かつて缶入り緑茶もペットボトルもなかった時代、汽車旅行のための駅弁といっしょに、土瓶入り緑茶が販売されていました。やがてこの土瓶はプラスチック容器に代わり、中身もティーパックを入れてお湯を注ぐ形へと変化します。現在ではほとんど見られなくなりましたが、缶やペットボトル入り緑茶の先輩とよべる存在です。

When people travel in Japan by train, they often buy packed meals called “ekiben” at the station, and a plastic bottle or can of green tea is a common accompaniment.

Before cans and plastic bottles for beverages were invented, green tea was sold in pottery bottles (“do-bin”), shaped similarly to teapots, with packed meals.

However pottery bottles gradually fell into disuse and were replaced by plastic containers with tea bags so that people could add hot water to brew their own tea. These days, you hardly ever see these, either, but they were the forerunners of the contemporary plastic bottles and cans.