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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

#161

Post by shanecleveland »

madhadron wrote: post #156
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?

I mail ordered from TeeGschwendner ( https://www.teegschwendner.de/en ) for years, and their quality is very solid. I stopped because our local yarn store (!) had a truly excellent looseleaf tea selection. Sadly, going to an upscale tea place in an urban area does not guarantee you decent tea, nor are places consistent. There are places that have nice blacks and greens, but utterly miserable rooibos (this is quite co…

Thanks. I bought some loose black tea from a shop in NYC's Chelsea Market last year. I figured I would be in for a treat, but it was completely bland and tasteless. Been hesitant to splurge much since then, but will definitely be checking these recommendations.

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

#162

Post by justsee »

smacktoward wrote: post #110
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.

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…

As I understand it even the 'paper' teabags contain plastic which is why they shouldn't ever be disposed with any organics waste (and possibly raise similar health concerns due to being immersed in boiling water before being ingested).

A quick search reveals an article[1] stating:

> Most bags, including those made by the five leading tea brands in the UK – PG Tips, Tetley, Twinings, Typhoo, and Yorkshire Tea – use non-biodegradable polypropylene as sealants in their bags. A spokesperson from the makers of Yorkshire Tea confirmed to Resource: “Our tea bag material contains around 25 per cent polypropylene (PP) which we believe is typical for the market. It’s a component of the material that allows us to heat seal the bag.”

[1] https://resource.co/article/should-you-put-tea-bags-your-foo...

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

#163

Post by sgt »

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.

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.

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

#164

Post by saghm »

fao_ wrote: post #158
comtn wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> 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. Assuming the tea actually sells Do the 'pillow-style tea bag's use plastic?

> 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 seem to me like they're some type of paper or light fabric, but it might be made from plastic.

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

#165

Post by jmharvey »

sandworm101 wrote: post #154
comtn wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

>> we save 3.5 million pounds of waste from entering landfills 3.5 million pounds? Of tiny strings and staples? Wouldn't that require literally billions of teabags to reach 3.5 million pounds saved?

Celestial Seasons FAQ [1] says they sell 1.6 billion cups of tea per year, so this would work out to about 5 grams per serving, which seems around the right ballpark for the entire tea bag. Maybe their thinking is that without the staples, the tea bags are compostable, so they don't go in a landfill?

[1] http://www.celestialseasonings.com/learn-about-us/faqs

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

#166

Post by chadcmulligan »

sgt wrote: post #163
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.

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. Its way cheaper than specialty tea shops - they're around $10 to $20 for 100grams, way to much for the amount of tea I drink :-), but nice for a weekend change.

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

#167

Post by autoexec »

simias wrote: post #26
dragontamer wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Loose tea is often cheaper and of better quality in my experience. This is indeed my experience as well. Still, the convenience factor of Lipton tea cannot be understated. I'm personally willing to bring in my own tea, metal strainers + teaspoon measurement to my workplace for example (hot-water is usually available in most offices). But that's probably too much for a lot of people. In contrast, you can usually get…

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.

I was using this infuser but it's also plastic and might be a problem: https://www.amazon.com/Fred-SLOW-BREW-Sloth-Infuser/dp/B00V6...

I might go back to non-plastic bag tea (usually stash or celestial seasonings)

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

#168

Post by NullPrefix »

londons_explore wrote: post #12
sleavey wrote: post #3

Plastic tea bags aside, I was shocked to learn that many paper tea bags still use plastic glue [1], which can contaminate compost. [1] https://www.countryliving.com/uk/create/food-and-drink/news/...

There really aren't many glues which are compostable, non-plastic, non-toxic and can withstand 10 minutes of boiling water.

Does the bag have to be held by chemical means? Mechanical hold, for example a thread would work too.

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

#169

Post by thinnerlizzy »

mumblemumble wrote: post #132
brokenkebab wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

FWIW, I'm personally fond of tea dust for cold brew, too. This summer I've been very much enjoying gyokuro dust steeped overnight in the fridge as my morning beverage. Not only is it less expensive than the whole leaf stuff (essentially free vs. some of the most expensive tea I own), but I think that works better with that brewing method, too. Probably the main reason I don't use Lipton instead of the good stuff when…

I've been using Lipton for this purpose and don't like all the packaging either. What do you use to contain the dust while you brew overnight? I make mine in a pitcher that lasts a few days.

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

#170

Post by DoctorOetker »

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'm wondering to what extent cleaning sponges are responsible? they are used a lot longer and endure repeated scrubbing sessions.
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