Why Loose Leaf

Almost every herbal tea sold in a box is dust. Not by accident — by economics. Grinding botanicals to fine particles makes them cheaper to source, faster to package, and quicker to brew. It also destroys most of what you were paying for.

Botanical material holds its aromatic compounds in the structure of the leaf, root or bark. Break that structure into powder and you expose enormous surface area to air. Volatile oils — the ones you can smell — begin leaving immediately. By the time a bagged tea reaches a shelf, much of its character has evaporated.

There is a simpler test than any of this. Open a box of bagged herbal tea and open a bag of whole loose leaf. The difference is not subtle and you do not need us to explain it.

Loose leaf takes longer. It needs an infuser or a strainer. It is less convenient in every respect, and we chose it anyway, because convenience is the thing this category optimised for and it is precisely why most herbal tea is disappointing.