The first teabags were made of hand-sewn silk in the early 1900s. Teabags were commercially available in the year 1904. Thomas Sullivan, a tea and coffee shop merchant, used little silken bags to ship tea all over the world. The loose tea was then intended to be removed out from the bags and used. Customers, however, preferred to dip the bags directly in hot water and Sullivan, realising the potential market of these convenient teabags, started producing them commercially in 1904. He used sachets made of gauze in place of silk ones.
The modern teabags that are in use now are made of paper fibre. William Hermanson, one of the founders of Technical Paper Corporation of Boston, is credited with the invention of the heat-sealed paper fibre teabags. The Salada Tea Company bought Hermanson’s patent in 1930. In 1944, rectangular shaped teabags were invented. Prior to 1944, teabags resembled the shape of small sacks.
