The tea bag was invented by accident! What did its first consumers do wrong?

Tea is one of the most popular drinks in the world. Tea consumption dates back to 2750 BC, when the Chinese used it as a medicine, according to the Mark T. Wendell Company. Over time, it began to be used exclusively for pleasure, and not so much for medicinal purposes. Over its long history, tea has expanded beyond China and become famous throughout the world.

Originating in China, tea began to be transported to the rest of the world in the 17th century when the Dutch began exporting it to Europe. The drink was a huge success, especially in countries such as Great Britain and the American colonies. People began to drink it differently than the Chinese drank it. The most common method of consumption these days is tea bags, which were invented serendipitously.

Legend has it that tea was discovered by Chinese Emperor Shen Nung when the wind caused some leaves from a tree to fall into his cup of boiling water. Because he liked the taste and enjoyed the beneficial effects of drinking water with the leaves of the tree, he ordered the plant to be specially cultivated and encouraged people to try the aromatic drink.

The original method of preparing tea - the one in which we boiled a few leaves in water - gave a pleasant result, an aromatic drink, but rather bitter. Nowadays we have more...sweetened options.

Over the centuries, the way of growing aromatic plants and drinking the now famous tea has changed. At the beginning of the 20th century, the tea bag was invented completely by accident, and it changed a lot.

Smithsonian Magazine states that Roberta S. Lawson and Mary Molaren of Milwaukee, Wisconsin created the tea leaf holder and patented their invention in 1901. With their invention, they solved a problem that had been common up to that time - producing just one cup of tea. and not a whole kettle, if that's what you want.

Moreover, their invention prevented the leaves from floating freely in the cup and disturbing you while you took a sip of the wonderful drink. Another benefit was that you no longer wasted any leftover tea you brewed per cup. Brilliant, right?

However, there is another story about the invention of the tea bag that is just as likely to be true! In this case, it was all just an accident that happened in 1908. Today I Learned tells us that a merchant named Thomas Sullivan began distributing small quantities of tea in silk bags as an effective method of promoting tea sales. your product in reduced sizes and prices.

Its consumers quickly realized how easy it was to store the tea in this bag and boil the tea in this bag along with the tea without emptying all the leaves into their cup. Sullivan enjoyed the success of his tea bags and encouraged his customers to come back for more tea bags.

It is unknown who the real inventor of tea bags was. The important thing is that by the 1950s, even the English, big tea drinkers, began using tea bags for practical reasons. And today they are present in every home, aren’t they?

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