Congratulations to Tom Wing! He correctly identified the accidental inventor of the tea bag: Thomas Sullivan, of New York. Mr. Wing wins a collection of tea - many of my own custom blends. Wanna get in on the contest fun? Check out my Spring 2011 contest for Tea-ku: haiku related to tea. We'll vote on the faves in June; contest closes May 31. So you've got some time. We'll also have a celebriTEA involved...one hint, she writes a haiku about every cup of tea she drinks on steepster....
Here are the deets on this contest: who invented the first tea bag?
From wikipedia (and verified by sources):
The first tea bags were made from hand-sewn silk muslin bags and tea bag patents of this sort exist dating as early as 1903. First appearing commercially around 1904, tea bags were successfully marketed by tea and coffee shop merchant Thomas Sullivan from New York, who shipped his tea bags around the world. The loose tea was intended to be removed from the bags by customers, but they found it easier to prepare tea with the tea enclosed in the bags.[1] Modern tea bags are usually made of paper fiber. The heat-sealed paper fiber tea bag was invented by William Hermanson,[2] one of the founders of Technical Papers Corporation of Boston. The rectangular tea bag was not invented until 1944. Prior to this they resembled small sacks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_bag
