Recommended configuration✓ Food-grade product-contact parts
| Recommended machine | Vertical Form-Fill-Seal (VFFS), tea-bag configuration |
| Filling system | Volumetric cup doser |
| Pack format | Three-side seal filter-paper tea bag (four-side also possible), with optional outer envelope |
| Bag size | Set to approximately 4 g per bag on our tea-configured machine |
| Output | Up to 60 bags/min at 4 g, inner and outer bag with product |
| Film | Heat-sealable filter paper |
| Options | Tag and string insertion; outer envelope station; heat or ultrasonic sealing |
| Build | SUS304 stainless steel as standard |
These are the tea products our tea bag machine packs, with the usual pack and the setup for each. A trial on your own leaf confirms the setup.
One machine forms, doses and seals. A tea bag is made on a vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) machine in tea-bag configuration: fitted with a filter-paper film path and a volumetric cup doser. The cup measures a fixed volume of leaf and drops it into the filter-paper bag as the bag is formed, so a tea bag making machine and a tea bag packing machine are the same machine here. Our tea-configured machine is set to approximately 4 g per bag; changing the dose means changing or adjusting the cup, a tooling change rather than a screen setting, so decide it before the machine is built.
Tags, envelopes and sealing. A tag and string, and on premium tea an outer envelope, are each a separate station on the tea bag machine, specified at quotation. Heat sealing and ultrasonic sealing are both configurations we supply, so you choose how each tea bag is sealed when the machine is specified. The multihead weigher used on the same VFFS frame for granules and snacks is not used for standard tea bags. Tea bag machines are built in SUS304 stainless steel as standard; SUS316 is specified only where the product carries salt, which plain tea does not.
Loose-leaf retail bags. Loose-leaf tea goes into a three-side seal gusseted retail bag on the same VFFS frame, in a different configuration from the tea-bag build, with a doser sized for the larger pack. The gusset makes it more involved to set up than a flat bag, but it can be run, so tell us at quotation stage if you plan to run both leaf tea and tea bags.
Pyramid bags and boxed tea. Pyramid tea bags can also be run on the same VFFS frame with a different fill-and-seal configuration. A pyramid pack is possible but not standard, so specify it at enquiry stage. Retail box counts are handled after the tea bag machine by a cartoning machine, not by a setting on the bagger.
Tea bags are sold plain, tagged or enveloped, each adding a station to the tea bag machine; loose-leaf retail bags are a separate configuration. Every tea pack below is a three-side seal bag. Four-side seal can be run, but three-side is by far the most common for tea. None is a pillow bag, which is the shape the same VFFS frame forms for powders and granules.
| Pack | Format | Machine setup |
|---|---|---|
| Plain tea bag | Three-side seal filter-paper bag, no tag | Cup doser and filter-paper film path. The base tea configuration |
| Tagged tea bag | Three-side seal filter-paper bag, with tag and string | Adds a tag and string insertion station |
| Enveloped tea bag | Three-side seal tagged bag, sealed inside an outer envelope | Adds an outer envelope station. The premium build, and the one most often asked for |
| Loose-leaf retail bag | Three-side seal and gusseted bag | A different configuration on the same VFFS frame. The gusset is what changes. It is more involved to set up than a flat bag, but it can be run |
Our tea-configured machine runs at up to 60 bags a minute, measured at a 4 g dose producing a finished inner and outer bag with product. That is the full pack and the most the machine will do.
The SAP-TB build packs 1 to 10 g per bag. A smaller dose runs faster and a larger dose runs slower. Leaf grade, dust load, paper feed, the number of finishing stations and changeover time pull tea bag output down in daily running, so treat 60 bags a minute as the ceiling. Your output is confirmed in writing with the quotation and settled by a trial on your leaf.
We have supplied tea bag machines in the SAP-TB build: a VFFS specified for tea, with ultrasonic sealing, an inner and outer bag, and a 1 to 10 g packing range. Heat sealing and ultrasonic sealing are both configurations we supply, so you choose the sealing method when your tea bag machine is specified.
We also run trials on our tea-configured machine. Send leaf of the grade you plan to pack and watch it run before you commit to a configuration, because dust load varies between tea grades.
Model codes shown are machines we have supplied and configured for previous projects. Your machine is specified and configured to suit your product, output and pack format — not supplied off the shelf.
Tea lines from our range: a double-bag tea machine that makes the inner filter bag and the outer envelope, and VFFS machines with the volumetric cup doser used for tea.
Our tea machine forming the inner filter bag and the outer envelope, filling and sealing each one automatically.
A vertical form-fill-seal machine with a volumetric cup doser, the dosing system used for tea.
A volumetric cup filler dosing granules into sachets on a vertical form-fill-seal machine.
A VFFS with a volumetric cup filler forming, filling and sealing small sachets.
A tea bag machine is quoted to configuration, so we need these details about your tea and your pack.
How a machine quotation is built is set out in the VFFS machine cost guide. Send us a sample of your tea and we will run it before you commit.
Tea is packed into filter paper rather than laminate film, and that one difference drives most of the tea bag machine’s configuration.
Filter paper, not laminate film. A tea bag is formed from heat-sealable filter paper, a porous material the brewing water passes through. The film path, web tension and sealing jaws are set up for paper, so a vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) machine running laminate film is not simply switched over to tea.
Leaf dust settles on the seal line. Cut leaf and fannings shed fine dust onto the area being sealed. Dust in the seal gives a weak bond, and a weak bond is a tea bag that opens in the cup.
Tea sits under both the powder and granule product forms, so this page sits under the powder packaging machines and the grain and granule packing machines. Coffee in sachets, bags and valve bags is covered on the coffee packaging machine page, and the full range is in the machine catalogue.
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Send us a sample of your tea and we will run it on our tea bag machine before you commit to anything.
No. A tea bag machine is a vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) machine configured for tea, with a filter-paper film path, a volumetric cup doser and tag or envelope stations where the pack needs them. Frame specifications are on the VFFS machine page.
Yes, with a tag and string insertion station fitted to the tea bag machine. It is an option, not part of the base build, so it is specified at quotation.
No. Plain and tagged tea bags are sold without one. The outer envelope is the premium presentation and needs its own station on the tea bag machine, so say at quotation if you want envelopes.
Yes, but not in the tea-bag configuration. Loose-leaf tea goes into a three-side seal gusseted retail bag on the same VFFS frame, with a doser sized for the larger pack. The gusset makes it more involved to set up, so tell us at quotation stage if you plan to run both leaf tea and tea bags.
