https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_bag
In China, during the
Tang Dynasty (618–907), paper was folded and sewn into square bags to preserve the flavor of tea.
[1]
The first Western tea bags were hand-sewn fabric bags; tea bag patents date as early as 1903.
[2] First appearing commercially around 1904, tea bags were successfully marketed about 1908 by the tea and coffee importer Thomas Sullivan from New York, who shipped his silk tea bags around the world.
[3] The loose tea was intended to be removed from the bags by customers, but they found it easier to brew the tea with the tea still enclosed in the porous bags.
[4] Modern tea bags are usually made of paper fiber. The
heat-sealed paper fiber tea bag was patented in 1930 by William Hermanson,
[5] one of the founders of Technical Papers Corporation of Boston,[
citation needed] who sold his patent to the
Salada Tea Company.[
citation needed]
The rectangular tea bag was not invented until 1944. Prior to this, tea bags resembled small sacks.
[6]
