These days most of us automatically reach for the teabags but is that really the best choice? Certainly not from a plastic free zero waste point of veiw.
Nasty Bags
- Whats in your tea bag? Paper and tea you wish but actually no. Most do in fact contain plastic and so are only between 70-80% biodegradable. And chlorine bleached. Read more HERE.
- There are plastic / chlorine free bags out there but they are very expensive and often come packed in plastic read about them here.
How To Use Loose Tea
In short, loose tea is a better option. But it may seem daunting. It’s not. Here is a guide on how to make the perfect cuppa.
Buy
First you will need to source some loose tea. Not as hard ad you think thanks to PG Tips. Find out more HERE
Pots, Strainers & Balls to you Mrs!
Next you will need a teapot and, unless you fancy taking up fortune telling, something to stop the leaves getting in your cup. You can get great teapots from charity shops. I favor the stainless steel 70s version, good for traveling in the van with. You can get all metal tea strainers if you look. Try the market, Ebay or Amazon. I am not a big fan of tea strainers. They dribble and you need a saucer to put them on. And you have the icky job of removing the tea leaves from the pot afterwards, a soggy business at the best of times. No, I like these mesh balls. You put the tea in them then put them in the pot. At the end you empty them in the compost bin without worrying about nasty plastic mesh. Easy as! You can even get some teapots that have integrated diffusers built in.
Just One Cup?
If you are brewing up for the WI, a teapot is fine but what when you want a quick cuppa for one?
You can get cotton bags that you can fill to make your own reusable teabags but really who can be bothered with that kind of faff.
I have found that a steel mesh single cup infuser works perfectly. It sits on your mug, you fill it with loose tea, let the brew, brew then remove. Really no effort at all and very easy to empty into the compost bin after. Mine was given as a gift but I have found something similar on Amazon
Brewing Up
So now we are good to go. Put the leaves in the pot (or the mesh ball first) add boiling water and let it brew.
and again…
Don’t be so quick to empty the pot. You ca muse those leaves again to make a fresh pot. Even keep them in the fridge and reuse the next day.
When the tea gets a bit weak you can ad a pinch more.
Honestly. I learnt this from the Chinese tea shop where they sell 50 year old tea for a hundreds of dollars a gram. Yes apparently tea, like wine, does improve with age. Who knew?
Milk?
If you take milk, you will need to get yourself a milk man who delivers milk in glass bottles and possibly a milk jug!
More
Find other sneaky plastics here….
Buy Teapots & Strainers
Being committed to local shopping I prefer to buy that way whenever possible. I would encourage you to do the same. One of the joys of living plastic free is mooching round the local shops seeing what you can source.
If you can’t buy local, please do check the links in the posts. They link direct to the suppliers. Do consider buying from them and support their online businesses.
If you can’t do that then I have put together and Amazon catalogue. Yes I know…
Amazon is a very dirty word at the moment and I thought long and hard before suggesting them. Heres why I went ahead….. No we are not entirely happy with Amazons recent history. However these links are for 3rd party sellers, we have always found the Amazon service to be good and their packaging usually compostable. In the absence of anything else we feel we can recommend them.
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| VonShef Satin Polish Stainless Steel Tea Po… £6.99 | Designer White Ceramic Tumbler Brewing System £15.00 |
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And before you go…
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N.B.
lines changes, products get removed. For more information why not ask the Plastic Is Rubbish FB group for updates. They are a great source of tidbits, personal experience and the latest news. Why not join them and share the plastic free love x