The best way to seal tea bags in mass production

If you’re a tea bag producer, understanding the significance of effective sealing methods for various tea bag types is crucial.

A poor seal can compromise the freshness of your tea bags, potentially leading to decreased sales and dissatisfied customers.

Fortunately, numerous sealing techniques are available for different types of tea bags in mass production.

In this blog post, we’ll explore the most efficient methods for sealing different tea bag styles, such as pyramid, square, or round tea bags, ensuring they retain their quality and appeal.

Stay tuned for in-depth insights!

Overview of the best way to seal tea bags in mass production

When sealing tea bags in mass production, the most important thing is to make sure that all of the bags are sealed correctly so that the tea bag cut is flat and does not leak.

There are a few different ways to go about it, like heat sealing, ultrasonic sealing, or stitching with staples.

Each method has its own set of pros and cons that you’ll need to consider before choosing the best one for your business.

Here’s a quick overview of each method:

Heat sealing method

Heat sealing or thermal bonding is a common sealing form for tea bag packaging, which welds one thermoplastic to another similar thermoplastic by using heat and pressure. 

Heat flows from the bars through the material to the seal interface, and then film surfaces are held together.

This is the most common way to seal tea bags in mass production. It’s fast, efficient, and relatively inexpensive.

However, heat sealing can sometimes cause the tea bags to curl, which can make them difficult to stack and package.

In this video, we show how heat-sealing technology is used in tea bag packaging.

Suitable packaging material

Tea bag paper, Aluminum foil film, and Laminated film.

Pros of heat seal tea bags

• Heat sealing is simple, The technology has been applied for a long time, and it is mature and safe. As long as you control the temperature, pressure, and contact time, you can get a perfect tea package. Moreover, the supply of spare parts is sufficient, so the maintenance cost is relatively low.
• In the outer bag package of the single teabag, heat sealing provides an excellent result, combine with Nitrogen filling technology or vacuum packing type, the tea product would keep a long shelf life.

Cons of heat seal

• The temperature produced during heat sealing may affect the quality of tea leaves or ground coffee.
• The tea bag needs a wide sealing area to ensure the sealing effect, so more packaging materials are needed. when packing the tea powder, some powder may appear at the sealing place, affecting the sealing effect.

Ultrasonic seal

In the field of food packaging, ultrasonic welding is a technology that joints two film roll parts together to form a strong and tight bag.

Generated by a series of components, The high-frequency vibration energy was transferred to the interface between the two films, it makes generating friction at the inside of the film, and causing the films to melt.

This method is becoming more popular because it doesn’t cause the tea bags to curl. It’s also very fast and efficient.

In this video, the ultrasonic sealer is applied to the packaging of nylon pyramid tea bags.

Suitable packing materials

No-woven fabric, Nylon mesh, PLA mesh.

Pros of ultrasonically welded tea bags

• Reducing cost. Ultrasonic sealing has higher accuracy. The sealing of the tea bag is smooth and tight, and the sealing edge is narrow, so more tea bags can be made in the unit roll film. It can help you reduce material consumption and cost.

• Suitable for temperature-sensitive products. Unlike heat sealing, heat is input from the outside to the bag film, the heat of ultrasonic sealing is caused by molecular friction inside the film. During the welding process, the parts in contact with the film remain cold state The resulting temperature has no effect on the aroma and quality of tea materials.
• More efficient. Compared with the heat seal, when the seal is completed, there is almost no cooling time, and the relevant parts remain cold and can work for a long time. In addition, ultrasonic sealing technology does not need a long-term energy supply to maintain the heat needed for heat sealing, so it also saves energy consumption.
• High sealing success rate. Ultrasonic sealing can avoid sealing failure caused by pollution at the sealing place. the high-frequency vibratory action could disperse smaller tea fragments or coffee powder out of the seal area. This improves seal repeatability and reliability.

Cons of ultrasonically welded tea bags

The price of the ultrasonic sealing device is relatively high, but compared with its sealing quality and efficiency, it is completely negligible, isn’t it?

Stitching with staples

Tea bag stitching with staples is a fast and efficient way to seal tea bags.

And the sealed tea bag is cold-sealed, which will keep the contents of the tea bag fresh.

To seal tea bags with this method, simply place the tea bag in the desired location, then run the machine over it.

Then, a label is placed over the filter paper. Next, the thread is passed through the label and around the opening of the bag.

The tea bag machine automatically links the hard label and thread with a staple.

Suitable packing materials

The packing materials are non-heat-sealed filter paper, label, thread, and staple.

Pros of tea bag stitching with staples

• Sealed tea bags stitched with staples tend to be more durable and less likely to tear, making them a good choice for many businesses.
• The equipment is easy to operate, with a high degree of automation, and can be completed in one step. The packaging speed is fast, and it can seal 100 tea bags per minute.

Cons of tea bag stitching with staples

• The price of the tea bag stitching machine is relatively high.
• The staples may rust over time, which can affect the quality of the tea bags.
• The tea bags may be difficult to open if the staples are not placed correctly.

How to choose the best sealing method for your tea bag production?

When sealing tea bags, the type of seal and the material used are important factors to consider.

There are three main types of seals: heat seal, ultrasonic seal, and cold seal.

• Heat seal is the most common type of seal and is best for sealing non-porous materials.
• The ultrasonic seal is best for sealing both porous and non-porous materials but is more expensive than the other two types of seals.
• The cold seal（tea bag stitching with staples） is best for sealing porous materials and is less likely to cause damage to the material.

The type of material you are sealing tea bags will also affect the sealing method you choose.

For example, if you are sealing tea bags made of paper, you will want to use a hot sealer to prevent the paper from tearing.

If you are sealing tea bags made of cloth, PLA, or nylon, you will want to use a cold or ultrasonic sealer to prevent the fabric from fraying.

No matter what type of seal or material you choose, it is important to test the sealer on a small piece of the material before sealing a large batch of tea bags.

This will ensure that you are happy with the results before sealing tea bags for your entire supply.

We have taken this into consideration for you and we offer a free trial packing service for our tea bag packaging machine customers.

Conclusion

If you are looking for a fast, efficient way to seal tea bags, xhteapack’s tea bag machine is a perfect choice.

With a packing speed of 50-70 tea bags per minute, this machine can get the job done quickly and easily.

Plus, the machine is easy to operate and has a high degree of automation, making it a great choice for businesses of all sizes.