Tea warning for those of you who drink

[petitepedal ★]

https://livelovefruit.com/8-popular-tea-bag-companies-contain-illegal-amounts-deadly-pesticides/?fbclid=IwAR3pDundFz4kTfogXYsDugt-3-I-jwFOO25LJ-leRLZGRFFElgCVh-_OUm4

[bikeman564™]

?

[late]

Most of the tea I drink is made by Mighty Leaf and Harneys. Mighty Leaf is mostly organic, at least that's what they say. I'd be surprised if they weren't. They charge a premium price, and if I were to guess, I'd say most of their customers are vegans that don't have much of a sex life. I was surprised to see they use plastic tea bags. Doesn't fit with their image, does it? Maybe their customers only pretend to be vegan...

Harneys would surprise me if their tea had a lot of nasty crap in it, but unless you see lab reports, you never really know.

On a more personal note, my supplier ran out of the 100 ct boxes of Ahmad English Breakfast, they were the only ones with a good price. They tried substituting a different tea, but it clashes with the blend I made. 

So I've ordered 4 more samples from Harneys in what seems to be a fruitless search to find tea I actually want to drink.

[Randomguy]

1 hour ago, petitepedal said:

https://livelovefruit.com/8-popular-tea-bag-companies-contain-illegal-amounts-deadly-pesticides/?fbclid=IwAR3pDundFz4kTfogXYsDugt-3-I-jwFOO25LJ-leRLZGRFFElgCVh-_OUm4

Yikes!  I did notice this article is a couple of years old, so I am guessing that some of them might have changed things up a bit.  I don't think you and I are affected since we drink pretty much nothing but loose leaf, and the good stuff at that.

I went to Celestial Seasonings website because I visited the factory when I lived in Boulder, and thought they have great intentions.  I don't drink much of their tea, though, I like Harney (and Teasource now) and a few others better.  Anyway, they said all this and it does sound safe:

http://www.celestialseasonings.com/safety-assurance

I have no doubt that the Liptons and Twinings of the world will always go cheap unless they absolutely have to change, but I think most of the tea drinkers here are probably drinking at least marginally safer tea than the general population.

[Dirtyhip]

Buy organic and you prevent this issue.

[Longjohn ★]

The pesticides are what give the tea it’s flavor.

[Dirtyhip]

 

double post...

[Dirtyhip]

22 minutes ago, Randomguy said:

I have no doubt that the Liptons and Twinings of the world will always go cheap unless they absolutely have to change, but I think most of the tea drinkers here are probably drinking at least marginally safer tea than the general population.

Cause we are mostly bougie around here.

[MickinMD ★]

Most of the time I buy Bigelow's very popular Constant Comment (a citrusy tea like Earl Gray made with spices and orange rinds) or Bigelow Earl Gray but the brand, even though it's the 2nd largest selling brand in the USA, wasn't included in the test - maybe it doesn't use Indian tea.

According to singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, the famous lines, "and she feeds you tea and oranges / that come all the way from China", from his first hit song "Suzanne" [made famous by Judy Collins], refer to Constant Comment tea. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigelow_Tea_Company)

Note that the study examined the dry tea leaves, not the hot, brewed, liquid tea drink.  The pesticides may biodegrade (to good or bad things), be resistant to extraction by water, evaporate, etc.  The study itself says, "a number of studies have shown that some proportion of the pesticide residues contained in tea leaves can, depending on their water solubility, be extracted into the beverage through the infusion (“brewing”) process.

Given the presence of complex mixtures of residues in many of the tea samples analysed in the current study, there is clearly some potential for the consumption of brewed tea to contribute to overall pesticide exposures of consumers, though only as one component of dietary sources.

In other words, they have NO CLUE if the pesticides in the drink are at a danger level or not.  Additionally, ALL of the teas are Indian and it's not explained if the Twinings, Tetley, Lipton, etc. teas in the USA all come from Indian teas.

Still, I applaud Greenpeace's efforts - I just wish they'd had a more complete design in their research.

I also mostly drink decaffeinated tea, which potentially adds other chemicals if the cheapest methods are used.

My tea drinking is mostly limited to Hot Toddies (tea, rum, honey) when I have a cold or when I arrive home chilled on a cold night.

Fortunately, it's not a habitual drink for me.

According to a story (https://deeprootsathome.com/tea-brands-pesticides/?

The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) has filed a lawsuit against R.C. Bigelow, Inc. alleging that glyphosate—the world's most widely used weedkiller [but not a proven carcinogen]—can be detected in some of the company's popular tea products...

Bigelow is the No. 2 U.S. tea brand by retail value, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. Company execs have dismissed the lawsuit's claims as "frivolous" and "illogical."

While the company's own tests also found glyphosate levels for dried tea, they are "far below" both the federal limit and the OCA's finding, R.C. Bigelow, Inc. CEO Cynthia Bigelow, told Bloomberg.

She said there's a difference between dry tea, which is what the OCA's claim is based on, versus a cup of brewed tea with water.

When the tea is brewed the level is "absolutely zero," Bigelow said."

I saw Judy Collins perform this in the '70's: