Tea bag trauma

[Gob]

The Co-op is to launch a range of own-brand plastic-free teabags nearly three years after it first pledged an eco-friendly version of the nation’s favourite brew.

Mass-produced teabags became an unlikely target in the fight against the global plastic binge, after it emerged that the industry-wide sealant that helps hold their shape is made of polypropylene, and not biodegradable.

The delay in the Co-op’s plans reflects the challenges in producing alternatives that neither collapse nor split in the cup. Major tea brands and supermarkets publicly pledged to switch to plastic-free teabags following pressure from a high-profile national petition, but are taking longer than expected to make the changes.


The Co-op, which sells 367m teabags a year, announced in January 2018 that it was in the final stages of creating a fully biodegradable paper teabag. The new bags were expected to go on sale by the end of that year, but delays crept in due to a change in supplier, while a series of prototypes failed to stand up to testing.

Last year, tea drinkers were urged to steer clear of teabags containing plastic after test results publicised in the New Scientist found that a single bag sheds billions of particles of microplastic into each cup.

A team of Canadian researchers from McGill University in Montreal found that steeping a plastic teabag into a single cup at a brewing temperature of 95°C releases around 11.6bn minute shreds of plastic between 100 nanometres and 5 millimetres in size.

Efforts by major brands to switch to plastic-free options have been hampered by Covid-19 restrictions.

In November, Yorkshire Tea, owned by Taylors of Harrogate, which is replacing the oil-based plastic in its teabags with a plant-based plastic called PLA, said it had made the switch to only one-fifth of its products. It is aiming to complete the changes to the rest of its range by June.

The Unilever-owned brand PG Tips – the UK’s largest tea brand – completed the switch to biodegradable pyramid-style teabags in July and is now removing the plastic outer wrap from boxes. “It’s not been without its challenges, but we’re delighted to be the first major tea brand to offer a fully biodegradable cuppa in plant-based packaging,” said Fiachra Moloney, tea director at Unilever UK and Ireland.

Sam Chetan-Welsh of Greenpeace UK, said: “Plastic is everywhere – in our oceans, the food we eat and the air we breathe – but scientists are only starting to understand the health impacts of ingesting the stuff.”

Britons typically enjoy more than 100m cups of tea every day, with sales of tea rising by 6% this year, according to Sainsbury’s.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Simple. Ban the damn bags completely

[Gob]

OOoh, old skool tea consumption!

[Guinevere]

I thought Brits were too pompous to use teabags, and they were left to the American “microwave your tea” crowd......

[Bicycle Bill]

OOoh, old skool tea consumption!

If you have more than one cup of tea, 'old-skool' style, and then read the leaves, what do you do if you get contradictory readings?

-"BB"-

[Long Run]

what do you do if you get contradictory readings?

It's a steep learning curve.

[Guinevere]

OOoh, old skool tea consumption!

Steeped in tradition...

[Burning Petard]

I am now on a diet that severely limits my salt intake and also limits all my fluids. If I don't follow it rigidly, I am gonna die--much greater assurance of finality than covid19. So when I drink something I want some real flavor. I have cut way back on my coffee and am very fussy about the beans, the roast, the brewing process now. I am also using a tea ball. It took me a few tries to get one with small enough holes to suit me. The screw-top metal tea ball lets me get more good tea for the dollar and more flavor choices, compared to tea bags in the local grocery store. Yes it is some effort to get the used tea leaves out of the ball, but less than what it takes to clean the french press after coffee.

snailgate

[Gob]

I used to drink nothing but loose leaf tea, (Assam,) must get back into the habit.

[Long Run]

I used to drink nothing but loose leaf tea, (Assam,) must get back into the habit.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Assamptionist?

[ex-khobar Andy]

I'm a little teapot, short and stout . . .

[MGMcAnick]

I'm a little teapot, short and stout . . .

Here is my handle
Here is my...
Oops. Wait a minute.
I'm a sugar bowl.

My dad had several of those.
Among them
;
Little Miss Muffet
Sat on her tuffet
Eating her curds and whey
Along can a spider
So she picked up her spoon and beat it to death.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Said, Let's make an omlette

Hickory Dickery Dock
Three mice ran up the clock.
The clock struck one
The others escaped with minor injuries.

[Gob]

[Big RR]

Through the 90s when I visited England and Wales, I would often drink tea with breakfast and after dinner as I hated the way coffee was usually prepared (it always seemed to be burned and way too hot; I love strong coffee, but not burned coffee); the level of coffee quality in restaurants and hotels improved as Starbucks became more widespread (which says a lot of how bad it was before). When I did drink tea, the vast majority of the time, except for very fancy places, teabags were used, either in the cup or in a small teapot at the table. Most of my colleagues brewed tea from loose leaves (not sure what the correct term is) at home, and I often had it when I visited them, but I was surprised at the restaurants and the tea brewed from loose leaves is much better, even to my coffee drinker's palate.

[ex-khobar Andy]

I love string coffee

I've seen Twining's tea but I didn't know they did coffee too.

[Big RR]

FTFM.

[BoSoxGal]

Speaking of tea, I’ve just made two batches; the bottled sunshine to the left is blueberry green, and the liquid honey on the right is big red robe oolong. Cooling before going into the fridge. Going to be a lovely weekend! I’ve fully embraced my tea addiction.

eta: another random sideways picture; left is down and right is up!

[MajGenl.Meade]

E2986358-7A4D-4AC8-8FC5-BB06AEE36106.jpeg

eta: another random sideways picture; left is down and right is up!

Good job it's not 180 degrees turned or this page would be real wet. Would give me another excuse to lick the screen though ...

[ex-khobar Andy]