See that roll above? That’s tea bags, that is. Or at least, it will be soon.

Our Twitter friend Brian asked us a question the other day – why do Yorkshire Tea bags come in pairs?

Simple: it’s so they don’t fall over.

Picture that roll of paper. It’s about as wide as four tea bags, until it feeds into our factory machine and a blade cuts it down the middle. The result is two continuous strips of paper, each as wide as two tea bags.

One of these strips becomes the bottom of the tea bag. It feeds through the machine, where little portions of tea are placed onto it in pairs. A roller applies the other strip on top, sandwiching the tea in. A bit like ravioli.

A spot of heat then seals the edges, a second blade perforates the middle, then the bags are chopped horizontally into pairs, stacked into 80s and popped into the box.

So why pairs? Well, think about the shape of a single tea bag – it’s flat at the edges but plumper in the middle, where the tea is. Stack 40 of those on top of each other and you’d get a pretty wobbly pile.

Pair them up, however, and they’re much more stable. It makes them easier for us to work with, and stops them falling all over the place when you open the box.

Proper tea bags, properly packed, for a proper brew. We think that stacks up rather nicely.