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Floor sweepings are not tea. ~nod~

Good. You deserve it.

Let's see- where to begin.

1) Floor Sweepings are not Tea.
Fannings, sweepings or "dust" are what's left after the good tea has been sorted through. In some cases, they literally sweep them up off the floor.

2) Oxygen + Tea = BAD!
While most teas are oxidized to a certain extent (the exception being White tea- the process is sometimes called fermentation) it needs to be done in a carefully controlled environment. Good tea is then curled, balled or otherwise shaped to reduce the leaf's exposure to the air. The result is a sweeter, brighter tea.

Sweepings are too small to do this to- so their oxidization process continues and thus it spoils faster, takes on different flavors and looses it's nutritional value.

3) Tea leaves like to dance.
Tea needs plenty of room to circulate amongst the water in order for the flavor to develop. This is because some compounds are more soluble than others- and yet, when they aren't given room to flow properly, the diffusion of these compounds takes longer or doesn't happen at all, thus leaving with a bitter brew.

4) It's just plain poor quality.
When the tea traders buy tea, they look for qualities one cannot judge in fannings. When there is a shortage of fannings, tea plantations grind up poor quality tea for filler. Usually these are older teas that would have been good a year or so ago- but tea has a shelf life.

Why grind up good tea (with the qualities that tea merchants look for such as leaf size, color etc) for Americans and Brits to drink in tea bags when you can give them poor tea?

5) That's how old?
Unlike fresh leaves that can be tested for quality by eye, scent and feel on the fingers before being brewed, fannings cannot be given the same inspection. The result is that fannings are far more likely to stay on a shelf past their prime (not that they really have a prime) than loose leaf tea. And until you brew it- you won't know it.

6)... aren't 1-5 good enough?

Don't get me wrong. There are worst things to be drinking than tea from a bag and tsaines.

It's just until you've had really good tea... I mean REALLY good tea- you don't know what you're missing.

Nuri, Deo, Blue? Can I get an Amen!?

.

twisted I WILL CORRUPT YOU ALL! ~ahems~

Do you get PG tips in america?

It's made of fail.
It comes in a teabag and even if you are the best tea maker in the world you wont make it taste like anything other than watery crap.

I think I'm the only person in this country that hates it.