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Tea has been around for an incredibly long time (around 5,000 years!), so it's hardly surprising that lots of tea-related myths have started and been put to bed in that time. We're always hearing lots of different rumours about tea, and here are 5 of them... plus the truth!

Loose Leaf Teas Take A Long Time

Although the actual process of brewing loose leaf tea is slightly different to brewing a tea bag, it doesn’t really take much longer, if at all.  That being said, with loose leaf specialty teas as opposed to bagged teas, you can expect a much more complex, interesting flavour. 

Dried Tea Leaves Last Forever

Sadly, everything has a shelf life, tea included. Generally, you can keep your tea leaves up to 3 years ! All our packets come with a best before date so you know exactly how long to keep them.To keep them fresh for as long as possible, make sure you keep your tea leaves in a cool, dark, and dry place away from strong odours.

Tea Contains The Same Amount of Caffeine As Coffee

Yes, tea does contain caffeine! However, the caffeine content is far less than coffee - typically 30 mg per cup of tea to 120 mg per cup of coffee. L-theanine and 2 other organic compounds, (theophylline and theobromine found only in tea), act as muscle relaxants and help to counterbalance the negative effects of caffeine.

All Tea Is Brewed In The Same Way

So many people think that all tea can be treated exactly the same when it comes to brewing. That is simply not true! A lot of teas can be brewed perfectly in between 1-2 minutes, however other teas can take 10 minutes to brew… and some can take even longer! To make your life easier, we put our tea’s brewing directions on the back of the packet, so make sure you check before brewing.

Tea Bags Were Accidentally Invented!

This is one of our favourite tea myths! Many, many people believe that tea bags were accidentally created by Thomas Sullivan when he used them to carry specific quantities of tea for his customers to sample. His innovative customers then just added the bags to their teapots! However, Roberta Lawson and Mary McLaren submitted a patent for the ‘modern tea bag’ in 1901.

These are just 5 of our favourite tea misconceptions, if you have any that you'd like to add, you can let us know through our Facebook page or our Instagram page.