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Some tea bags may shed billions of microplastics per cup

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Re: Some tea bags may shed billions of microplastics per cup

#231

Post by cjrp »

gambiting wrote: post #228
jdnenej wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People add sugar to tea O.O? I understand it for coffee but tea isn't even bitter. That's just insane.

Tea + lemon + sugar is the only way to drink it. True madness is milk in tea, those two liquids should just never go together. And coffee...I guess that's why the best most delicious coffee I buy is literally whatever is cheapest at Lidl - milk and sugar make all coffee taste acceptable. //obviously, I realize that people around the world have different tastes :P Where I am from literally no one drinks tea with milk,…

Lemon in Earl Grey is pretty common.

Re: Some tea bags may shed billions of microplastics per cup

#232

Post by limograf »

sharadov wrote: post #94
simias wrote: post #7

Loose 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.

Try PG Tips, it's the best tea you can get in a bag. Lipton is shit, I agree!

Hm I'd say Yorkshire Gold is the best tea bag. Second tier are Williamson Afternoon and Ringtons Breakfast, Yorkshire Red. Third tier, Twinings etc, acceptable but not lovely. PG Tips is on the third or fourth tier, at least.

Re: Some tea bags may shed billions of microplastics per cup

#233

Post by detritus »

jdnenej wrote: post #194
roboys wrote: post #53

Earlier 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…

People add sugar to tea O.O? I understand it for coffee but tea isn't even bitter. That's just insane.

Curiously, the world is a big place, filled with a variety of people who do things differently to each other.

I'm from 'The North' in Britain and I was raised to drink tea that would be bitter as hell if it didn't have at least a small amount of sugar and a light dash of milk in it. It's the sort of stuff that 'puts hairs on your chest' and gets me through a hard day's work, much like it did for my forebears.

I also like posh black tea on its own and I personally frown upon people who put loads of milk in the stuff, yet apparently quite a few tens of millions of people in India have it just so.

Crazy, huh?

Re: Some tea bags may shed billions of microplastics per cup

#234

Post by Dirlewanger »

hammock wrote: post #107

The 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.

So what? Doesn't mean we're expelling them. They could all be settling somewhere in our gut until one day we complain of an ache and find out we have a plastic tumor in us. Ending up like so many sea creatures dying from ingesting too much plastic.

Re: Some tea bags may shed billions of microplastics per cup

#235

Post by whenchamenia »

cjrp wrote: post #230
roboys wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't compare the grade of loose leaf I'm talking about to the dust Lipton sells, having tasted the difference. Even visually...it's like comparing champagne to cooking wine. Elephant Chateau - https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61N4gza3WuL... Lipton (similar look) - http://ongsambee.com.sg/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/tea-dust.... In this case the proof is in the pudding, and Lipton happens to make espec…

Isn't it just that the Lipton's content is crushed up, presumably to reduce brewing time?

No, lipton tends to get the cheap crushed remnants of better tea, and only processes whats left to consistency. Others start with whole leaf, and then diliberately crush and seive it to a givin size (selling the remnants to lipton). Not to say its bad tea, just a bit cheap and oxidized. And if going cheap, luzianne (sp?) is the one to grab. Lipton is reserved for weak iced tea imho.

Re: Some tea bags may shed billions of microplastics per cup

#236

Post by smackay »

mumblemumble wrote: post #186
saghm wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Assuming the tea actually sells Anecdotally, my mother has been drinking Celestial Seasons for as long as I can remember (i.e. 20-25 years), and at any given time has maybe a half dozen to a dozen boxes of various types of it. Given that I grew up drinking it, tea bags with a string and tag have always been super weird to me. > Do the 'pillow-style tea bag's use plastic? Based solely on appearance/texture, they see…

I'm pretty sure it's paper. From their FAQ: Our tea bags are manufactured through a totally chlorine-free (TCF) process, meaning that no dioxin is released into the environment. Plus, they never contain starch or gluten, and they're completely biodegradable and compostable—making them better for you and for our planet.

From: http://www.celestialseasonings.com/product-safety-facts

"On packaging, it’s important for you to know that our tea bag paper is made of a blend of natural, chlorine-free fibers, and does not contain epichlorohydrin."

The sentence comes off as a little evasive. It would have been better if they said exactly what the bags are made of. It seems reasonable to conclude they are plastic-free but I don't think you can be 100% sure unless it's explicitly stated.

Re: Some tea bags may shed billions of microplastics per cup

#237

Post by glenneroo »

jdnenej wrote: post #194
roboys wrote: post #53

Earlier 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…

People add sugar to tea O.O? I understand it for coffee but tea isn't even bitter. That's just insane.

I find most tea (baggies, leaves in a strainer, etc) taste the same and mainly just bitter. Same thing with coffee and alcohol, I can discern no difference between types when drinking anything containing any amount each. Tea is definitely bearable with some honey and milk though.

That's just my crazy taste buds though. The closest explanation for this is being a "supertaster"[1]. I've done the supertaster blue-dye tongue test but compared to my friends we saw no noticeable difference.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supertaster

Re: Some tea bags may shed billions of microplastics per cup

#238

Post by sgt »

chadcmulligan wrote: post #166
sgt wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where is this? I've never seen loose tea being cheaper. I mostly see loose tea being sold in premium tea stores, and their prices are exorbitant.

really? Loose tea is available in supermarkets in Australia, its actually a lot cheaper than tea bags, if you count by the cup. Its usually with the tea bags but up higher or lower on the shelves. 250g costs about $3.50AUD. Though I have noticed the amount of loose leaf tea is getting less over the years on the shelves. There's also less variety than they're used to be, I have to hunt around if I want an unusual one.…

Interesting - what types of teas are these? I assume not just the regular black tea?

Re: Some tea bags may shed billions of microplastics per cup

#239

Post by toastal »

shanecleveland wrote: post #121

I drink tea over coffee (for digestive reasons), and I assume I am missing out on really good tea. Any readily-available loose-leaf tea recommendations?

Pu'er isn't that uncommon and has a rather unique, earthy almost smoky flavor do to aging and fermentation. Personally I like it aged about 10 years as 5 is too weak and 15-20 too strong.

Re: Some tea bags may shed billions of microplastics per cup

#240

Post by mcv »

brokenkebab wrote: post #91
roboys wrote: post #53

Earlier 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.

Not all bagged tea is terrible. I usually use bags from Pickwick, which is okay. Not great, certainly not as good as high quality loose leaf, but good enough when I'm lazy or in a hurry.

I recently used some Lipton yellow label, though, and that was terrible. There's absolutely variation in quality, even among bagged tea.

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