Mondo Knows Facts

Teabags were accidentally invented when silk sample bags were steeped

Customers immersed sample pouches directly into water to create the modern teabag

New York tea merchant Thomas Sullivan began sending loose tea leaves in small silk sachets to customers around 1908. Instead of opening the pouches, clients immersed the entire silk bag into boiling water. Sullivan realised the commercial convenience and developed porous paper filter bags for widespread brewing.

Where this comes from

Smithsonian Institution

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Tags: tea, beverages, inventions

Teabags were accidentally invented when silk sample bags were steeped: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?
Customers immersed sample pouches directly into water to create the modern teabag. The figure is taken from Smithsonian Institution, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
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Yes. It sits on the Everyday Life shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
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