Misconceptions About Teas Tea is a common beverage across the globe. In the US, approximately $15 million of tea is purchased every year, and 3,000 million tons of tea is produced worldwide. The common misconceptions about tea, specifically loose-leaf, and its consumption may not be worldwide, but we've certainly heard a few – and we're here to end the confusion. Loose-leaf tea is not more expensive; in fact, you get more tea out of loose-leaf than the bagged kind, considering that with loose-leaf you only use what you consume. The misconception is that loose-leaf tea costs more than it's worth, or you'll have more than you'll use: while purchasing a pound of loose-leaf tea at $10 or more sounds less intriguing than buying a box of $6 teabags, you have to see the bigger picture of investment. Loose-leaf tea allows you to allot how much you're using so that you get the right amount of flavor. A pound of loose-leaf tea will amount to $0.10 a cup, whereas a box of teabags limits how much tea you use per cup, forcing you to perhaps use an excess of bags. Teabag boxes can get pricey when it comes to their utility, practicality, and not to mention what commercial brands use to make the bags. The bags are made of bleached paper, which ends up in your boiling, hot mug of tea. Bleached anything doesn't sound too appetizing. Another common misconception with tea consumption is that loose leaf is difficult to work with. Because teabags come in a bag and can be disposed of easily, most people stray away from anything with the word 'loose' in it. Perhaps the fact that loose-leaf tea requires measurement and infusers to be properly steeped, but once you know the right tea-to-water ratio, there is no difficulty; scoop some leaves into an infuser, strainer, or filter, and drop it into the teapot, much the same as you would a teabag. Most teapots come with fitted infusers to make your life a little easier, and can be dumped in the trash without mess – just like a teabag. Teabags normally take five minutes to properly steep, and that's the exact same amount of time you'll need to steep loose-leaf tea – so any misconceptions on time factors are false ideas. The most common misconception that we've seen is that loose-leaf and teabags have no difference in taste. The truth about tea is that its leaves require space to expand, so that you're experiencing the full flavor of the leaf. In a teabag, the leaves are usually in pieces and don't have the room to expand, leaving you with a hot cup of 'alright' tea. The idea behind loose-leaf tea is that the infusers allow it room to expand, and give you the full experience in flavor. Some don't make the effort because they've misconceived on the issue; loose-leaf requires the exact same amount of equipment, effort and has plenty more flavor than its bagged companions. Always remember that flavor is worth a little effort, and loose-leaf is no more effort than bagged tea.