For years now I've been drinking green tea because of all of the health benefits that are associated with drinking it.
Up to about a month ago, I bought this brand of green tea which claims to be organic. I would brew two gallons at a time, using 25 tea bags, put it in the frig, and have green tea for a week.
Here is just a partial list of some of the healthy benefits derived from consuming Green Tea. All of these claims continue to be researched to truly determine their value.
- Contains plant-based antioxidant compounds that help prevent cell damage
- benefit cognition, mood, and brain function
- help with fat-burning
- lowers the risk of some cancers such as lung cancer or ovarian cancer
- protect the brain from aging
- helps with oral health
- helps with managing blood sugar
- help prevent heart disease
In 2019, Americans consumed over 84 billion servings of tea, or more than 3.8 billion gallons. About 84% of all tea consumed was black tea, 15% was green Tea
https://www.teausa.com/teausa/images/Tea_Fact_Sheet_2019_-_2020._PCI_update_3.12.2020.pdf
Last month I read an article titled, ARE YOUR TEA BAGS MAKING YOU SICK? HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW!
Even paper tea bags have an unsettling substance called epichlorohydrin added to them to keep them from bursting. According to a recent study, each cup of tea produced by one plastic tea bag steeped at brewing temperature included roughly 11.6 billion MPs and 3.1 billion nanoplastics
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10389239/
After reading this initial article, I read one after the other, and they were all saying the same thing. I'll paraphrase here, STOP USING TEA BAGS unless you enjoy consuming plastics.
Here all along, I may have been getting the benefits of drinking green tea, but what the F--K.
Common sense would tell me that with this being the case,
(More tea is consumed worldwide than all other manufactured drinks combined (including coffee, soda, and alcohol). someone needs to get their shit together, like the FD-f--king-A
I guess the U.S. Food and Drug Administration folks are too busy to carry out their duties.
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food safety, tobacco products, caffeine products, dietary supplements, prescription and over-the-counter pharmaceutical drugs (medications), vaccines, biopharmaceuticals, blood transfusions, medical devices, electromagnetic radiation emitting devices (ERED), cosmetics, animal foods & feed[3] and veterinary products.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_and_Drug_Administration
Protect us from medications DRUGS. That statement is a joke. I don't know what the advertisements on your TV are all about, but on our TV, 75% of all commercials are for pharmaceutical companies.
The list of side effects from taking the medication DRUGS is as long as my arm, and I've got a pretty good reach. Don't get me wrong, there are times when these medications DRUGS are one's only option, and in some cases are life-saving. How about them considering NATURAL MEDICINE.
BUT
The BIG BOYS continue to pollute our environment and the other BIG BOYS have the answer to clean up add to their mess, PILLS.
I wonder what FDA's yearly budget is.
The bottom line is that I'm responsible for my well-being and the last thing I should ever do is count on government officials to do the right thing!
Enough with the RANT.
Switching from tea bags to Gunpowder Green Tea was a simple solution. Gunpowder tea is a form of tea in which each leaf has been individually rolled into a small pellet.
Brewing tea in this fashion not only has no microplastics in it but it is a much simpler way to brew a large quantity of this beverage.
After making several batches this way I've found that five-level tablespoons of the Gunpower tea brews up nicely.
I steep the tea for six minutes. If you like a stronger tea you can just allow the tea to steep longer rather than increase the volume of tea you put in your strainer. I use a cloth tea filter sock. A bonus with brewing this way is that there is no waste as I add the used tea leaves to our compost pile. You can see that the rolled tea leaves expand after brewing.
