Recently I have been seeing a lot of commercials talking about the danger of microplastics. They are mostly targeted at big tobacco and cigarette filters that are made with microplastics. The commercials have me thinking about a post that I wrote several years ago.

Microplastics in Tea

While at lunch today one of my friends mentioned that there are microplastics in tea.

I of course had to do some investigating.

I soon found that a study was recently released about tea bags that showed that they shed microplastics and nanoplastics during the steeping process.

So, how can you keep microplastics out of your tea?

Of course, the best method is to simply not use tea bags. Use loose leaf tea. Make sure you have a good infuser and enjoy some really good tea.

Use filtered water for your tea. Don’t use bottled water, as it has also been found to have microplastics, especially if you buy it in plastic bottles.

It is OK to use tea bags if you check to see what material they are made of. Tea bags are made from many different materials including plastic and other synthetics like nylon. The study was on high end bags, including the popular pyramid bags. Adhesives are often used in the production of the bags and most of the microplastics come from the adhesives.

Smith Tea uses plant based material for their sachets. They do not use any glues or staples for attaching the string and the sachet is sealed with sound wave technology. They are also biodegradable.

Numi is another brand that uses plant fiber for their tea bags.

Tagless tea bags are also a good choice as they do not have adhesives attaching a string and are usually made of natural materials.

There are studies underway as to how microplastics affect our health. While waiting for the results I will at least try and minimize my intake of microplastics.

So, you can still enjoy a nice cup of tea.

Steven