I'm a tea drinker. I absolutely hate coffee, no matter how it's made (trust me, I've tried so many forms of coffee over the years), but tea it is for me. Like most people, especially in Europe, using tea bags was just a given. Tea comes from a bag, it's that simple. Or is it?
It might be the usual way for tea to be sold in Europe, but that's not to say it's like that everywhere in the world. Here in Tunisia, they do sell tea bags, but they're 1) outrageously priced, and 2) less tasty. One box of tea bags costs the same as 3 bags of loose leaf tea. Only that loose leaf tea contains much more - making it nearly 6 times as expensive! The other day I read an article on Sri Lankan and Indian tea, and how they usually use "rejected" tea (which isn't suitable for exporting to countries where they generally drink loose leaf tea) for tea bags. That does explain why the tea from tea bags here don't taste nearly as good as the bags of loose leaf tea.
And then there's the issue of environmental impact. I really don't like unnecessary packaging. Each tea bags box has a plastic wrap covering the box, then each tea bag is in a small paper wrapper, and to top it off, there's the tea bag itself. That's a whole lot of packaging! Compared to just one bag of 200 grams of loose leaf tea- I don't need scientific studies on which one is worse for the environment. But packaging isn't the only reason. Apparently, even though tea bags are meant to be paper bags, they still contain microplastics. Do I really want microplastics in my cup of tea? Yikes!
Yes, I know a tea bag is apparently more convenient, but it's really a matter of adjustment. For me, using a small tea sieve is just as convenient as putting that bag in a mug. It may be a few extra seconds of work, but that's fine - I'm a slow living advocate anyway. I've probably saved hundreds of €€ already by just switching to loose leaf tea, and I'm protecting myself from getting even more unnecessary microplastics.
Oh wow, I had no idea about micro plastics in tea bags. Thank you for this information. What is your favorite loose tea? I love tea too, no coffee for me either. Some of my favorites are caramel and vanilla, salted caramel, orange spice, and the medicinal teas like dandelion root and echinacea.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's scary when you think about it... It seems microplastics are about everywhere now. And it would be unrealistic to avoid them altogether honestly, but if I can do small things to avoid even more microplastics I'd be more than willingto do that, especially if I'm saving money by doing so 😉
DeleteI guess I'm a bit of a plain person when it comes to tea, lol. We usually black tea and green tea, green tea is mainly for north African mint tea (it hopefully won't be long until our mint starts to grow again 💚🌿), black tea either plain water and tea, or the Asian "chai" kind of tea.
As for herbal infusions, I love fennel seed and hibiscus tea, which I buy at the package free store, and I also forage some of my "tea" every so often, such as olive leafs, jasmine and nettle. Dandelion root is a good idea- we have them in the garden every spring but never tried using them for tea! It's healthy and free, what's not to like, right 🙂
There's also one kind of leaf which is usually sold during the winter of which I only know the local name, not sure what's it in English, but it's quite sweet and resembles mint a bit, so that's one of my favourites too. (I really should look for a translation to English, but unfortunately Google couldn't quite help me out 😅)
Oh, I like green tea too and forgot to mention that. I also like hibiscus, but have read you should brush your teeth after drinking it. Yes, Dandelion root is very good for your health. :)
DeleteMy eldest son always buys me loose leaf tea at Christmas. This reminds me that I should actually drink it a bit more often.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.