I decided to have a green tea because it’s healthier than soda. It’s healthier, right?
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Plastic tea bags are really disappointing. It’s not enough that plastic is everywhere thanks to tire dust, I have to drink it, too? Cool.
At home, I use loose leaf and a metal strainer. Makes less waste, and there’s no plastic.
I have to drink it, too?
If it makes you feel any better, there’s so much microplastic everywhere that there was going to be plastic in that water regardless of what the tea bag was made of.
And there’s not even really anything you can do about it. Reverse osmosis should be able to get rid of microplastics but the fucking containers for the filters are plastic and the lines running between them are plastic so they’re just going to reintroduce microplastics even after filtering!
There was a recent study showing that boiling water could actually break down and remove a surprising number of microplastics so I guess for making tea you might be a little better off but still
That’s a little hyperbolic. There’s a lot of mechanics at play in generating microplastics. Fabrics have microscopically thin strands of plastics. It should be no surprise that rubbing up against thousands of tiny strands every time we move and wash synthetic fabric clothes releases many tiny particles. Plus clothes have to deal with UV degradation making the plastic more brittle.
The plastic components in an RO system should be specced to not leach plasticizers. They should have smooth walls and laminar flow. There shouldn’t be much to abrade the plastic surfaces and shed particles. They may not be perfect, but water from an RO system will have orders of magnitude fewer microplastics. So an RO system still “does something about it.”
We do need to address the problem, but I wouldn’t want people to avoid beneficial remediation just because it has some plastic components.
The first time I saw a bag like that, I was shocked as well. Seems like just the worst idea to use plastic to create tea bags. Turns out it is and they weren’t made out of plastic. It’s a starch based fiber that is biodegradable. I don’t think you could have plastic tea bags here in the EU in any case. I’d wager yours isn’t plastic either. Yeah, so you probably got mildly infuriated over nothing, just like I did the first time I saw one of these 🤷
https://youtu.be/limwsUnH4iQ?feature=shared
Regular teabags are sometimes made using non-biodegradable plastic - be sure to buy those made with this starch based plastic. When I first saw biodegradable teabags I was surprised, I thought teabags were made of paper. Not so, it turns out.
there’s still a decent chance it’s only industrially biodegradable: at higher temperatures and pressures than a good ol’ home compost pile normally ever gets near. It could still be a bit infuriating.
It’s dope having municipal compost pickup, guys.
I can’t really find a source for it, but I remember the EU banning plastic in tea bags quite recently, a few years ago at most. Here in the Netherlands, a lot of tea bags contain(ed) plastic as some kind of sealant.
Also, a lot of tea contains sugar, for no good reason whatsoever.
Also, a lot of tea contains sugar
In the form of fruit or added? If it’s the latter, they will have messed up something as simple as tea even further. When they started packaging them in airtight plastic (preventing one from smelling what you are considering to buy) and wrap every single tea bag in plastic, I already got mad.
Added sugar, that is. A lot of tea bags contain ‘aroma’, according to the ingredient list. However, this ‘aroma’ can be 60-70% sugar.
The secret aroma is the melted microplastics
I drink tea from similar bags and they look the same but they are actually biodegradable SOILON bags, maybe this one is too?
Is it actually biodegradable or this “”““biodegradable “”””" crap, that technically does break down, but takes 400 years under specific conditions to do so?
God I hate those. Paper tea bags you can toss into the fireplace or in the compost depending on the time of year, but those plastic ones you can’t do anything but chuck them into the trash.
Yeah, except those are actually from polylactid and decompose completely without microplastic. Paper tea bags on the other hand are often mixed with polypropylene and ironically contain microplastic and don’t decompose completely. The best way is a tea strainer anyway
Are you sure those aren’t nylon bags? Anyway I’ve found PLA’s biodegradability highly over rated. When Sunchips were doing those PLA bags I threw one into a worm bin, when I emptied the bin a year later it looked pretty much unchanged.
Tbf: I’m from germany and can only speak for our local market.
Yes PLAs decompose slow and waaay slower than advertising suggests and need certain conditions, but they are still the better choice over polypropylene.
Paper tea bags usually contain polypropylene or another plastic so they can be heat sealed shut. They aren’t fully compostable.
Laughs in loose leaf
Loose leaf club!
signature look of superiority
I can give you one more that can make me seem either a lot superior or a lot inferior in the tea snob world.
- Loose leaf
- Collected and fermented by myself
- But it’s not from the tea plant, it’s herbal tea
That’s fine. I prefer tea mixtures most of the time anyways.
Mixing green tea (like Gunpowder) with some moroccan mint (add sugar to your liking) tastest mighty fine. And the mint grows just fine in a pot on the balkony.
If you may ever feel an interest towards collecting your herbs, apple tree leaves are a tea that’s totally slept on.
Oxidise/ ferment them like one would black tea by freezing them to burst open the cells. Then thaw them and roll them in your hands into little balls or cigars. With enough pressure so that water comes out (your hands will turn yellow from the juice). Then rest these balls for a few minutes under cover, roast them quickly in a pan (not until it smells toasty, just to lose some moisture quickly) and dry.
Oh yes, Tuareg tea is great! Especially when the nana/spearmint is fresh!
Tuareg tea
Didn’t know that it was called like that. Nice! :D
Also, I should try to get some nice fitting glasses. Just for fun.
Usually people in north Africa use small tea glasses and a simple chinese teapot made from sheet metal for making Tuareg tea.
Well, yes. That would be what those glasses and tea pots actually look like.
But some colourful stuff is more fun.
Do worry, there is micro plastic in the tea and in the water
Also in your blood, brain, tissue, children, pets, …
PFAS, PFAS for everyone!
A part of us will live forever! Join my Church Of The Forever Chemicals.
Are we sure thats not the commonly used silk tea bag? Why do we think this is plastic?
They are from polylactid and decompose without a trace and without microplastic. Paper tea bags on the other hand often contain around 20% polypropylene and cause microplastic.
