Like Wine, once you have tasted the premium quality loose leaf tea, you can never go back to the tea bag with broken tea dust. If your idea of a good cup of tea starts with plain tea bags from the grocery store, you are likely missing out on truly superior tea. Before I explain why loose leaf tea is better, I just want to let you know that I am mainly talking about generic supermarket tea bags. There are some excellent bagged teas out there, made up of whole tea leaves. Quality tea merchants often carry bags as well as loose leaf tea.

The main difference between loose teas and bagged teas is the size of the leaves. That's what effects the resulting cup of tea. Tea leaves contain chemicals and essential oils, which are the basis for the delightful flavour of tea. When the tea leaves are broken up, those oils can evaporate, leaving a dull and tasteless tea. Typical tea bags are filled with the tiniest pieces of broken leaves, called fannings. Loose leaf teas are typically whole leaves or at least large pieces of leaves.

On top of the leaf size, there is also the space factor. Tea leaves need space to swell, expand and unfurl. Good water circulation around the leaves is important, which doesn't typically happen in a cramped little tea bag.

Even if you prefer a simple cup of green tea (which is the major component of most bagged teas), try getting your tea loose instead of in bags. If you enjoy a change now and again, you can get a wide variety of teas in bags, but there are many more to choose from if you shop for loose leaf tea.