By Food Babe
Tea is something I drink every
single day. It’s sacred at my house – I even have a whole drawer devoted to it!
I drink it because it is amazing for your health. There are so many varieties
of tea that can improve digestion, metabolism and even prevent certain
diseases. This investigation into tea ingredients has been in the making for a
long time. What I’m about to share with you totally rocked my world forever and
I’ll never look at tea in the same way again. Do you really want to know what’s
in your tea?…Then read on.
The ancient Chinese tradition of drinking tea dates back
thousand of years to the early Chinese dynasties and aristocrats who drank the
beverage for its medicinal properties. In ancient times, leaves from the
Camellia Sinensis (the tea plant) were either ground into a powder or placed as
loose leaves directly into water to infuse it with herbal
essence. Unfortunately, modern day tea is nothing like the unadulterated
version of old tea. Many of today’s tea brands are operating under the
guise of providing health benefits and promoting clean living, but are actually
laden with pesticides, toxins, artificial ingredients, added flavors and GMOs.
Conventional
Teas – An Abundance of Pesticides
Did you know that most tea is not
washed before it is put it into bags? That means if the tea was sprayed with
cancer-causing pesticides, those pesticides go directly into your cup. And this
is the reason why tea is on my organic shopping priority list. To
prove this point, here are some shocking facts about one of the most well-known
tea brands – Celestial Seasonings.
A recent third-party analysis by Glaucus Research found that 91 percent of
Celestial Seasonings tea tested had pesticide residues exceeding the U.S.
limits. For example, Sleepytime Kids Goodnight Grape Herbal contained 0.26 ppm
of propachlor, which is a known carcinogen under California’s Propsition 65.
The “Wellness” tea line was found to
contain traces of propargite, also a known carcinogen and developmental toxin.
The FDA has already issued two warning letters to Celestial Seasonings in
regard to poor quality control. Imagine what happens when pesticide-laden tea
is steeped in boiling water.
If grocery store brands don’t
provide a clean option for you, perhaps a high-end loose leaf tea would
circumvent some of the issues of grocery store brands. Right? Wrong! Take
Teavana, which is found in malls across North America for example. Teavana taps
into tea culture with the “Teavana Experience.” Convincing their employees to
take customers on a sensory journey – they open a huge canister of loose leaf
tea and wave the top of the canister so you can smell the tea – touting all of
the wonderful health benefits of tea complete with samples and manipulative
demonstrations that end in an expensive visit to the tea shop. Is all the extra
money worth it? Are customers getting a superior tea product? No.
Teavana tea was tested by an
independent lab and 100 percent of it was found to contain pesticides. One tea
in particular, Monkey Picked Oolong, contained 23 pesticides. 77 percent of the
teas would fail European Union pesticide import standards, and would be banned
from import. 62 percent of the teas tested contained traces of endosulfan,
a pesticide that has been banned by the U.S., China, the E.U., and 144 other
countries because it has been linked to impaired fertility and could harm
unborn babies.
Teas Can Contain Artificial
Flavoring, Natural Flavors, and Hidden GMOs
Furthermore, a majority of Teavana
teas contain added flavor – specifically “artificial flavoring.” If their tea
is so high end, why would they be adding ingredients produced by fractional
distillation and chemical manipulation of various chemicals like crude oil or
coal tar? Coal tar in my tea? No, thanks.
Many popular tea brands get away
with using the ingredient “natural flavors” to trick the consumer into thinking
they are buying better, cleaner ingredients; however companies are just
covering up the inferior taste and low quality of their tea. Fortunately, there
are brands that are putting the kibash on the use of natural flavors and using
all real ingredients. I was happy to learn that Ahmed Rahim, CEO of
Many popular tea brands get away with using the ingredient
“natural flavors” to trick the consumer into thinking they are buying better,
cleaner ingredients; however companies are just covering up the inferior taste
and low quality of their tea. Fortunately, there are brands that are putting
the kibash on the use of natural flavors and using all real ingredients. I was
happy to learn that Ahmed Rahim, CEO of Numi Tea
is just as disgusted by this ingredient as I am. He said to me “You can
breakdown anything that is found in nature and if it ends up tasting like the
flavor you wish to use – you can add it to any product and call it NATURAL
FLAVOR on the ingredient label. It could come from a stone in the ground and
you’d never know.” This is why when I see the words “natural flavor” listed on
a label – I put the product down and run far far away. I want to know what I am
eating! Don’t you?
Additionally, the added risk of
consuming possible GMOs is not something many people think about when consuming
teas. Before this investigation and witnessing tea companies using modified
corn starch and soy lecithin in tea (additives likely made from genetically engineered
corn and soy), I didn’t think about it either! I can’t imagine having a serious
soy allergy, considering all the places companies try to hide it.
