Seeing double
January 31, 2013
See that roll above? That’s tea bags, that is. Or at least, it will be soon.
Our Twitter friend Brian asked us a question the other day – why do Yorkshire Tea bags come in pairs?
Simple: it’s so they don’t fall over.
Picture that roll of paper. It’s about as wide as four tea bags, until it feeds into our factory machine and a blade cuts it down the middle. The result is two continuous strips of paper, each as wide as two tea bags.
One of these strips becomes the bottom of the tea bag. It feeds through the machine, where little portions of tea are placed onto it in pairs. A roller applies the other strip on top, sandwiching the tea in. A bit like ravioli.
A spot of heat then seals the edges, a second blade perforates the middle, then the bags are chopped horizontally into pairs, stacked into 80s and popped into the box.
So why pairs? Well, think about the shape of a single tea bag – it’s flat at the edges but plumper in the middle, where the tea is. Stack 40 of those on top of each other and you’d get a pretty wobbly pile.
Pair them up, however, and they’re much more stable. It makes them easier for us to work with, and stops them falling all over the place when you open the box.
Proper tea bags, properly packed, for a proper brew. We think that stacks up rather nicely.
See what you mean about the tea bags being in twos. However, I’ve found quite often that when I tear off a single one I tear one of the bags and lose some of the tea. What would you suggest?
Posted by Joan Beech at 4:14 pmYes but think of all the hassle us tea-drinkers have to go through to separate those doubles when all we want is a cuppa yorkshire tea (:o)
Posted by Terry Fowler at 4:49 pmThat sorts out that question. You will see from my blog, which I call ‘went up a hill and came down’ that I spend a lot of time on hills. I have walked over most of the north, east, south and west facing slopes of the Yorkshire dales and moors. However, I have yet to see any tea growing on them. How come you can call it Yorkshire tea if it ain’t grown there? Mind you it doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with the taste.
Posted by Martin Richardson at 5:41 pmAnother question – why don’t you sell tea abroad? T***ings and L***ons seem to monopolise the aisles with their inferior improper concoctions.
Oddly enough, I have at times (tea-times, no doubt!) wondered about this very question, and now you have supplied the explanation. – Thank you for this, as well as for a very nice cup of tea…(o:
Posted by Margaret Wilde at 6:42 pmI hope you are Politically Correct at Yorkshire Tea and your paired T-Bags are male-female, gay, and can be married whatever…. as in Tea for Two, Just Me and You… oh well whatever !!!
Posted by linda at 6:57 pmI’ve been to England 15 times. I still write to my
Posted by Barbara Wright at 7:27 pmdear driver there.
AND I brought home with me, early on, the habit
of a cuppa every afternoon. This has now expanded to two cups at lunch and continues to
at least two more during the afternoon. I also
drink tea before bedtime, but I am doomed to
another brand because I want decaffeinated tea
then. IF you produce that, my home-owned store
doesn’t carry it. To my sorrow!
I’ll say it again: YORKSHIRE IS BEST!!!!!!!
Posted by Barbara Wright at 7:28 pmWe need no reassurance about the quality and flavour of Yorkshire tea. When people have tea at our house they often say “This tea is nice. What is it?” Of course we tell them. We found out about Yorkshire tea from a Yorkshire gentleman called Mick Batty. He worked in the tea import business most of his life. (Now passed on) We asked him what the best every day tea was and he said “My favourite is Yorkshire tea.” So we tried it and never bought anything since.
Posted by Edward Harding at 10:36 amHi
Posted by M Tomkins at 11:26 amWe always buy Yorkshire tea when it is on offer at one of our local supermarkets. We would then buy six boxes at one time. Is there any way that we can find out which supermarket has it on offer without having to go looking?
Hi Barbara – we do make a decaf (and very nice it is too) and if you’re able to drop a quick email to hello@yorkshiretea.co.uk letting us know where you live, we can hopefully help you find it.
Posted by Yorkshire Tea at 10:28 amHi Martin – thanks for the questions! Sadly Yorkshire doesn’t really have the climate for tea growing, so instead our tea comes from great tea gardens across the world. But the art of tea is all in the blend, and we’ve been blending it in Yorkshire for the last 125 years. As for selling outside of the UK, we do have distributors in lots of countries – if you’d like us to help you try and find a supplier near you, please drop us a quick email to hello@yorkshiretea.co.uk.
Posted by Yorkshire Tea at 10:30 amHi Joan – oh dear, that shouldn’t happen! Please send a quick email to us at hello@yorkshiretea.co.uk and we’ll send you out some replacements.
Posted by Yorkshire Tea at 10:31 amHi there, and thanks for the question. A quicker way to check on supermarket offers than visiting in person is to head to their websites – Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and others typically display their offers online as well as in store. We hope that helps!
Posted by Yorkshire Tea at 10:56 ami have 230 yorkshire tea tokens, how do i exchange them for your gifts.
Posted by susan at 11:29 amsue
Hi
Posted by paul simpson at 5:41 pmCould you please tell me where the new advert is made as I live in Harrogate and think that it might be quite local.
many thanks
Paul Simpson
Hi Paul – it was filmed in Esholt in West Yorkshire.
Posted by Yorkshire Tea at 8:57 amHi Susan,
Posted by Yorkshire Tea at 9:03 amWe’re afraid our gift scheme ended some time ago and we can no longer redeem tokens for gifts. But your collected tokens can go towards our current rainforest project. Please email hello@yorkshiretea.co.uk so we can send you a collector’s card.