Types of tea

Loose tea

The tea leaves are packaged loosely in a canister or other container. Rolled gunpowder tealeaves, which resist crumbling, are commonly vacuum packed for freshness in aluminized packaging for storage and retail. The portions must be individually measured by the consumer for use in a cup, mug, or teapot. This allows greater flexibility, letting the consumer brew weaker or stronger tea as desired, but convenience is sacrificed. Strainers, "tea presses", filtered teapots, and infusion bags are available commercially to avoid having to drink the floating loose leaves and to prevent over-brewing. A more traditional, yet perhaps more efficient way around this problem is to use a three-piece lidded teacup, called agaiwan. The lid of the gaiwan can be tilted to decant the leaves while pouring the tea into a different cup for consumption.

[edit]Compressed tea

Some teas (particularly Pu-erh tea) are still compressed for transport, storage, and aging convenience. The tea brick remains in use in the Himalayan countries or Mongolian steppes. The tea is prepared and steeped by first loosening leaves off the compressed cake using a small knife. Compressed teas can usually be stored for longer periods of time without spoilage when compared with loose leaf tea.

[edit]Instant tea

In recent times, "instant teas" are becoming popular, similar to freeze-dried instant coffee. Similar products also exist for instant iced tea, due to the convenience of not requiring boiling water. Instant tea was developed in the 1930s, but not commercialized until later. Nestea introduced the first instant tea in 1946, while Redi-Tea introduced the first instant iced tea in 1953.

These products often come with added flavors, such as chai, vanilla, honey or fruit, and may also contain powdered milk. Teaconnoisseurs tend to criticize these products for sacrificing the delicacies of tea flavour in exchange for convenience.

[edit]Bottled and canned tea

Switzerland is considered as the motherland of bottled iced tea. Maks Sprengler, a Swiss businessman, tried the famous American iced tea and was the first to suggest producing ready-made iced tea in bottles. In 1983, Bischofszell Food Ltd. became the first producer in the world of bottled ice tea on an industrial scale.

Canned tea is a form of tea that has already been prepared, and is sold ready to drink. Canned tea was first launched in 1981 in Japan. As such, it is a fairly recent innovation.