<P> The first modern tea bags in the Western World were hand - sewn fabric bags ; tea bag patents date as early as 1903 . First appearing commercially around 1904 , tea bags were successfully marketed about 1908 by the tea and coffee importer Thomas Sullivan from New York , who shipped his silk tea bags around the world . The loose tea was intended to be removed from the bags by customers , but they found it easier to brew the tea with the tea still enclosed in the porous bags . The first tea bag packing machine was invented 1929 by Adolf Rambold for the German company Teekanne . </P>
<P> The first modern tea bags in the Western World were hand - sewn fabric bags ; tea bag patents date as early as 1903 . First appearing commercially around 1904 , tea bags were successfully marketed about 1908 by the tea and coffee importer Thomas Sullivan from New York , who shipped his silk tea bags around the world . The loose tea was intended to be removed from the bags by customers , but they found it easier to brew the tea with the tea still enclosed in the porous bags . The first tea bag packing machine was invented 1929 by Adolf Rambold for the German company Teekanne . </P>
when were tea bags first used in the uk
when were tea bags first used in the uk
as early as 1903
as early as 1903