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So serious.....yet, fun. (Victoria, I watch America Test Kitchen sometimes even though I never buy any of the stuff that is tested.)

I think one must remember to get tea together at the bottom of a bag; squeeze air out; fold bag over as close to the tea as possible; &, then use the clip. Folding twice seems difficult.

I'll work on it. Dayuling that I drink is good for one less infusion after 2 weeks. (At its price 6 instead of 7 infusions means something.)

Thanks for sharing the science!

@Ethan Kurland I’m an America’s Test Kitchen fan as well, especially when they test recipes. The cast of characters are hilarious.

Here is Gripstic patent. Very thoughtfully and efficiently designed and I love that it takes up almost no space.

Inventors: Jae-Ho Ha, Seung-Taek Lee
https://patents.google.com/patent/US7503696B2/en

With a binder clip you can fold multiple times, pretty sure no water would drip out at all. Kind of like some messenger bags nowadays.

Bok wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 24, 2019 8:14 pm

With a binder clip you can fold multiple times, pretty sure no water would drip out at all. Kind of like some messenger bags nowadays.

Can you do an experiment? Would be nice to see.

Sure! Give me some time to have an empty pack to test.

Bok wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 24, 2019 8:39 pm

Sure! Give me some time to have an empty pack to test.

Perfecto. Bottoms up

So my results with binder clips are in as well. I used to identical make standard Taiwanese tea packs and used two different ways of folding before using the clip. Pictures will illustrate below.

Version A is a left-fold, right-fold and then roll tightly method.

Version B is roll down tightly as close to the tea as you dare method, usually reserved for more fragile teas.

Both identical volume of water, hung over-head and -night.

Both did leak water, none emptied completely though.
A did drip immediately, B a little slower.

I think some of it might have to do with the stiffness and properties of those particular bags, there are other materials which seem softer, more like a wine bottle metal wrap than plastic, which I suspect to close tighter. More tests are in order for definitive conclusions.

I still urge everyone to stick to non-plastic use methods or just deal with a little airflow and consume faster, rather than to sacrifice our planet for convenience, bad enough we have not enough alternatives for keeping the tea fresh in the first place... Especially not to give them away for free with orders, when some will just throw it away. If someone really needs it, they will buy it. Every little gesture counts.

Personally I consume greener teas fast and have only one open to deal with freshness issues, more robust teas go into caddies of various kinds.

Folding method A

And final step of rolling tightly

Good experiment @Bok. Thanks for doing it. Looks like both our sealing devises are not completely air tight. I doubt most traditional tea caddies are airtight either. So for airtight seals impulse or vacuum seals seem to be the best way to go. I prefer the design and compactness (for storing) of the Gripstic, maybe someone can make them out of metal . Certain bags can’t take Gripstic so I’ll use binder clips for those. At the moment, I have a huge amount of samples in small mylar foil bags so quick sealing devices are very convenient and on my mind.

Our tea comes packed in plastic, and shipping internationally is far worse than using a plastic rod that can be reused for decades (and can be recycled)! The rods do get reused, which is better than plastic strips on packaging (which will get discarded, especially if there is paper bonded to the packaging). I send the rods out with every order because I believe they're a more eco-friendly alternative to zippered bags or bags with paper stuck to plastic with adhesive. They're certainly a lot more likely to get reused than your average single-use plastic bag!

People absolutely love them, too, and use them for other vendors' tea (and all around the house as well)!

These gripstic bag sealers are the perfect size for Darjeeling teas I’m sampling, and taking up no space.

if your bag is too big for your clip, you can try this trick:


be sure to make the cut a bit smaller than the length of the clip.

I'm sold, I totally need a couple of these. And yeah, it would save me the use of the plastic bag I use when the teabag gets too tiny to manage, as well as the rubber bands I use on tiny bags.

I bought a few of these gripstics both small and medium. I have some Airscape containers that I keep them, so I'll see how that works out.