Thomas Sullivan. In 1908, sent samples of tea to his customers in small silk bags. A few of his customers thought that these bags were to be dipped in water to brew tea and so they did not empty out the contents.
Sullivan did not realize this till the time he started receiving complaints from customers about the orders not being sent in bags. This is when he started producing tea bags on a commercial. This became ‘the accidental teabag’.
However, another story regarding the invention of tea bags dates back to 1901. Two women from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Roberta C. Lawson and Mary Molaren filed for a patent of something called a ‘tea-leaf holder’. It q uite resembles the modern-day tea bag that we use.
They used a stitched mesh fabric for their design. The idea was to reduce tea wastage and keep all the tea leaves together so that they don’t float around in the cup.