Why The Tea Bag & Packaging
Matters
A recent article in The Atlantic discusses the
“silky sachet” and “luxurious mesh bags” that hold loose leaf teas (like in
brands Tea Forte and Mighty Leaf). Turns out, these modern day bags meant to
showcase the tea leaves, are made of plastic.
PLA (polylactic acid) is a (likely
GMO) corn-based tea bag material that has attracted major tea companies due to
its nice look and its claims of biodegradability. Terms like “silky sachets”
and “corn-based biodegradable tea bags” mislead customers into believing a
product is more natural and sustainable than it really is. While the processing
for PLA removes all traces of genetic material, it is still made with
genetically modified corn. Although the actual tea bag is not an ingredient
like teas and herbs, it is an element that is put into boiling water.
According to The Atlantic, tea bags
are most commonly made from food grade nylon or polyethylene terephthalate
(PET) which are two of what’s considered the safest plastics on the scale of
harmful leaching potential. However, Dr. Mercola disagrees, he
states:
“While these plastics are generally
considered among the safest in terms of leaching potential, the molecules in
these plastic tea bags may still in fact break down and leach out when steeped
in boiling water…” Well, isn’t that how tea is prepared?
Another temperature consumers need
to worry about in tea is the “glass transition” temperature. Here’s the science
behind the glass transition temperature or, Tg, and why it becomes dangerous
according to The Atlantic:
“That is the temperature at which
the molecule in certain materials such as polymers begin to break down. As a
rule, the Tg of a material is always lower than the melting point. In the case
of PET and food grade nylon (either nylon 6 or nylon 6-6), all have a Tg lower
than the temperature of boiling water. For example, while the melting point of
PET is 482 degrees Fahrenheit, the Tg is about 169 degrees. Both nylons have a
lower glass transition temperature than PET. (Remember that water boils at 212 degrees.)
This means the molecules that make up these plastic tea bags begin to break
down in hot water.”
So, while the plastic itself won’t
melt in your tea, the glass transition temperature could potentially leak
out harmful phthalates if there are such things in your tea. Another thing
to worry about is that some of the newer tea bags are made with a variety of
plastics. Some plastics are nylon, some are made of viscose rayon, and others
are made of thermoplastic, PVC or polypropylene.
Beware of paper tea bags too, which
can be worse than plastic tea bags.
GET THIS: Many paper tea bags are
treated with epichlorohydrin, a compound mainly used in the production of epoxy
resins. Considered a potential carcinogen by the National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health2 (NIOSH), epichlorohydrin is also used as a
pesticide. When epichlorohydrin comes in contact with water, it hydrolyzes to
3-MCPD, which has been shown to cause cancer in animals. It has also
been implicated in infertility (it has a spermatoxic effect in male rats) and
suppressed immune function.
So what do you do the next time you
want a cup of tea? Antioxidant rich teas aren’t going to do much to
counterbalance the chemicals, additives and artificial flavorings in today’s
modern teas.
First, I recommend looking at this
chart below to see how your favorite tea brand stacks up:
And then when brewing and picking
out the safest tea remember these tips:
1. Choose an organic & non-GMO
certified brand of tea. (My favorites are Numi, Traditional
Medicinals, and Rishi Tea (loose leaf)).
2. Check the ingredient list on the
back of the tea package to make sure there are no added flavors, GMO
ingredients like soy lecithin and corn starch added to the tea leaves.
3. Make sure the brand you buy uses
a safe form of packaging material or buy loose leaf tea and use a stainless
steel or glass tea strainer. Have the company verify that
bags do not contain epichlorophydrin, and avoid plastic tea bags all together.
(Numi and Traditional
Medicinals are some of the only brands I trust in this category
because they have publicly stated they do not use this harmful ingredient or
GMO packaging and are Non-GMO Project verified.)
4. The majority of restaurants use
some of the most pesticide ridden tea and brands that have harmful packaging
like Celestial Seasonings, Lipton, Bigelow, etc. Don’t fall victim to this.
Bring your own tea when eating out or going to restaurants and ask for pot or
cup of boiling water (remember to leave a good tip if you do this). I even do
this at Starbucks because I like to vote with my dollars and not buy tea brands
that are harmful. If you drink iced tea, brew your own at home and carry an insulated
water bottle with you.
5. Remember these temps and times
for brewing the perfect cup of tea
If you know someone who loves to
drink tea, please share this post with them. I was just as shocked as you
probably are about all of this craziness – knowing what’s in our tea and what
we put in our body matters! Let’s change the world together.
