I discovered how amazing tea was during law school. More specifically, I discovered that tea comes not only in Earl Grey and Green varieties, but that there are entire shops devoted to selling hundreds of different varieties. My recent favourite is Jolly Jellybean from David's Tea. It has jelly belly jellybeans in it (I'm a sucker for a gimmick), and tastes divine.
While I enjoy tea, I find it hard to enjoy at school if it's loose leaf. I've been running a nouveau apothecary out of my locker for the past few years, with jars of tea and tea scoops and the like packed onto a shelf. I have concluded however that this is a silly way to go about things - it's messy and it takes up valuable real estate that could be used to house my inordinately large paper copy of the Income Tax Act.
According to the internet, it's all the rage nowadays to make your own tea bags. They seemed like a lot of work though, and I'm more of an instant gratification sort of gal. But they did seem like a great way to stop scooping loose leaf tea at school. So I decided to improve on the method.
According to the internet, it's all the rage nowadays to make your own tea bags. They seemed like a lot of work though, and I'm more of an instant gratification sort of gal. But they did seem like a great way to stop scooping loose leaf tea at school. So I decided to improve on the method.
My mom started buying me tea supplies for Christmas a few years ago, which is how I learned about disposable tea filters. Most tea shops sell them, and they run you 5-6 dollars a box.
These filters got me to thinking about how I could more easily go about making my own tea bags if I used the prefabricated filter as my base. No complex sewing would be required, and it would end up doing the same job in the end. I gave it a whirl, and it was quite a success! Since it worked out for me, I wanted to share it with you all.
First, you'll need some supplies:
Scissors
Pen
Stapler
Baker's Twine (There's a great tutorial on how to make your own at http://www.niftythriftythings.com/2012/01/diy-bakers-twine.html)
A set of tea bag labels - you can download the ones that I made here
Loose Tea
Tea Measuring Scoop
Tea Filter bags (I use T-Sac, but any brand will do.)
Instructions:
1. Cut 6" lengths of twine until you have one for every tea bag you want to make.
1. Cut 6" lengths of twine until you have one for every tea bag you want to make.
2. Scoop out your loose leaf tea with the tea scoop and place it in the filter bag (Like you would normally do when making a cup of tea).
3. Folding the Bag
3.1 Fold the bag to make a line just above where the tea ends in the bag. Unfold.
3.2 Fold the bag to the right, folding it so that the edge is even with the first fold that you made. Unfold.
3.3 Fold the bag to the left, folding it so that the edge is even with the first fold that you made.
3.4 Fold the right side of the bag over the left, using the folding lines you made in step 2, to form a triangle.
3.5 Trim off any excess filter bag that extends beyond the line of the fold you made in step 1.
3.6 Fold the tip of the triangle down halfway towards the edge of the triangle.
3.7 Fold the top of the bag down to the edge of the triangle.
4. Attaching the Twine
4.2 draw the string back towards the middle of the bag, and then up towards the end of the bag.
4.3 Re-fold down the edge of the bag.
4.4 Draw the twine/floss down towards you, and then put a staple on top of the twine.
5. All that's left to do after that is to write the name of the tea on a tea bag label, then staple your label onto the end of the twine.
Repeat until you have a enough tea to last you a while.
And then enjoy the fruits of your labour!
They're certainly not the easiest way to enjoy a cup of tea, but they do allow you to enjoy more exotic blends when you're at work or at school.
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