Tea bags

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Devil
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Tea bags

Post by Devil »

Tea bags are (and always have been) full of undesirable chemicals and I haven't used them for years (not to say that loose tea may not have pesticides etc.). Now, I find that the bags also produce microplastic particles.
Microplastics: Premium teabags leak billions of particles - study
www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49845940
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mike strand2
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Re: Tea bags

Post by mike strand2 »

Happy in Cyprus wrote: Fri Sep 27, 2019 6:42 pm Don't wish to diss the report, but is there any packaging or related material (plastic bottles, metal tins, inside of non-stick saucepans, etc.) which hasn't at one time or other been linked to a scare story, most of which subsequently prove to be bunkum or over-egged. Come to that, almost everything we eat or drink is supposed to contribute to our very early demise: red meat, butter, dairy, tuna (has mercury in it), fried foods, alcohol, sugar, artificial sweeteners, blah, blah, blah. Yet most of our parents and grandparents lived to a ripe old age eating these very same foods.

The trouble with the 'experts' is that every 5 to 10 years they do a complete volte-face...and what was previously bad for us is now good, and what was previously good for us is now bad. You just don't know where you stand.

So, from a personal perspective I'll continue to eat a balanced diet and use my own best judgement and common sense, rather than being frightened off eating or drinking anything by the latest university research project.
Here here Lloyd :D
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Devil
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Re: Tea bags

Post by Devil »

Most teabags are made of what? Paper, with some others in plastics. What happens to paper with boiling water poured over it? It disintegrates. What happens to a paper tea bag with boiling water poured over it? Apparently little, physically. Why? because the paper has been impregnated with various heat and water-resistant polymers (plastics), some of which will have faulty links or cross links, making them partially soluble. Result: toxic chemicals like epichlorohydrin in the brew you drink.
WHL
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Re: Tea bags

Post by WHL »

Devil wrote: Sat Sep 28, 2019 11:15 am Most teabags are made of what? Paper, with some others in plastics. What happens to paper with boiling water poured over it? It disintegrates. What happens to a paper tea bag with boiling water poured over it? Apparently little, physically. Why? because the paper has been impregnated with various heat and water-resistant polymers (plastics), some of which will have faulty links or cross links, making them partially soluble. Result: toxic chemicals like epichlorohydrin in the brew you drink.
Scientifically speaking, Devil, your spot on, and Im sure theres hundreds of other things we use/eat that are just as bad, it is what it is, we cant do a thing about it, unless we boycott all those things, Im with the others, try and have myself a balanced meal, using fresh meat and veg/fruit, and not eating any processed/ frozen/ tin, crap
Firefly
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Re: Tea bags

Post by Firefly »

I have tried to buy decent leaf tea in the supermarkets, it's like sawdust. The real thing costs a lot of money, if you can source it.
It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.
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Devil
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Re: Tea bags

Post by Devil »

Firefly wrote: Sat Sep 28, 2019 5:23 pm I have tried to buy decent leaf tea in the supermarkets, it's like sawdust. The real thing costs a lot of money, if you can source it.
I agree wholeheartedly. I get mine from M&S, Larnaca, Extra Strong loose tea (blue packet). It's better than nothing but not real tea leaves. M&S in Nicosia stocked only a horrible Breakfast Tea the last time I was there plus the inevitable plethora of 'tea' in toxic surgical wrappings.

I suppose one advantage of the synthetic M&S loose tea is that it has gone through so many processes that some of the insecticides etc. may be attenuated. At least, there shouldn't be any epichlorohydrin in it.
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Re: Tea bags

Post by Firefly »

Devil

What I don't understand is why I cannot buy the tea that my Mother used to buy, when we had to use a tea strainer to stop all the leaves going into the cup. Now, what passes for leaf tea would go straight through the holes.
It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.
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Devil
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Re: Tea bags

Post by Devil »

I have no proof but I think the low-cost (M&S< Tesco etc.) loose tea may be AFD or accelerated freeze dried. To make this, the raw unsorted tea leaves would be macerated in boiling water and the liquor then cooled to freezing and sprayed into air at, say , -80°C and then the air is evacuated. The ice sublimates, leaving the regularly shaped tea "leaves".
Jim B
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Re: Tea bags

Post by Jim B »

My Mum used to send me for Mantunna Tea at 1/-9d a packet; she said it was the best. The wife drinks Ahmad in bags and Assam loose leaf tea using an infuser. I don't drink tea myself, only like instant coffee which is no doubt as bad for me as everything else appears to be.

Jim
Jimgym
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Re: Tea bags

Post by Jimgym »

Assam tea is my favourite!
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Re: Tea bags

Post by Maggie B »

Austin7 wrote: Sat Sep 28, 2019 7:01 pm I think it's all the preservatives in food that's kept me alive for eight decades! :lol:
:lol: :lol: :D
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Lincoln
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Re: Tea bags

Post by Lincoln »

When I want a cuppa, I do not care that it is a Tea Bag. I use Earl Grey and English breakfast tea. Delicious.
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WHL
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Re: Tea bags

Post by WHL »

Cant beat PG Tips, if its good enough for the monkeys, its good enough for you lot...... :lol:


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