Spilling the tea: Six60 drummer Eli Paewai reveals you've been using your teabag wrong

Has Six60's Eli Paewai unleashed a tea secret on our nation? Photo / TVNZ

While watching Six60's Till the Lights Go Out last night on TVNZ, I was struck with a truly baffling revelation.

Their stories were powerful, their talent was undeniable, but what shook me to the core, was finding out I have been making my tea wrong my whole life. And you probably have too.

During the documentary which followed New Zealand music's five favourite fellas, we got a look into the homes and truly humbling backgrounds of the band.

And during drummer Eli Paewai's home visit, he stopped to make a cuppa and revealed what he had recently learned about that tag at the end of the tea bag string.

"Found out the other day what this is for," the talented drummer declared while holding the tea bag tag in his fingers.

"You put it under the cup," laughed Paewai, as he tucked the small tag on the string under the base of his cup to keep it put.

Eli where have you and your tricks been my whole life? Photo / TVNZ

I immediately rose from my seat, walked into the kitchen, tucked the tea bag tag under the cup and stood there humbled in this new knowledge.

He was right. It was the perfect length to be tucked underneath a mug and stayed put so much better than a classic handle wrap around.

I would never have to watch my tea bag tag fall into my cup with the weight of the boiling water, and I was thrilled.

So I took to the internet to find out if everyone else knew and it had just been me living under a tea-shaped rock this whole time. But nobody knew.

There were inventions, like the tea bag button buddy, and various weights you could attach to the string, even some pegs were in the mix. But the internet was free of simple tea tag tucking tips.

Could the brilliant Paewai have cracked the cuppa code? I was determined to find out.

Tea companies need look no further for their newest ambassador. Photo / TVNZ

According to the good people at Bell Tea, tucking the tag under your cup is a great idea as long as the cup is "the correct height".

As Bell's Monique Durrant reveals, "The tag is there to avoid burnt fingers and alleviate the need for a spoon.

"Remember, great tea takes three minutes to brew for that feel alive flavour!"

And while it's not quite the intended use for the tag, Dilmah's brand manager Jon Houldsworth still suggests Kiwis "do try it".

"Absolutely this is a great use of the teabag tag. While not specifically designed with this in mind, the tag teabag comes in handy in a number of situations," says Houldsworth.

"In New Zealand at home we're predominantly a tagless teabag market (often called a pot bag).

"Tag teabags are popular in hospitality, where the strings and tag are often wound around the handle of the cup of pot and to avoid over-steeping allows you to tie the bag up 'higher' in the cup as the water level drops so that the tea is not sitting in the water longer than needed - ideally 3 mins for black/fruit/herbal and 2 mins for green tea."

And when it comes to the ideal brew, it turns out the key comes down to "agitation".

"The ideal brewing of tea requires agitating the leaf as well so the gentle dip and dunk of the bag while brewing help to get proper extraction and a tip is to never squeeze the bag out too hard by jamming the bag against the inside of the cup/pot with a spoon.

"A nice hack with string and tag bags is to lift the bag out on the spoon and wrap the string around the bag which gently releases all the excess water without forcing out the more bitter tastes."

So for a tea as smooth and delicious as the sounds of Six60, be sure to keep that spoon smooshing at bay.

Eli Paewai's (far left) tea knowledge may have changed the tea brewing game forever. Photo / Getty Images