How to Make Biodegradable Tea Bags Out of Wood Cellulose
Wood cellulose is the primary ingredient in paper products. For paper to be purely wood cellulose, it cannot contain linen or cotton fibers. Making your own paper tea bags is an economical and environmentally friendly option. It also allows you to create your own combination of tea blends, as well as add extra ingredients for flavoring, like spices or dried herbs. While you can use tea balls or strainers to make individual cups of tea and full pots of tea, a tea bag is portable and can be carried wherever you go -- including to work and on travels. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Loose, pure paper, biodegradable tea bags
- Loose-leaf tea
- Herbs, optional
- Needle
- Thread
Instructions
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Decide what type of tea you would like to have in the bags. Many stores now sell specialty loose-leaf tea, and you can purchase as much or as little as you like. Choose from herbal teas; caffeinated and decaffeinated teas; green, black, white and blue teas; and various flavored teas.
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Choose the other types of flavorings you would like to include in your tea. Popular herbs for tea include cinnamon, star anise, dried ginger and lavender flowers. These herbs work particularly well with green or black teas.
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Purchase open-top, biodegradable tea bags. Check the ingredients list to ensure that the paper is pure and does not contain linen or cotton fibers. Your local specialty tea store usually stocks several brands of empty tea bags. Make sure that the bags are food grade and biodegradable. Organic tea bags -- tea bags made from organic fibers -- are also now available.
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Fill your tea bags with the right amount of tea. Several tests may be necessary to determine the perfect amount for you. Make several test bags with different quantities of tea to decide on the ideal amount of tea per bag. Underfilling the bag will result in tea that is too weak. Overfilling will also result in tea that is weak because there is not enough room for the leaves to expand in the bag. Overfilling also wastes tea.
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Fold over the top of the tea bag. Thread your needle, and tie a knot at the end of the thread. Sew a simple over-and-under stitch across the folded part of the tea bag. Alternatively, you can tie the bag shut if there is enough room left. However, this can come undone in either the pot or when you carry it places.
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Tips & Warnings
A stapler can also be used to close the bags, but this will make them nonbiodegradable.
Making a silk tea bag is another good option as it is reusable and biodegradable. However, it will not be a paper-based tea bag.
Make sure that the bag is not heat sealable. A heat-sealable bag uses PVC as a glue on the inside, which makes the bag nonbiodegradable.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit tea bags image by Alison Bowden from Fotolia.com
