After hearing this I decided, if it's not full loose leaf, I don't drink it. We found that companies like Elephant Chateau (http://elephantchateau.com) deliver the 3 highest grades of tea direct from Ceylon mountain estates with the option for plant-based pyramid bags (soilon) or a free stainless steel infuser.
Bonus, the tea actually tastes like tea and is tasty enough to drink plain unlike Lipton dust. It always funny to hear people promote all the health benefits of tea then turn around and dump 100 grams of sugar into a cup to make it palatable.
Probably the main reason I don't use Lipton instead of the good stuff when I'm making cold brew is that I dislike all the packaging waste. Between the brewing method and the serving temperature, I don't necessarily find the taste alone to be enough better to justify the higher price.
By contrast, the tea dust that Lipton uses is the leftovers when all the higher-grade roasted whole leaves have been taken out, and it's quite literally the worst/cheapest grade:
This is a farm I quite like. They're high quality and not a terrible price point since your buying directly from the farmer without a middleman.
unique pillow-style tea bag that doesn't need a string, tag, staple or individual wrapper—and as a result, we save 3.5 million pounds of waste from entering landfills every year.
3.5 million pounds? Of tiny strings and staples? Wouldn't that require literally billions of teabags to reach 3.5 million pounds saved?
Anecdotally, certain fancy tea bags survived an 18 month composting cycle, which I had to then pluck out by hand before spreading said compost on my vegie patch.
Be kind to worms!
Assuming the tea actually sells
Do the 'pillow-style tea bag's use plastic?
Anecdotally, my mother has been drinking Celestial Seasons for as long as I can remember (i.e. 20-25 years), and at any given time has maybe a half dozen to a dozen boxes of various types of it. Given that I grew up drinking it, tea bags with a string and tag have always been super weird to me.
> Do the 'pillow-style tea bag's use plastic?
Based solely on appearance/texture, they seem to me like they're some type of paper or light fabric, but it might be made from plastic.
Our tea bags are manufactured through a totally chlorine-free (TCF) process, meaning that no dioxin is released into the environment. Plus, they never contain starch or gluten, and they're completely biodegradable and compostable—making them better for you and for our planet.
"On packaging, it’s important for you to know that our tea bag paper is made of a blend of natural, chlorine-free fibers, and does not contain epichlorohydrin."
The sentence comes off as a little evasive. It would have been better if they said exactly what the bags are made of. It seems reasonable to conclude they are plastic-free but I don't think you can be 100% sure unless it's explicitly stated.
I believe Celestial is in every Walmart, that must be quite a bit of volume.
I recently used some Lipton yellow label, though, and that was terrible. There's absolutely variation in quality, even among bagged tea.
That is much better than the tea bags. Of course since it's loose leaf it can't be dust.
And the "Shop" button takes me to Amazon?
My skepticism radar is going off.
I have used Adagio Teas (https://www.adagio.com/) for almost a decade now and have no complaints.
They sell an insanely broad array of teas.
I understand it for coffee but tea isn't even bitter. That's just insane.
//obviously, I realize that people around the world have different tastes :P Where I am from literally no one drinks tea with milk, but adding a slice of lemon is extremely popular(I can guarantee that if you order tea at a restaurant it will be served with a slice of lemon to the side), but in the UK it's the opposite - people look at you like you are some kind of demon for adding lemon to tea.
In point of fact, cheap Lidl coffee is actually weirdly really really good.
I'm from 'The North' in Britain and I was raised to drink tea that would be bitter as hell if it didn't have at least a small amount of sugar and a light dash of milk in it. It's the sort of stuff that 'puts hairs on your chest' and gets me through a hard day's work, much like it did for my forebears.
I also like posh black tea on its own and I personally frown upon people who put loads of milk in the stuff, yet apparently quite a few tens of millions of people in India have it just so.
Crazy, huh?
That's just my crazy taste buds though. The closest explanation for this is being a "supertaster"[1]. I've done the supertaster blue-dye tongue test but compared to my friends we saw no noticeable difference.
This is a rumor that's swirling around sites like "Food Babe" but is pure nonsense.
See: https://www.unileverusa.com/news/press-releases/2005/lipton-...
Elephant Chateau - https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61N4gza3WuL...
Lipton (similar look) - http://ongsambee.com.sg/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/tea-dust....
In this case the proof is in the pudding, and Lipton happens to make especially terrible pudding, regardless of any doubts you have.
Finally, what was left would be the tea leaves that had been so crushed, broken, or pulverized that they were little more than a tea dust. This is what Lipton would then sweep up to make Lipton tea.
Which is to say, Lipton knew what he was doing. He went for the cheapest stuff possible. And that's what you get.
1) Buy a box of Twinings* tea bags from your neighborhood grocery store (https://www.amazon.com/Twinings-Earl-Grey-Tea-Bags/dp/B000R9...).
2) Buy the same flavor of Twinings tea from your neighborhood grocery store in loose-leaf form (https://www.amazon.com/Twinings-London-Earl-Loose-Ounces/dp/...).
