Five in September: Freebies to plastic teabags

September, I hardly knew ye!

This month, I scored two free cups of tea.

1) Freebie #1

Bai Hao Yin Zhen is one of the priciest teas at Davids' Tea ($21.99/50g). This white tea had a light and sweet flavour.

2) Freebie #2

Tea at the White House offered free takeaway teas as a September promo. I had the Quangzhou Milk Oolong, while my mom had the Hawaiian Sunset herbal tea.

3) Chatime Bubble Tea (minus the tapioca pearls)

I visited the Chatime Innovation Bar in Yorkdale Mall where we ordered (left to right): 

a) Blue Crystal Coconut - I don't think it actually contained tea, but it looked and tasted good!

b) Royal Blue Tea Latte (blue = blueberry flavour)

c) London Fog - an Earl Grey tea with vanilla and charcoal (!). I guess the charcoal made the beverage looked grey. I enjoyed it.

4) September Sipdown

My tea empties for this month. My co-workers are VERY supportive of this challenge. HA!

5) New Study on Plastic Teabags

Photo by Anshu A on Unsplash

Silky pyramid sachets have grown in popularity because their shapes give tea leaves room to expand. Some sachets are made of plant-based materials (e.g., corn) and biodegradable. But many sachets are made of plastic compounds (e.g., nylon).

Last week, this Canadian study from McGill University was published: Plastic Teabags Release Billions of Microparticles and Nanoparticles into Tea. The full scientific article is behind a paywall, but McGill's news release summarizes the study's methods and findings for the general public. The scientists are also interviewed in the CBC article.

Approximately 75% of my tea collection is loose leaf tea. The remaining 25% are either traditional teabags or the pyramid sachets. Fortunately, the majority of the sachets in my collection use plant-based technology. Phew! I can't bear the thought of throwing good tea away so for the sachets that I'm not sure about, maybe I'll remove the tea from their teabag and steep them in a metal infuser.

The BBC article quoted Researcher & First Author Laura Hernandez: "The consumer should avoid plastic packaging, not a specific brand, and definitely not the tea that comes inside," ... "We encourage consumers to choose loose teas that is sold without packaging or other teas that come in paper teabags."