Fill Your Own Teabags

Has anyone here had much experience with filling your own tea bags? I have used the kind that gets sealed with heat after filling them.

I normally prefer loose tea and blends that are as whole as possible. I find that once a spice, herb, tea is cut or ground it begins to lose it’s oils and flavors.

But tea in a bag is convenient! I’d love to know what others have used.

25 Replies
SimplyJenW said

When I travel, I often put my loose leaf in the Paper Tea Filters from Adagio or T-sac filters. Then I just roll them up and put them in a tin. No need to heat seal. I do have a few tea clips that I use to hold them closed if I can find one.

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I have ones with a drawstring, so I just fill them with my loose tea, put them in my pocket, and go.

Uniquity said

Are those the new Davids Tea ones?

yup. work like a charm. little pricey but not too bad considering i can fill them at home and keep them in my pockets.

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stephanieb said

I use the T-Sac ones plus another paper filter that’s a lot less expensive (but it’s a Chinese brand that I buy locally and since i can’t read Mandarin, I can’t tell you the name!). I love them and use them a lot. My regular filter is hard to clean (or maybe I’m too lazy) and these work great. I’ve never heard of the heat sealing ones, but I have to wonder what chemicals (plastics, etc) are in the material in order to allow it to heat seal. There’s really no need for that and I’ve never had a problem with tea coming out of the little bags!

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Uniquity said

I’ve got Size 2 T-Sacs on hand at work and home for fine cut teas (100 for $7.00), but I also like to use them when travelling (so I don’t have to bring an infuser) or when giving non-tea drinking friends a sample of loose tea. I just prepare the bag for them so they can treat it like a teabag, and I find people more receptive to the idea than loose leaves. It’s a good way to get them hooked!

Also, I wish I had the new Davids Tea ones with the drawstring, but we stocked up on T-Sacs a few weeks before those came out. Grr!

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Thanks everyone, I’m going to look into some of these.

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I have a tea caddy that I made for travelling. I always use the paper filters from Adagio, and just stock up my travel kit with plenty – often as a pursuit to converting others to the joy of tea!

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Brian select said

I use a paper-fill it yourself bag every day. I typically use T-Sac #2 bags that I buy at a local store. I picked up a pack of Teavana bags over the holidays (I was in the mall and they were on sale): http://www.teavana.com/tea-products/tea-makers-infusers/p/perfect-paper-tea-filters

I’ve never ordered any, but Amazon has a few different paper-fill yourself bags:
Adagio: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001G8XORG/ref=ox_sc_act_title_7?ie=UTF8&m=A2FP3WC79CXYXU
Finum: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000KDW9MO/ref=ox_sc_act_title_9?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

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I have these unbleached muslin bags from Starwest, sold in a 3-pack: http://www.starwest-botanicals.com/product/3-culinary-bags-3x-5.html
They’re very useful and reusable! (Unfortunately, out of stock. But I got them at my local co-op.)

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Do you have good luck washing out the muslin bags? Do they hold up well? I like the idea of reusable, but I haven’t tried them.

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I rinse the bags out under the faucet (scrubbing them a bit with my fingers if they need extra cleaning) and hang them to dry in a sunny window. I haven’t had them for too long, but they’ve been holding up well! I have to make sure I clean them more thoroughly when I brew a scented or flavored tea in them—don’t want everything smelling like blueberries. Also, I had one that I hadn’t used in a couple of months that was hanging up the whole time, and I used it the other day, and it made everything smell and taste a little musty. That’s just because it was out that long and got dusty—I’d wash it before I used it next time.

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