Guess its back to using my led ball tea steeper.
Some tea bags may shed billions of microplastics per cup
101–110 of 270 posts
Re: Some tea bags may shed billions of microplastics per cup
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
My buddy used to work for Lipton. He explained that they use the cheapest grade of tea (dust) available. Also many tea companies mix non-tea additives (fillers) to their tea bags. After hearing this I decided, if it's not full loose leaf, I don't drink it. We found that companies like Elephant Chateau ( http://elephantchateau.com ) deliver the 3 highest grades of tea direct from Ceylon mountain estates with the optio…
To be fair, bagged tea exists because there are lots of buyers who only want quick refreshing non-coffee caffeine, and don't care for taste that much. Or sometimes they just want a background for those 100 g. of sugar you mentioned. Tea dust is a perfect match for this market, because it releases everything it holds to water immediately, while whole leaves may require some patience, and proper procedure.
We took a tour of Loolecondera Tea Estate aka James Taylor Tea Museum a few years back. I left with the idea that high quality tea manufacturers consider dust almost waste material.
Re: Some tea bags may shed billions of microplastics per cup
#103Very slightly related. I thought I could throw tetley tea bags in the yard, turns out they do not biodegrade at all. Even though the thing looks like natural fibers.. maybe they're just thin plastic fibers ?
Re: Some tea bags may shed billions of microplastics per cup
#104The use of "some" and "may" in titles always bothers me. Seems like there should be more concrete language available to state the point the article is attempting to make.
Yeah, if "some" is there it seems we should be confident enough to drop "may" or we should have looked into it a bit more before publishing...
Re: Some tea bags may shed billions of microplastics per cup
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've been using these tea balls in office environments: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51mTZ1eURrL... In terms of convenience I don't think it's significantly worse than sachets. But yeah, I do buy my own tea and store it in my drawer.
For those wanting to buy one, it's sold by IKEA as the Idealisk tea infuser, $1.99. Also available in lots of other stores, I guess. https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/idealisk-tea-infuser-stainless-...
Other price extreme: Vorwerk (of Thermomix fame) is selling a loose tea machine: https://temial.vorwerk.de/
Only 600 Euros!
Re: Some tea bags may shed billions of microplastics per cup
#106Modern tea paraphernalia is stupid. Like those fancy woven strings that act like wicks and dribble tea down the side. It's hard to even find normal tea anymore. I ask for tea and people ask "what flavor." And I'm like "tea flavor." My Bangladeshi mom uses Lipton tea bags and a bit of milk. Should be good enough for everybody.
At least in the US I've noticed pre-brewed iced tea has often switched to some sort of flavored tea (or a fountain drink). My best guess from working at a place that had pre-brewed tea is that they're hard to keep clean and people tend to like novelty. "Normal" (black iced) tea can taste really gross if the container isn't cleaned properly (or the water is bad quality). I've also seen where the container was soaked in chemicals and not washed out well. "Flavored" tea would mask this.
As for hot tea, unless you're at some specific restaurant where the default is more obvious I would at least expect "black or green" if not Earl Gray or a few other choices.
Re: Some tea bags may shed billions of microplastics per cup
#107The good thing, if you can call it that, is PET and nylon (what these silk teabags are made of) are some of the least reactive and most human-safe plastics you can put in your body.
Re: Some tea bags may shed billions of microplastics per cup
#108The use of "some" and "may" in titles always bothers me. Seems like there should be more concrete language available to state the point the article is attempting to make.
The flip side of this is that scientists are terribly difficult people to get to not hedge their statements.
It's just a consequence of the scientific mindset -- scientists are aware that today's results are always provisional, someone may come along tomorrow with a new discovery that overturns them. So they tend to avoid making definitive statements like saying something applies to all things, or that some thing is, favoring less definitive statements like something applies to some things, some thing may be, etc.
Re: Some tea bags may shed billions of microplastics per cup
#109The use of "some" and "may" in titles always bothers me. Seems like there should be more concrete language available to state the point the article is attempting to make.
just like titles that end in question marks... usually always bullshit
Re: Some tea bags may shed billions of microplastics per cup
#110Loose tea is often cheaper and of better quality in my experience. If you brew tea a lot using a reusable strainer seems like a much better choice. I'm also entirely convinced that these plastic pyramid-shaped bags are pure marketing. Then again, I find Lipton tea absolutely terrible regardless of the shape of the bag.
Putting aside the quality of the tea, a reusable strainer is always going to be a more environmentally friendly choice than one-time-use bags, and it may be a healthier choice as well (depending on how sanitary you keep the strainer).
But if you have to go with a one-time-use container, a paper bag seems like an improvement on both counts versus a plastic one. The article indicates that the only reason some brands go with the plastic bags is to appear more "premium," which if true is a great testament for how people are willing to strangle both themselves and the planet in order to accrue a couple extra status points.