Is the only Good Tea a Loose Tea?

If you can compare the same loose leaf and bag for the same brand. I think FooJoy is a good example of the same taste in both. Another brand is TenRen but I can say their export bags dont equal domestic loose. Try the bags in a well stocked Asian store. I think youll find something you like. Dont forget the British blends like PG Tips. There is always the tea sock, spoon, ball.

Jim

I'll second FooJoy but while it might equate to their loose it still doesn't mean it is very complex or "high-end"... it is, however, always good. I have a few teabag brands that I prefer over many loose teas; Yamamotoyama sencha, SeaDyke Brand Fujian Oolong, and Teck-Soon Osmanthus Oolong. Another tea that I have to have is always some Luzianne.

You are never going to get the same flavors and mouthfeels and aromas from a teabag compared to most loose tea, but sometimes what is produced by the teabag is good in it's own right.

- Dominic

Thx S.C. & D., btw, TenRen is one I had tried before with mixed results. A Puh'er (in the bag) when purchased from Oakland's chinatown- back around oh say 1998 or so was a welcome surprise, an attempt last year to reproduce it from a Ranch 99 supermarket in the Diablo Valley was a disappointment.

I'll take the sugestions with me the next time I got tea crawling. Thx again.

berk

Here are two websites selling tea bags containing whole leaf tea:

It exists. Problem is that flow through a teabag isn't very good, so you have to grind up the tea very finely to use a bag. Some of the larger bags and open-mesh nylon bags are better than the usual filter paper ones.

But overall, the bag just winds up costing you a serious premium over loose tea, and doesn't really buy you any actual convenience.

Get a cheap infuser (the People's Brew Basket is just fine) and get one of the inexpensive loose tea samplers from Upton's.

--scott