On Sun, 18 Nov 2012 15:40:08 -0800, gtr > wrote:

>On 2012-11-18 20:24:06 +0000, Ed Pawlowski said:
>
>> The best tea in a bag as not as good as a loose tea.
>
>Twinings sells English Breakfast tea either loose, or in teabags. Are
>you saying they use inferior grades in the teabags?

Sort of. Most bagged teas are the Bud Lite of tea, Twinning's is the
regular Bud. Many teas are best in a larger leaf form than fits in a
bag. Be it Twining's, Lipton, Red Rose, they have to cut the tea up
small and confine it to fit in the bag and then put 100 bags in a box.
Even if it starts out good, it must be processed and it does lose
quality.

We keep bags around for iced tea in the warmer weather, but my morning
cup(s) is a good loose tea given plenty of room to breath and give off
its flavor.

Find a good tea purveyor too. That is why I buy from teatrader.com as
their stuff is better than Twinning's. Tea trader sells to people
that appreciate the quality plantations, Twining's sells to the
masses. Just as a serious coffee drinker will seek out Kona, Kenya AA
and the caffeine addict will gulp Maxwell House.