Interesting figures from The Guardian suggest that “we use about 55bn teabags in the UK each year – that’s about 370,000 tonnes of waste that mostly end up in landfill.”  A troubling revelation, but one which contributes to the arguments for loose leaf tea over teabags just as much as superior flavour and quality. Not to mention the often-overlooked fact that preparing a loose leaf tea costs no significant extra effort. The Guardian blogger also points out that the persistently pervasive teabag is an American contrivance that has only been seen on our own sceptred isle since the Sixties and, therefore, the bag is not so deeply entrenched in our culture…

Yesterday’s news that thousands of British builders are shunning bog-standard breakfast tea comes as no surprise to us. Apparently, the (traditionally ubiquitous) brew is falling behind various kinds of coffee as the beverage of choice for the construction industry and how could it not? Without mentioning any names (*cough* like Tetley, Yorkshire Tea or PG tips), the quality of the dust in common teabags is appalling. One can instantly recognise, and appreciate, decent tea brewed from good quality tea-leaves by comparison. I speculate that those responsible for churning out the mass-produced mug-dust might have better things to boil; perhaps their own heads for example. In fact, with a few lashings of…