![]() Many organic loose leaf tea brands come in easy to store tins or eco-friendly packaging. Organic loose leaf tea can be made just as conveniently and it’s typically more flavorful because the tea leaves haven’t been ground to dust to fit into a tiny plastic-riddled tea bag! If you’ve used bagged tea because you thought loose leaf was too much trouble, you’re in for a pleasant surprise. Other great options are tea bags made from organic cotton, hemp, or certain plant fibers. You can also choose brands that don’t use bisphenol-A (BPA), phthalates, or polypropylene. L-theanine, an amino acid compound found in green tea, has been studied for its calming effects on the nervous system.” HOW TO AVOID PLASTIC IN TEAĪlthough the bigger tea bag manufacturers seem hesitant to make the switch to plastic-free bags, you don’t have to wait to start drinking tea the safer and eco-friendly way. They provide green tea’s stimulant effects. “Green tea also contains alkaloids including caffeine, theobromine, and theophylline. EGCG is the most studied polyphenol component in green tea and the most active.” Green tea contains six primary catechin compounds: catechin, gallaogatechin, epicatechin, epigallocatechin, epicatechin gallate, and apigallocatechin gallate (also known as EGCG). The University of Maryland Medical Center reports that, “Polyphenols contained in teas are classified as catechins. Although too much caffeinated tea can lead to a lack of sleep, just the right amount before bedtime is one of the many therapies that are recommended to put an end to raucous snores, leading to better overall sleep as well. Tea is known to alleviate acne, bad breath, colds, stress, and prevent eye diseases like glaucoma. The rich antioxidants (also called polyphenols) in green tea are extremely beneficial to the heart and brain. One would think making the switch to plastic-free tea bags would be easy, but many tea manufacturers protest that non-plastic bags would be too costly to implement. And as we’ve covered many times, endocrine disruptors can lead to a plethora of health issues and other maladies that can become chronic conditions ( source). Like most plastics, polypropylene is known to adversely affect the body’s endocrine system ( source). This makes them a bad option for compost material and the environment… not to mention your body! Even though the amounts of plastic found in tea bags is minimal - and vary between manufacturers - it adds up to quite a bit when you look at the big picture.ĭue to the plastic content, conventional tea bags cannot completely decompose. In order for the tea bags to seal up and keep their shape in hot liquid, a plastic polymer, namely polypropylene, must be added. So why is plastic in tea bags to begin with? ![]() With millions upon millions of cups consumed daily, this adds up to a lot of plastic. It may be hard to believe, but most brands of bagged tea contain plastic. You can watch how tea bags made ( see it here) to see how plastic is incorporated. Yet about a quarter of each tea bag (from most brands) is comprised of this substance. When you look at a tea bag, plastic usually isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. A cup of tea contains thousands of times greater mass of plastic, at 16 micrograms per cup.” “Table salt, which has a relatively high microplastic content, has been reported to contain approximately 0.005 micrograms plastic per gram salt. “We think that it is a lot when compared to other foods that contain microplastics,” Nathalie Tufenkji of McGill University in Quebec, told The New Scientist.
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