In Nigeria's colonial era and the post independence period, the favorite beverage of tea lovers was supplied as loose tea. The loose tea was deep brown and oozed a very appealing aroma that aroused the senses by mere inhalation. This was nothing compared to the satisfaction derived from the liquid brewed from the tea itself. The way is massaged the tongue and refreshed the gum a it slid down the gullet to make a nourishing splash in the stomach below.
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Loose tea is mainly dried and chopped whole leaf tea. Back then, the most popular loose tea was Lipton tea, packaged in a yellow-painted square tin can with round lid. The Lipton tea cans when emptied, were greatly treasured by the lower class women who used them to preserve their most precious jewelry or as a piggy bank for saving coins.
Image Source: Lipton Can
Tea cans where available until 1982, when the Shehu Shagari administration made the then National Assembly to enact the Economic Stabilization Act in the early 1980's (I think) which imposed austerity measures as foreign reserve free-fell in the face of fallen crude oil sales. From then onwards, loose tea in tn cans vanished from the major markets as foreign exchange was no longer easy to source.
During this period, tea began to be packaged in a specially designed single paper fibre bag. This new method was gaining grounds in major tea processing and exporting countries.
The tea bag was accidentally invented by Thomas Sullivan - A New York tea merchant who at the start of the 20th century started sending samples of tea to his customers in silken bags. Some assumed that these were supposed to be used in the same way as the metal infusers, by putting the entire bag into the pot, rather than emptying out the contents. It was thus by accident that the tea bag was born.
The purpose of the tea bag is rooted in the belief that for tea to taste its best, the leaves ought to be removed from the hot water at the end of a specific brewing period. There is also the added benefit of convenience.
A removable device means that tea can be made as easily in a mug as in a pot, without the need for a tea steamer, and that teapots can be kept clean more easily.
Image Source: Loose Leaf Tea Bag
The material shortages of World War II also stalled the mass adoption of tea bags in Britain, and it was not until the 1950's that they really took off.
The 1950's were a time when all manner of household gadgets were being promoted as eliminating tea was household chores, and in keeping with this tea bags gained popularity on the grounds that they removed the need to empty out the used tea leaves from the tea pot.
The convenience factor was more important to the British tea drinker than the desire to control the length of infusion time, hence the appearance of tea bags that did not have strings attached.
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