Why Do Some Tea Bags Float To The Surface?

Submersibility is directly proportional to the diameter of the perforations.

With thanks to B Cox

Teabags from the same box behave in different ways.
I will begin to accurately log results, but my gut feel is that it is 60/40 to the sinkers.

Wonder if Betfair will open a market

Dustbin? Surely you mean compost heap.

Compost heap? Possibly not as some bags are partly plastic or so i’ve heard.
The bags do vary. No doubt about it.
Some are poor whilst others are fine.
Personally my first cuppa of the day though is from loose leaf.

Dustbin? Surely you mean compost heap.

Compost heap?  Surely you mean pegging out on the washing line.

Four o'clock cuppa : Sinker

I think this is a good question as I have experienced the same. Most of mine (at a guess 90%+) are floaters. May depend on whose teabags they are, I use Tetley's, but surely must have something to do with how much air is trapped in the bag. Trying bashing them first and see if you get more sinkers.

Tea is the devil's spawn.  And did you see what we did to the world in pursuit of the drug TEA.

Or was that opium   hehe

My tea bags are also Tetley.

My usual sequence is to fill the kettle and set it to boil.
Put milk in my cup, add a teabag, add water from boiled kettle.

I wonder if the length of time the teabag spends in the milk may be a factor.
To counter this, I inserted the teabag for my 16:00 cuppa only as I began pouring the water. Still sunk.

Next cuppa will be made with a gently bashed teabag.

It is a scientific fact that tea lubricates the brain.

Milk maybe be the culprit as I don't have any (or sugar). I normally just add boiling water and remove almost instantly using fingers hence my desire for floaters.

Six o'clock cuppa : Floater

Very interesting, I gave the teabag a good work over prior to placing it in the cup and was amazed to see the remarkable buoyancy that is displayed.
This little fella understood where the surface was and had no intention of ducking below I, we may have cracked it.

Like Guy Martin, I always put the milk in first, the overall result is an emulsion, which is a far better result than a mixture... it’s all about the molecular reaction between the hot water and the milk.

It is also the best way to control the volume of milk, ensuring consistency.

For fun, try putting hot water in to your cup, nothing happens, the chemical reaction requires heat.

Tetley teaman puts floor sweeping into the cheap stuff.

Angoose
I, we may have cracked it. . I expected the opposite to happen!

I used to have milk and always put it in first. My reasoning was that you could take it out if you put too much in to start but couldn't take it out if you added too much after.

It's a small sample but does provide a working hypothesis for further testing

Keep us informed please.

There's always someone that tries to spoil the fun though:
https://www.quora.com/Why-dont-teabags-sink-to-the-bottom

https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/412354/why-do-tea-bags-sometimes...

There are a lot of threads on this which I never expected.

Put the t bags in first and then add boiling water without milk.  That should float the bags everytime.

Aug 26, 2019 -- 7:12PM, TheBetterBettor wrote:

Put the t bags in first and then add boiling water without milk.

Reply went missing.
That's my  technique and generally produces floaters.

Milk first with instant coffee / tea from a pot otherwise boiling water first on a teabag, for me.  Never considered floaters vs sinkers before - I will study this over my next ten cuppas!

I've heard that said before about Tetley, Flush.  Tesco Finest Earl Grey is my current fav.

My theory is that as you pour the water into the cup, if it hits the teabag roughly and causes turbulence then some air bubbles that are captured by the pouring water will adhere to the bag or the tea and it will float, pour the water slowly and carefully and the bag will sink.

Two cuppas already this morning with the following results:

First Cuppa : Patted down the teabag and placed it in the cup in advance of the kettle having boiled. Remained submerged when water introduced.

Second Cuppa : Patted down the teabag but held on to it until kettle was boiled, released teabag in to cup only when water pouring had commenced. Good buoyancy displayed, floater.

It would appear that allowing the milk to soak in to the teabag has a detrimental impact on its floatation characteristics.
Only insert the teabag when water is available.

I will do a test where I place the teabag in the cup but with no milk to assess if it will float to the surface if not weighed down.
This test will be performed with and without the patting down process.

Two floaters this morning, so far.  Boiling water straight on the bag - without patting it or anything :)

Cuppa 3 - floater (circular T.E.Stockwell bag).  Previous two were Tesco Finest Earl Grey square bags.

They ALL had air in but squishing it out makes them sink.  End of Fred?

I love this thread. It's funny, intriguing and light-hearted - the best this year (personally).

Does the shape of the teabag a factor too eg round, square and triangle? My method would be; milk 1st; then teabag (Tetley); boiling water. Then stir continuously for about 10sec, rest for a similar time and press/squeeze with back of spoon until visually appealing/correct (to me) - usually for about 5 secs. Job done.

Then I'd re-use the teabag again as I do not like it too strong.

2 Yorkshire tea bags this morning both floated. Bags put in cup firth then water added.

Only sank after being thoroughly squished.

^first even

having serious problems with tea bags recently yet more evidence of so called advances,progress resulting in something you,ve done everyday for 30 years no longer works,
I need strong tea and squeeze the bag as much as possible but modern day tera bags burst very easily father in law having same problems ,lots of tea bags even Yorkshire tea now seem weaker with a funny smell ,tried the lot lately looking for one that's palatable without success, a lady in the road gets rington,s delivered and they do a double strength tea bag meant to get 2 cups of tea from at the same time,so I use it in one cup to get a strong brew and is best I can find at moment get delivered to her house and she drops em off
ringtons breakfast 2 cup tea bags

Perhaps the hardness or softness of the water contributes to the equation.

think snowflakes liking tea tasting and looking like dishwater need adding to the equation
for anyone in the north east with long long memories HINTONS own brand tea bags have yet to be bettered over 35 years later, pure quality