Tea bags are convenient, pack well and don't leave a mess. Most tea sold in bags also tend to be less expensive. So why am I pushing bagless tea? The bags which hold our precious tea leaf and particulates have been studied and they have found them full of chemicals, bleach, heavy metals and microplastics. McGill University discovered one nylon bag can release 11.6 billion microplastics into one cup of tea. On top of adding to our ever increasing land fill, our bodies have to figure out how to eliminate this foreign material.
Most teas sold in bags are lower in quality. The material inside those bags are called fannings, which are broken pieces and the left over dust from higher quality grades of tea. Traditionally fannings were treated as rejects in the manufacturing process. When you submerge a tea bag into water, it hits the dried leaves, they swell and release their properties. Bags limit how much they can expand and hence, limit how many nutrients get released. But even though loose leaf teas are more expensive, they can still be affordable. A $20 bag of tea typically makes 30-40 cups, equaling .50-.67 cents per cup. If you're like me who treats every cup as medicine, that's a lot cheaper than going to the doctor.
Heavy metals, even in tiny amounts can wreak havoc to our systems. Heavy metal toxicity can lower energy levels, and damage the brain, lungs, kidney, liver, blood and other vital organs. They can cause irreversible damage to our nervous and neurological systems. We are already bombarded by chemicals in the environment, the last thing we need is to ingest any more. Tea loving countries like England consume approximately 60 billion cups of tea each year. Now imagine 60 billion tea bags in the landfill... each year! Loose leaf tea is compostable and biodegradable, packed with nutrients that can nourish our soil. It's a win win to drink loose leaf teas, for our bodies and for our planet.
Take good care,
Jody