3) Boil a kettle of water and prepare a mug of each. Note the varying instructions: the teabag is only recommended to steep for about two minutes, because the tea dust is comprised of smaller particles and will overextract if left alone too long, while the loose leaf tea calls for about 4 minutes of steeping.
4) Taste and decide for yourself whether you feel there is a meaningful difference between the two. If not, then great! You can continue to buy the more convenient option without feeling like you're being deprived somehow.
* I'm sure there are other brands, but Twinings was the only one off the top of my head that sells both teabags and loose-leaf of the same flavor and can be found in most grocery stores.
First, the higher surface area brews differently - faster, which is convenient, but changes the ratios of what's infused. That's not inherently bad, matcha is green tea specifically prepared to be served that way, but it's usually detrimental to a tea intended for larger leaf brewing.
Second, sitting around powdered in paper sachets means far more air exposure. This is basically the same type of difference as fresh-ground and powdered coffee, which isn't hard to taste.
If you drink tea with milk and sugar, I'm not sure it matters. But for straight tea, it matters at least as much as for straight coffee.
I wouldn't use a dust or CTC tea if I want to drink the tea straight, though. Different types of tea for different uses.
I was going to say I've had chais made with long leaf tea, but I realize those were middle eastern versions that are only spiced with a bit of cardamom. I'm sure it's not an accident that the recipe has a lot less spice where long leaves are in use, but I'd love to know how that difference came to be.
Now I want a history of chai!
From what I can ascertain, Indian Chais appeared in the early 1900s, when British owned tea estates tried to drum up local business among Indians. The best quality teas were exported, though the teas available to Indians were still expensive. Local tea vendors boosted the flavour with spices, and eventually milk.
In the most common variety of masala chai you'll find in India, lots of freshly grated ginger is boiled in water, before adding tea leaves and finally milk. The milk must come last, since raw ginger will split milk. We have different spice blends for different times of the year. We generally avoid masala chais in the hot summers. Ginger chai is great for the rainy season, along with some piping hot fritters. Cardamom and pepper are for the cold winter months.
In Kashmir, where the cuisine is much milder, you'll find kahwah, made from powdered green tea, along with cardamom and saffron.
It's not as good as loose leaf, obviously. But it's also not dust with flavourings.
You might get even more out of it as it has a bigger surface.
Anyway try a blind test if you can taste the difference.
Luckily I had been using leaves to make my tea at home. Probably the average quality one.
The smuggler at the center of the story discovers that his Colombian suppliers are routinely packing all different strains of marijuana together, with a single bale containing everything from low-grade weed to the Santa Marta Gold that American potheads would pay top-dollar for. To the Colombians there's no difference between one strain of weed and another, but the smuggler knows to the American buyer it can mean a huge difference in price. So he works with them to start separating the different strains and buys every bale of Santa Marta Gold he can get his hands on, becoming the first smuggler who can bring his customers a consistent, reliable supply of the Good Stuff. Which of course makes him a fortune, and which of course leads to all sorts of other problems.
(Sabbag's book is a fantastic read, I recommend it highly. And if you want a shorter-form introduction to the story, here's an interview with the smuggler in question after his lawbreaking days were over: https://www.styleweekly.com/richmond/allen-longs-days-as-an-...)
Tried Liptons once. On our very first trip to the USA, we needed a decent cup of tea. Visited Walmart, bought really expensive pack of Liptons which I think was one of just a very few teas among millions of coffees. Made tea, instantly regretted it. Surprising considering it's from Unilever who make the UK's best seller: PG, which is OK but a bit weak.
The place we stayed that leg got most of a pack of free tea bags, and we found somewhere that could make tea - without ice or lemon. :)
Thankfully plastic tea bags don't seem to have become popular here. Asda (Walmart) did them for a while, so we switched brands.
Isn't PG generally considered to be one of the poorest quality teas available in the UK? (it sells well, but that's mostly because it's dirt cheap).
Yorkshire Gold is distinctly better, Tetley and supermarket own brands are mostly about the same: OK depending on your taste, a couple of supermarket and Twinings that are a bit crap. There are cheaper brands that are awful. PG loose leaf is a refreshing blend, far better than bags, but it's not a premium tea.
The tea bag problem is mostly not enough tea and 1-2 minute brewing dust can't give the flavours that take 4-5 mins to come out. That and they all reduced the weight of the packs for the same number of tea bags. 20 or 25 years ago they all increased the number of tea bags for the same weight of tea.
Even slightly premium loose leaf is vastly better. e.g. Tesco's cheapest Finest - the non-estate specific one, or Booth's quality loose leaf is leagues ahead of PG loose leaf, let alone bags (and cheaper!) etc.
Locally I have a bloody marvellous specialist tea shop with far, far too many excellent own blends. :)
Their loose leaf are decent enough blends, but increasingly uncommon here.
Right, the "tea dust" is what goes in to your regular cheap paper tea bags. But the contents of plastic tea bags are usually more "premium", basically the same as good quality loose-leaf tea.
Some super-premium brands like TWG use cotton tea bags, which give you the same high quality tea and brewing without the dose of micro-plastics.
Regardless of any potential health effects, I think plastic tea bags are a pointless single-use plastic that should be banned.
