkers love leaving the teabag in the cup before drinking; they believe it adds more flavor.
You can either choose to leave the teabag in the cup or remove it before drinking; either way is acceptable. So, you determine what you want.
Conclusion
Feel free to brew your tea with the teabag, either floating or sinking. You should determine how you love to take your tea.
We are sure you now know how hot brewing of tea is different from cold brewing and what you should do if you want your tea bag to float or sink. Explore the various options and choose whichever one you like.