How to make a tea bag out of a coffee filter

I don't know about you, but I enjoy tea.  There is such a huge variety of tea available out there. Some are esteemed to have amazing health benefits and others that just taste good and are a healthy alternative to regular tea or coffee.  One of the frustrating things about the loose-leaf tea is just that - the leaves are loose and can end up floating around in your cup of tea.  Here is a very easy, cheap way to make tea bags.  I have played around with this idea with mixed success and failure and for the most part, the one presented here works perfectly every time! If you are looking for somewhere to buy loose-leaf tea, I like to buy mine from Mountain Rose Herbs.

I use an 8 - 12 cup size coffee filter to make my teabags.

Step 1.  Fold the filter in half and cut as shown in the picture.

Step 2.  Add about a tablespoon (15ml) of tea leaves of your choice in two distinct piles.  If you like to add anything to your tea, now is a good time to do it.  In these photos I am making Honeybush / Ginger tea.  I buy fresh ginger root, break it into smaller portions, vacuum seal them in individual packets and then freeze it.  I use this frozen ginger - it is easy to cut thin slices off the root and return the rest to the freezer for later use.

Step 3.  Fold the edges of the filter up so that it has a flat base, roughly 1.5 inches wide and the two long edges meet in the middle.

Step 4.  Fold the edges in the middle over twice to create a seal.

Step 5.  Now you see why we placed the leaves in two distinct piles.  Fold the filter in half, then fold the top corners to make more of a point, fold that over and staple with a regular stapler.

Step 6.  Your tea bag is ready for use.  I use just one tea bag made like this to make a pot of tea that's good for 5 to 6 cups of tea.  Enjoy!