By the time we get to super-premium, I'd just go loose leaf always. Quite agree nylon is an innovation we shouldn't have. :)
But if you have to go with a one-time-use container, a paper bag seems like an improvement on both counts versus a plastic one. The article indicates that the only reason some brands go with the plastic bags is to appear more "premium," which if true is a great testament for how people are willing to strangle both themselves and the planet in order to accrue a couple extra status points.
A quick search reveals an article[1] stating:
> Most bags, including those made by the five leading tea brands in the UK – PG Tips, Tetley, Twinings, Typhoo, and Yorkshire Tea – use non-biodegradable polypropylene as sealants in their bags. A spokesperson from the makers of Yorkshire Tea confirmed to Resource: “Our tea bag material contains around 25 per cent polypropylene (PP) which we believe is typical for the market. It’s a component of the material that allows us to heat seal the bag.”
[1] https://resource.co/article/should-you-put-tea-bags-your-foo...
I've not seen an appreciable difference in brew time using loose leaf. A mug of Earl Gray should be done in a few minutes either way.
Not sure I could taste the difference at that price point, but we have a T2 locally.
Try these guys: https://www.johnwatt.co.uk Great selection, coffees too. Online ordering seems to cover the main European nations.
We have a shop nearby, so can't comment on delivery etc.
EDIT: in fact, looking at this page[1], it seems they might be one of the only ones who do make a biodegradable bag ...
1. https://www.scotsman.com/read-this/is-your-favourite-tea-mad...
Try Lupicia (which has retail shops in the Bay Area), or Rare Tea Co, or Kettl, or something.
This is indeed my experience as well. Still, the convenience factor of Lipton tea cannot be understated.
I'm personally willing to bring in my own tea, metal strainers + teaspoon measurement to my workplace for example (hot-water is usually available in most offices). But that's probably too much for a lot of people.
In contrast, you can usually get Lipton Tea from the office supplies, use some paper cups (also office supplies), and get to tea drinking without having to buy the supplies.
In terms of convenience I don't think it's significantly worse than sachets. But yeah, I do buy my own tea and store it in my drawer.
1. A device identical to your picture.
2. This "other" tea ball: https://i.imgur.com/Hg0mWFl.jpg
3. Tea "infuser". Similar to this one (but a different brand): https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41QJxs18f1L... . This is the bulkiest option though, and you still need another cup to transfer the liquid to.
My favorite tool is #1: the "springy clasp ball on the end of a stick". So I can recommend that to everyone over the other two devices. #2 isn't bad, but there's a lot of convenience factor to #1's spring design.
> In terms of convenience I don't think it's significantly worse than sachets.
In making tea, no, not much difference. But I dislike cleaning metal-meshes. Cleaning is a minor inconvenience... but if you've ever just used a paper-cup + Lipton tea bag and just trash everything when you're done... lol. Lazy lifestyle (but wasteful).
But yeah, its probably better for the environment to have these reusable tools, like a coffee mug.
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By the way, Lipton does sell loose tea, if you're a fan of Lipton. But I live near a tea / coffee shop with superior teas at low prices, so I just grab what they have instead.
As far as store-bought tea is concerned, Twinings is tasty and widely available. I'd take Twinings > Lipton any day. Lipton is slightly cheaper, but Twinings really does taste better.
https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/idealisk-tea-infuser-stainless-...
[0]: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/upphetta-french-press-coffee-ma...
https://www.amazon.com/Adagio-Teas-ingenuiTEA-Bottom-Dispens...
When I drink tea I usually drink something spicy like Chai and use either my ingenuiTEA or a Cafetière.
Only 600 Euros!
Personally, I prefer my tea makers without Apache in them; I recently got the Breville BTM800XL (a.k.a. Sage The Tea Maker™), and it is very nice, in that it is fully automated.
https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/ljudloes-tea-infuser-stainless-...
I might go back to non-plastic bag tea (usually stash or celestial seasonings)
Put in your dose of loose-leaf (black or green), pour water over it, and when done steeping just let drip over your mug and place on a saucer nearby (as you would a tea-bag). Some strainers have a small handle, but the rim is usually cool enough to grab after steeping. When cleaning, put used tea into the compost, and rinse the strainer as you would your cup. Set to dry on your mug, ready for next time.
These are available in any Chinatown dry-goods store, and similar shops (or Chinese supermarkets such as Ranch 99 in California).
BTW, this article comes as no surprise, but I'm happy to see basic science prove what we often think about plastics. I've been drinking loose-leaf tea for years for flavor and lack of wasteful packaging.
I was gonna say, they literally taste worse than the cheaper paper-based tea bags. I mean loose leaf is nice, but those plastic pyramid things are just shit.
Though I have noticed the amount of loose leaf tea is getting less over the years on the shelves. There's also less variety than they're used to be, I have to hunt around if I want an unusual one. Its way cheaper than specialty tea shops - they're around $10 to $20 for 100grams, way to much for the amount of tea I drink :-), but nice for a weekend change.
Most of the green and herbal teas are in tea bags, but I've seen loose leaf of these available sometimes, not something I look for I must admit.