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Your cup of tea might contain 11 billion microplastic particles and this is due to the way the tea bag is engineered.
According to a 2019 Canadian study at McGill University published in the Environmental Science & Technology Journal, steeping a plastic tea bag at a brewing temperature of 95°C releases around 11.6 billion microplastics and 3.1 billion nanoplastics into a single cup.
Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic between 100 nanometres and 5 millimeters in size. Compared to salt, for example, which has been also found to contain plastic, each cup contains thousands of times the greater mass of plastic, at 16 micrograms per cup.
You can of course use loose leaf tea as it is easier than you think (see below).
Other brands I like that do not contain plastics are Celestial Seasonings, Harney & Sons, Higher Living, Pukka, Lyons, Teapig, Stash Tea, Twinings, or Tetley
Researchers are studying the health risks posed by ingesting microplastics from tea bags and several studies are being published on this topic.
A 2023 study in the Journal of Environmental Science and Research Pollution International investigated 45 teabag samples of different Persian and German brands. The results were an abundance of microplastics and phthalates.
Another study published in 2023 in the International Journey of Surgery cites a wide variety of health conditions, including endocrine disruption, reproductive toxicity, cancer risk, problems with metabolism and nutrition, and interference with neurodevelopment, as concerns related to microplastic exposure, particularly to those heated during processing, like tea bags used in million cups of tea over a lifetime.
If you are looking for tea bags without plastic, you need to consider each brand and each product line, hence why we hope that our guide to eco-friendly tea bags was useful to enjoy every cup of tea.
For your health and the environment, of course, the best way to drink tea free of microplastic as a regular tea drinker is to opt for loose leaf tea.