To dunk or not to dunk? To squeeze or not to squeeze?

I suspect that for many people who use a teabag to prepare tea it’s probably quite common to dunk the bag repeatedly and to squeeze it when you’re finished. There are even specially constructed tongs that are designed to assist with the latter action. But should you be inflicting all of this on your teabag? What exactly is the proper way to handle your teabag? Our very own esteemed editor tackled that topic a little while back and came down on the side of not squeezing, but I thought I’d look around to see if any research had been done on the topic.

Lo and behold. It turns out that there has been some research. With regard to the dunking question, here’s an article that recently appeared in the Irish press that weighed in on the matter, courtesy of a chap identified as a tea chemist. Read it all, if you’re so inclined, but here’s the conclusion, “I cannot find a difference between dunking and not dunking under controlled circumstances – so do it how you want.” Here’s a more detailed version of the same article that even includes some math that supposedly helps explain it all.

But what about squeezing? There’s no research cited, but some of the great names of British tea selling have weighed in on this very matter. At the Twinings web site they offer a primer called “How To Taste Tea” which suggests that squeezing your tea bag is not necessarily a bad thing, but “Its best not to overly squeeze your tea bag because this could release deep rooted tannins and they taste very bitter.”

At the web site for yet another British tea maker, Yorkshire Tea (part of Taylors of Harrogate), they offer some tips on how to make a proper brew and also suggest that squeezing in moderation is probably the best course of action, “Remove the teabag with a spoon giving it just one gentle squeeze.”

See more of William I. Lengeman’s articles here.

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