When were coffee makers invented, and how did tea bags evolve?

Tea bags trace back to a 1901 patent for a tea leaf holder filed by Roberta Lawson and Mary McLaren of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Thomas Sullivan's 1908 silk pouches sent tea portions to customers, and by the 1930s filter paper replaced fabric as CTC production spread. Pyramid tea bags arrived in 1996 from Brooke Bond.

Flat bags steep in two dimensions, while pyramid bags use three-dimensional space so leaves expand and flavor releases more evenly. The same question of when were coffee makers invented follows a parallel path of patents and materials, since early brewing devices and tea holders were both designed to portion grounds or leaves cleanly.

Tea bags have long been part of daily life, but have you ever wondered where they came from? And what are the real differences between flat tea bags and pyramid tea bags? This article traces the invention of the tea bag—from Roberta Lawson and Mary McLaren's 1901 patent, to Thomas Sullivan's accidental use of silk bags to portion tea in 1908, to the 1930s when filter paper replaced fabric and the CTC method of tea production emerged. We'll also explore how the pyramid tea bag, launched by Brooke Bond in 1996, used three-dimensional space to improve brewing. Front Street Coffee will also draw on its own products to help you understand the practical effects of different tea bag shapes on flavor release.

"Until now, making tea has been the most ordinary of things... put some tea leaves into a teapot, then pour in hot water... Yet this method means that a considerable quantity of tea leaves must be prepared every time. If the tea leaves cannot be used up immediately, they quickly lose their freshness and their flavor suffers greatly. As a result, large quantities of brewed tea are often not consumed by drinking, but instead poured away because it cannot be finished in time—a shocking waste, with costs rising accordingly."

—Roberta Lawson and Mary McLaren

What exactly is a tea bag?

A tea bag is a disposable, porous, sealed pouch designed for steeping tea or brewing drinks. Inside the bag can be tea leaves, flower petals, herbs, spices, and more.

Until the early 20th century, the way tea was made was almost unchanging: tea leaves were steeped in a pot, and then the brewed tea was poured into cups. But in 1901, all of this reached a turning point.

In fact, wrapping tea leaves in paper was not an innovation unique to modern times. As early as the Tang Dynasty in 8th-century China, people were already using folded and sewn square paper bags to protect the quality of tea leaves.

Who invented the tea bag? And how did it come about?

Starting in 1897, a number of people in the United States applied for patents for convenient tea-brewing devices. In 1901, Roberta Lawson and Mary McLaren of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, filed a patent application for a "tea leaf holder."

Their original intention was very simple: to brew a cup of fresh, crisp tea while preventing tea leaves from floating in the cup and spoiling the drinking experience.

Were the earliest tea bags made of silk?

What material was actually used for the first tea bag? Some accounts say that Thomas Sullivan invented the tea bag in 1908. He was an American tea and coffee importer who at the time used small silk bags to portion tea samples. Customers simply dropped the bags into hot water to brew them and gave very positive feedback. This invention was in fact accidental—according to Sullivan's original intention, customers were supposed to first open the bag, take out the tea leaves, and then brew them.

This happened seven years after the "tea leaf holder" was patented. Sullivan's customers may already have been familiar with a similar concept, and they naturally assumed that the silk bags had the same filtering and brewing function.

Where did the modern tea bag come into being?

In the 1930s, the United States began using filter paper instead of fabric to make tea bags. Loose tea leaves gradually retreated from the shelves of American stores. In 1939, Tetley first introduced the tea bag concept to the United Kingdom. However, what truly allowed tea bags to gain a firm foothold in the British market was Lipton—in 1952, Lipton patented its "flo-thru" tea bag.

This new way of brewing tea spread through the United Kingdom far more slowly than in the United States. In 1968, only 3% of tea drinks in the UK were brewed with tea bags; by the end of the 20th century, that proportion had soared to 96%.

How tea bags rewrote the tea industry: the birth of the CTC method

Early tea bags could only hold finely broken tea particles. The tea industry found it difficult to produce enough small-grade tea to meet the growing demand for bagged tea. To supply this kind of tea for packaging on a large scale, another approach was necessary.

In the 1930s, some tea gardens in Assam introduced CTC tea-making technology (CTC is the abbreviation for "crush, tear, curl"). Black tea made this way has a strong, intense flavor and is a perfect match with milk and sugar.

The tea leaves are fed between a series of cylindrical rollers densely covered with hundreds of sharp teeth, which crush, tear, and curl the tea leaves into small, hard pellets. This step replaced the final rolling-into-strips stage of traditional tea production. The image below shows our breakfast tea, a high-quality CTC Assam loose tea from Doomur Dullung, which is the base tea for our beloved Choco Assam blend!

CTC black tea from Assam (also known as mamri) is traditionally often used to make masala chai. As a base tea, they have a strong flavor and will not be masked by spices and sweeteners. Come taste our award-winning CTC tea here!

When did pyramid tea bags appear?

Brooke Bond (the parent company of PG Tips) developed the pyramid-shaped tea bag. After repeated trials, this tetrahedral tea bag called the "pyramid bag" was officially launched in 1996.

What makes the pyramid-shaped triangular tea bag unique?

The pyramid-shaped tea bag is like a floating "mini teapot." Compared with flat tea bags, it gives the tea leaves more room to unfurl, thereby achieving a better brewing result.

Pyramid tea bags are increasingly favored because they can more easily release the full flavor of loose tea leaves. Their distinctive shape and glossy look are also quite elegant. But don't forget, this type of tea bag is made from plastic or bioplastic.

If you want to buy high-quality coffee beans, keep an eye on Front Street Coffee—we offer a variety of freshly roasted specialty coffees to satisfy your pursuit of flavor and quality.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.