What's a good estimate on the nominal density of loose tea?

I don't think getting a mass/volume ratio from a wholesale tea-chest
would be a good answer, because those things look pretty tightly
packed.

Optimally, I should be able to measure the volume of a rigid container
and know with 95% certainty how much tea I can put in it without fear
of spillage the first time I spoon some out.

--Blair

"Blair P. Houghton" > writes:

> What's a good estimate on the nominal density of loose tea?
>
> I don't think getting a mass/volume ratio from a wholesale tea-chest
> would be a good answer, because those things look pretty tightly
> packed.
>
> Optimally, I should be able to measure the volume of a rigid container
> and know with 95% certainty how much tea I can put in it without fear
> of spillage the first time I spoon some out.

I don't think there's an answer to this question, unless you limit
yourself to a very narrow range of types of tea. The
density/fluffiness of the teas I drink varies - here's a wild guess -
by a factor of 5.

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

Well... that's not something you can specify for "loose tea"
in general. You'll need to be more specific about what kind
of loose tea. Green tea is very different from Oolong tea.
Teas that have been rolled into balls vs ones that have
not.. Etc.

There is no simple way to get a mass/volume ratio for all
teas. The range is too wide. If you specify a specific type
of tea, you can figure it out for that tea, or other teas
similar to it.

To give you an example... I recently received a shipment of
tea containing 25 sealed mylar bags, with a different
variety of tea in each one. Each bag held 100 grams of loose
tea. Some of them were a third full, some half, some of them
bulging and completely packed, but they all weighed the same.

Thanks,
Troy
..

That's good info. I was guessing maybe a factor of 2, but the
gunpowder teas are pretty dense.

So what do you suppose a reasonable range would be?

How about a SWAG at the 95% confidence interval for a gunpowder, a
full-leaf Darjeeling, or the "fluffiest" tea you can remember seeing.

I'll probably end up doing some measurements on the one I buy the most
of, but figured maybe someone had data already.

--Blair

Blair P. Houghton wrote:
> What's a good estimate on the nominal density of loose tea?
>
> I don't think getting a mass/volume ratio from a wholesale tea-chest
> would be a good answer, because those things look pretty tightly
> packed.
>
> Optimally, I should be able to measure the volume of a rigid container
> and know with 95% certainty how much tea I can put in it without fear
> of spillage the first time I spoon some out.
>
> --Blair
>

If you are worried about spillage, you'd be more interested in an upper
bound. This would depend on the type of tea you are storing, because I
think the biggest variable is going to be the shape of the leaf, which
will affect the packing factor. Gunpowder tea is going to pack more
tightly than White Peony or some other large-leaf tea.

The best way to do this is to probably try some sizes out. I use those
cheap plastic taco bell cups for such things.

Steve

Blair P. Houghton > wrote:
>What's a good estimate on the nominal density of loose tea?

It varies ALL OVER the place. Compare a BOP tea with something very
loose and curly like Ten Ren's Oriental Beauty tea. There is probably
more than a factor of ten difference in density.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

We're already past ya, Kludge Scott.

N.B., I don't drink much BOP. Well, not counting SpecialTeas' decaf
Darjeeling, which is pretty broken up sometimes (but isn't really
supposed to be). And dust is right out. That stuff will turn your
teeth brown in a couple of weeks (the Crest Whitestrips people made an
extra sale the year I got a box of PG Tips in the deceptively nifty
pyramidal bags..)

--Blair