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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

#141

Post by sixstringtheory »

a-wu wrote: post #87
okcando wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been trying to avoid groceries that come with single-use plastic and it's tough. Grapes and cherry tomatoes come in plastic bags or cartons, even at salt-of-the-earth type places. Meat or cheese from the deli gets a zip lock. There's no way to use the olive bar without grabbing a plastic carton, in various sizes. I wouldn't have even suspected the tea bags themselves. I assume some of them are still made with na…

At the higher-end grocery stores near me (Whole Foods, Nugget, etc), you can bring your own container and tare it before filling. Maybe you can see if your local grocery store can do this at the deli/olive bar?

I've been doing this a while. At the big stores, cashiers are always happy to do it, it's just a mild inconvenience because they rarely know how to tare on their machines–they always have to call over a manager and figure it out together. I figure if enough people do it, they'll get used to it, but I don't hold hope for that, judging by the stares we get from everyone waiting in line behind us. It feels like the average person feels more averse to what we're trying to accomplish.

Our local co-op is a lot more streamlined for this, they even do periodical sales for people who bring reusable containers.

Our next goal is to bring our own containers when we eat out, in case we don't finish the food and want to bring the rest home. Often times we purposely order more than we can finish so we get a greater variety of things to share and a whole extra meal the next day.

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

#142

Post by test1235 »

joshvm wrote: post #127
smn1234 wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ever tried T2?

We've been using Tea Pigs which is pretty good (and about half the price of T2). Not sure I could taste the difference at that price point, but we have a T2 locally.

No opinion on the quality of their tea, but Tea Pigs was the first brand which came to mind when I read 'plastic teabag': https://www.teapigs.co.uk/tea/shop-by-category/black/single-...

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

#143

Post by duxup »

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.

Much like lesser quality pizza... it's still pizza and I'm happy to eat it. It's not as good as other pizza, but it has its place.

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

#144

Post by comtn »

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.

Celestial Seasons uses high quality ingredients, offering tours for anyone in the Boulder, Colorado area. They also use a patented pillow bag according to their FAQ:

unique pillow-style tea bag that doesn't need a string, tag, staple or individual wrapper—and as a result, we save 3.5 million pounds of waste from entering landfills every year.

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

#145

Post by petre »

roboys wrote: post #53
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.

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…

Yup, exactly. I used to call Lipton "tea broomed off the ship's hold". But fillers? That explains why it tastes like paper. It isn't the paper bag.

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

#146

Post by JJMcJ »

roboys wrote: post #53
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.

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…

You don't see it often in stores but I have had Lipton loose leaf tea brewed in a tea pot.

That is much better than the tea bags. Of course since it's loose leaf it can't be dust.

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

#147

Post by SolaceQuantum »

zokier wrote: post #120
SolaceQuantum wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I buy my own tea bags, paper with a string, and fill it myself.

I've considered that too to get better tea at work, but for me the biggest blocker so far is that I'm so doubtful of some random chinese bags from ebay, considering how steeping in my view feels very adept process of extracting any harmful crap that the bags might have and this is something that very much would give repeated exposure. Am I just being too paranoid?

I don't use reusable tea bags, nor do I resteep. If simple paper/bamboo fiber bags are that bad, you'd be in trouble either way, since they're also used as spice bags for soups, curries, sauces, etc.

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

#148

Post by captainredbeard »

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?

Ti Kuan Yin is a very approachable oolong that is widely available.

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

#149

Post by dunham »

okcando wrote: post #58
mikestew wrote: post #43

Ugh, yet another "hmm, never thought of that" thing to worry about, but it comes at a good time. I was just giving thought to going to back to loose leaf and a tea ball as I was preparing some Trader Joe's Earl Grey that comes in an individual plastic wrapper, along with a string and a bag, and whatever else. For a cup of tea. I'm one step away from a Kuerig. Other brands in the cupboard aren't a whole lot better on…

I've been trying to avoid groceries that come with single-use plastic and it's tough. Grapes and cherry tomatoes come in plastic bags or cartons, even at salt-of-the-earth type places. Meat or cheese from the deli gets a zip lock. There's no way to use the olive bar without grabbing a plastic carton, in various sizes. I wouldn't have even suspected the tea bags themselves. I assume some of them are still made with na…

The "bags" that they're alluding to are "Tea Forté" - but they're carefully avoiding naming names. It's pretty easy to tell that the material is plastic.

It's loose tea in a finely perforated plastic pyramid with a paper leaf on top as a handle. They're marketed to people willing to pay extra for the appearance of the bag.

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

#150

Post by powerset »

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?

If you're willing to splurge a bit I recommend artoftea.com. Their purple oolong and earl grey are crazy good.
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