Premium teabags leak billions of particles

[Nenad]

Canadian researchers found that some plastic tea bags shed high levels of microplastics into water.

I would like to know what's your opinion about this matter?

Apparently, most teabags are made from paper, with a small amount of plastic used to seal them shut. But some premium brands have switched to using greater amounts of plastic mesh for their product instead.

Do you use loose teas that is sold without packaging or other teas that come in paper teabags, or you are not bothered which packaging is used?

[sweetbet]

Microplastics in teabags and bottled water are a tiny fraction of the numerous factors that can contribute to ill health, including cancer. I think that there are only so many things that a person can do to be healthy such as diet, exercise, losing weight, getting enough sleep, worrying less, meditating, quitting smoking, etc, but I don't want to worry about every single little thing that can cause this or that. If I did, then I might end up wearing a surgical mouth and nose mask, and living in a sterile bubble environment.

[Sherlock]

I am tealover and tea fanatic. I like almost all teas, green, white, black, red, yellow, puers... So those obviously are prepared always without the teabags in special way (water temperature&duration) in special pots. Even there somehow I always felt the green ones are the most pure. After all it makes sense, because they are not fermented. After reading the article it makes even more sense, because they are the least touched ones I guess.

But I have also my guilty pleasure and that is common earl grey tea for breakfasts. At home drink it also pure (=not in bags), because it tastes a bit better than the one in bag, even when the bag is just paper one. But I think the reason is that the tea in bags is a bit worn off, with smell vanishing. It makes sense, if the tea is divided into 2grams doses. Sometimes the teabags are not even separately packed. But obviously the tea bags are practical for journeys.

Occasionally I had the plastic bag teas, but honestly I did not see anything weird. But there can be several reasons: I do not know those teas as un-bagged. Also - and here I do not agree with the article - all teas in bags are lower quality and not high quality. So the bags will never make huge difference. The teas in plastic bags are a bit pricey, the plastic is design thing I guess. But there is nothing luxurious about Harney and Sons except the brand. I mean those teas are like Heineken beer. Something below average, made for mass production, but with stable quality and something that you will thankfully drink on vacation in South America, because you know what you will get.

Nobody puts even mid-grade teas in plastic bags. I just drank Puer from 1985, it was sealed in bamboo for 34 years. That is a luxury.

I would not be surprised that the article might be right. I do not drink even cola or water from plastic, because it REALLY tastes like ****. And putting plastic into hot water, it can not be fully ok. However now there is a big campaign against microplasts and it has signs of mass hysteria.

But if this helps to many people who put boiling water over weird powder "Sencha" in bags for several minutes and then drink it, because they read that green tea is good for health or something like that, so the result is indeed something bitter and very ugly, then let's talk about it.

[Nenad]

Microplastics in teabags and bottled water are a tiny fraction of the numerous factors that can contribute to ill health, including cancer. I think that there are only so many things that a person can do to be healthy such as diet, exercise, losing weight, getting enough sleep, worrying less, meditating, quitting smoking, etc, but I don't want to worry about every single little thing that can cause this or that. If I did, then I might end up wearing a surgical mouth and nose mask, and living in a sterile bubble environment.

I totally agree with you. The only thing is that manufacturers are always using the cheapest option to pack their products, and that can be avoided. We can't worry about everything, that's for sure.

[Sherlock]

It is certain that we are supposed to be worried as consumers. This propaganda and ecology is just a carpet bombing with one hand and the second hand will sell you some nonsense (like ECO teabags 20x overpriced, where scientists will reveal in 2040 that the bamboo microfibres cause cancer right away).

But as I am now leaving Europe and going to wild finally I can tell one thing: if you live in civilisation just be prepared to pay for that with health. Until I discovered true untouched nature I was not able to imagine it, but the following is true: nothing anywhere in Europe, even bio-eco products, feels good compared to food that is from wild and eaten or drank there. Even the water from supposedly clean well in European mountains feels weird. Not to mention common supermarket food. It is the feeling that I have 1 hour after I eat or drink something... something is not right and it is hard to say what. It can be microplasts, chemicals, fertilizers, antibiotics or mix of everything together.

So solving some particular minor issue like teabags means that the real solution is postponed. The only question is if you want to live in nature and pay for that with lifestyle and also with money (because to get the same comfort in Nowhere cost much more than in city or relatively close to). Or if you decide to live in denser and denser villages, towns and cities in civilisation. Then one pays with health.

It is popular to think that one can have everything healthy even in cities, but there are other things like air, noise and light pollution that one does not feel that much if is raised in the city, but it is something real as well. The 1st world cities improved a lot in the cleanliness of everything, but that improvement has certain limits (for example big Japanese megacities are much cleaner in all aspects than small towns in 3rd world). Something dirty will be always where people live above certain density of population (let's say 1-2 people / sq km).

[Pokerface]

Wow, learn something every day. Never knew of heard of plastic tea bags until I read this post and researched it. Always thought of typical tea bags and loose tea. Who knew!

[Nenad]

It is certain that we are supposed to be worried as consumers. This propaganda and ecology is just a carpet bombing with one hand and the second hand will sell you some nonsense (like ECO teabags 20x overpriced, where scientists will reveal in 2040 that the bamboo microfibres cause cancer right away).

But as I am now leaving Europe and going to wild finally I can tell one thing: if you live in civilisation just be prepared to pay for that with health. Until I discovered true untouched nature I was not able to imagine it, but the following is true: nothing anywhere in Europe, even bio-eco products, feels good compared to food that is from wild and eaten or drank there. Even the water from supposedly clean well in European mountains feels weird. Not to mention common supermarket food. It is the feeling that I have 1 hour after I eat or drink something... something is not right and it is hard to say what. It can be microplasts, chemicals, fertilizers, antibiotics or mix of everything together.

