A Tea's Grade Is a Size Code, Not a Quality Score

A tea's grade, OP, BOP, PD, Dust, is a sorting code, not a quality score, and it is the single biggest reason two kilos of tea from the same garden sell for very different prices at auction.

The Economics of the Tea Bag: How a Packing Machine, Not the Leaf, Built the Format Most of the World Drinks

The tea bag began as a shipping accident, but what made it cheap enough to dominate the world market was a German packing machine, and what still shapes its cost today is the material of the sachet itself.