So solving some particular minor issue like teabags means that the real solution is postponed. The only question is if you want to live in nature and pay for that with lifestyle and also with money (because to get the same comfort in Nowhere cost much more than in city or relatively close to). Or if you decide to live in denser and denser villages, towns and cities in civilisation. Then one pays with health.

It is popular to think that one can have everything healthy even in cities, but there are other things like air, noise and light pollution that one does not feel that much if is raised in the city, but it is something real as well. The 1st world cities improved a lot in the cleanliness of everything, but that improvement has certain limits (for example big Japanese megacities are much cleaner in all aspects than small towns in 3rd world). Something dirty will be always where people live above certain density of population (let's say 1-2 people / sq km).

That is well said, and couldn't agree more!
Especially with the following: "if you live in civilisation just be prepared to pay for that with health."
I would so like to have an opportunity to go to wild and live the life like our ancestors maybe. Back then, life was so easier in certain ways.

[DaftDog]

I think people who drink tea with the tea bag still in the cup stand the most chance of dying by choking on the bag itself.

[Former Member 14]

people who drink tea with the tea bag still in the cup

Every time I see someone doing that, I always think wtf???!!!

[Sherlock]

There are more things that make no sense about leaving the teabags in the tea. For example the taste. I have no idea why British people decided to ruin every good invention of humanity like trust or tea. Probably some English humour.

I would so like to have an opportunity to go to wild and live the life like our ancestors maybe. Back then, life was so easier in certain ways.

You have actually the opportunity because the wild is empty and emptier every day. Especially if you make money just online, since some internet is everywhere (worst by satellite, but still good enough for work). But as you say you would maybe like to live that life. Or maybe not. People prefer to live close to civilisation and pay with the health, because actually it is in many ways easier to live in civilisation. Just when we talk about food, it is found in cities for cheap price everywhere and fast, but with the junk quality. It is very different if you have to plant the food or plan going to local store for few hours in bad weather and then cook it for yourself.

People do not prefer to live in the wild. People prefer to live in cities and they prefer to dream about life in untouched world. The numbers speak: the cities grow, the periphery is being abandoned. Everyone has an excuse why they want to much to live there but they can not (like work, family), but in fact it is just that no one wants that life there in Instagram era. Everyone is ok with having the dreams: dreams about some pure life somewhere very far, but dreams have to be dreamt (or maybe followed on social media), not lived. So if the hipster latte/Mc Donald is not within a convenient range of bicycle or car, it is the actual problem. We are the civilisation junkies. We are the gamblers who can not resist to bet our health. But as the gamblers, we do not want to see who we really are and the games we play with ourselves.

[Nenad]

There are more things that make no sense about leaving the teabags in the tea. For example the taste. I have no idea why British people decided to ruin every good invention of humanity like trust or tea. Probably some English humour.


You have actually the opportunity because the wild is empty and emptier every day. Especially if you make money just online, since some internet is everywhere (worst by satellite, but still good enough for work). But as you say you would maybe like to live that life. Or maybe not. People prefer to live close to civilisation and pay with the health, because actually it is in many ways easier to live in civilisation. Just when we talk about food, it is found in cities for cheap price everywhere and fast, but with the junk quality. It is very different if you have to plant the food or plan going to local store for few hours in bad weather and then cook it for yourself.

People do not prefer to live in the wild. People prefer to live in cities and they prefer to dream about life in untouched world. The numbers speak: the cities grow, the periphery is being abandoned. Everyone has an excuse why they want to much to live there but they can not (like work, family), but in fact it is just that no one wants that life there in Instagram era. Everyone is ok with having the dreams: dreams about some pure life somewhere very far, but dreams have to be dreamt (or maybe followed on social media), not lived. So if the hipster latte/Mc Donald is not within a convenient range of bicycle or car, it is the actual problem. We are the civilisation junkies. We are the gamblers who can not resist to bet our health. But as the gamblers, we do not want to see who we really are and the games we play with ourselves.

Vera well said!
You're perfectly right regarding English humor.
About dreams and actual life. Again, couldn't agree more. Many of us are talking about how we would like to leave cities for life in the wilderness, but we are always finding some reasons for not taking that step.
I was living in the one of the most rural areas of my country, and I can tell it was very good life!
There were no so many people, I had no TV, no phone, etc...
We were getting food from the near farm, everything was natural.
Now you can do online business from almost every spot on the world, so for someone making money online, there are no excuses.
And yes, we are civilization junkies, we like to have everything served for us.

I have to say that your posts are excellent, and you are saying so many things that are true, but some of us are afraid to understand and to accept.
Again thanks for an excellent explanation.

[Sherlock]

Thank you, I hope I will keep posting even from the wild when only Bet365 will keep me paying like rich aunt from abroad

Yes it is stunning how we really have everything and even more we could dream of. I am buying now some property and the price of pristine lands are for hectare (10000 m2) cheaper than in cities for square meter and there are even cheaper ones. Instead of modest condo you can have many square kilometers; instead of high end apartment one can buy whole mountains. Something is so much off. But still if something has the investment value, it is the mountains and not the apartment.

But people will keep buying apartments and bandaid things with overpriced bio products.

I do not believe in self-driving cars and drone global revolution coming soon. But if somewhere it can work, it is the distant places with zero interference of other people. It is much harder for AI machines to do the job while trying to avoid accidents in megacities than in areas where the accident will not kill anybody and the difference in delivery time can be up to days instead of minutes. Maybe we will be surprised by some U turn in migration. I will bet on it.