Red Rose Tea Bags

The bags for Red Rose tea look and feel very plasticy, but they claim they're made from plant material.  Does anyone have experience with vermi/composting them?  Do they break down quickly or are they an issue?

I've been tearing them open and throwing out the bag, but I'd like to know if I need to do that.  

i do not have experience with vermi composting tea bags. We put them in our compost. When we were using them i wouldn't find them in the compost later on.

However last year I switched to loose leaf tea due to reading about the amount of plastic used in tea bags. Whether it is used to make the opening at the top closed, or to seal the material together, or to just keep the contents from seeping out. Nothing like a cup of micro plastic every morning!!

Loose leaf tea for me please!

jordan barton wrote:
However last year I switched to loose leaf tea due to reading about the amount of plastic used in tea bags. Whether it is used to make the opening at the top closed, or to seal the material together, or to just keep the contents from seeping out. Nothing like a cup of micro plastic every morning!!

For folks who are considering going this route, I recommend a really good "tea ball" infuser.  Most of the ones you'll find are low quality; they don't open or close securely and well, they are made of cheap screen that bends or frays or even punctures you during cleaning, and most of all they just aren't large enough to make a big pot of herbal tea or even enough regular tea for a gathering of friends.  I spent days and days (it felt like) going through Amazon listings of inexpensive, insufficient infusers from China, before I found what I wanted: really robust stainless steel micro-perforated cylinders with solid screw-on lids.  They are like stainless steel teabags, which means I can run them through the dishwasher between uses.  I like the ones where both ends are threaded, but they are relatively small; I also found a much larger one which is handy when brewing in volume.  I've been using these for half a year or so now and they are holding up.

We enjoy Red Rose tea, but it irritates me so much that they use microplastic in there bags.  We remove the tea from the bag and tag, throw them away, and use the tea in our vermin compost, and compost pile.  We are probably drinking microplastic, and I hate that!  Most of the teas that are totally compostable, are super expensive, or not available in our area.  I can't even find loose tea.  I guess I could order it on line, but haven't yet.  This is the info I found when I looked into it, I hope it helps.

I grew up on red rose tea. Not at all a fan lately, I think the tea isn't as good quality as it was, and I hate the plastic bags. They do eventually break down, but are much slower than anything else. I switched to Tetley, which is slightly more expensive but not as pricey as the fancy stuff, and I quite like their english breakfast.

Plus- tetley still uses paper bag without the string and staple on a lot of the bags.

Thanks for the replies.  I don't buy Red Rose, but they have it at work and I'm stealing the food waste, so that's why I'm asking.  I usually bring my own tea but sometimes I forget and I drink a lot of tea, so I use what's available.

I think I'll tear open the bags and discard the bag.

how you tell what tea bag is made from? I ve found Publix brand tea very palatable , now I'm wondering what the tea bag is made from. I guess its niave to assume its made of same paper as a coffee filter

When I heard about some teabags being a blend of paper and plastic, I nearly choked. I've been trying to eliminate plastics contamination in my food supply. And daily hot water doses of plastic is not my "cup of tea!"

I've had reason to correspond with their customer service office, so I asked directly about the teabag composition. She gave me a very waffly answer (see below).  So I tried the match test. It seems to burn clean. There is a wisp of ash, but it's not greasy or fused.

I remember that years back, Canada posted a report that listed pesticide residues in teas, and Red Rose came out pretty clean.



My questions and the answers exchanged in 2018:

1st email:

I've been reading up on plastics contamination in food products.

There are recent news stories about tea bags with plastic content within the paper, deliberately added to assist in sealing the tea bag. I read today that there is also an organochlorine product, Epichlorohydrin, used to reinforce paper in the food industry.

I'd like to know whether your tea bags use either plastic (polypropylene) or Epichlorohydrin.

Thanks for your reply,

a very long-time consumer of Red Rose tea

response:

There is no plastic in the new envelope paper. It is a food grade coating, much like what is on the outside of the carton to make the carton shiny. It is approved for food contact and is "no danger to human health." The envelope is still biodegradable.

We are not only bound by FDA and USDA regulations, but because we are owned by a German company, we are under strict regulations through the European Union concerning pesticides and herbicides.

2nd inquiry:

So, that is a Yes on the use of Epichlorohydrin?

response:

The answer to your question is no.

Burn an empty tea bag, if its got plastic in it I would think it will be evident. Plastic melts and drips, cloth burns, chars and crumbles. In other words the cloth will burn and disintegrate and the plastic will burn longer, dirtier and leave a hard residue when put out.

Don't know about Red Rose but:

1) the super high-end Smith Tea uses what looks like a plastic bag.  They swear up and down that its not (corn-starch or something), and half the FAQs on their site seem to be answering this question.
2) In general I would accept that a German company has to adhere to higher standards, and that they apply the same standards company-wide.  There is no guarantee of course, but its good business on their part.  I generally prefer products made for French, German, Swiss, Danish, etc consumers because they are very demanding and I know that I get a better product than something that is made for marketing to a US market.

I also have read about Red Rose Tea with no or least amount of pesticide, but now I am concerned about the plastic tea bags.  Are they still using the same?

Red rose claims that there te bags are made from plant materials. But they take forever to break down.

When I researched it about a year ago, Red Rose made it difficult to get the real truth about there product.  What I gathered is there tea bags are compostable, but contain micro plastic.  I decided at that time to stop drinking Red Rose tea, which was a bummer because I have enjoyed there tea since I was a little girl.  I didn't want to drink micro plastic, or compost it.  We drink loose leaf tea now.  Enjoy it just as much, and its easier to compost or use in my garden or worm bin.  Maybe things have changed, but if I was going to speak to Red Rose I would ask about micro plastic instead of composting.  Just me, I hope this helps.

Jen Fulkerson wrote:When I researched it about a year ago, Red Rose made it difficult to get the real truth about there product.  What I gathered is there tea bags are compostable, but contain micro plastic. .

I would assume that the bags are made out of PLA plastic made out of corn. I avoid all non-organic corn and I certainly don't want to be pouring hot water over PLA and consuming it.

I just tried to burn a red rose tea bag of water. I am a big fan of, but this change my mind the teabag did shrivel up like plastic and did not burn like a plant base material would. We will be changing our method of making tea, unless red rose change their method of manufacturing teabags.  

I have also read tea is one of the highest pesticide used crops.  I no longer use tea in bags.  I buy organic loose leaf tea. In total honesty I don't know if I can trust "organic" considering the tea comes from other countries.  I've also read things can be labeled organic, that aren't really.  As long as the farms certified organic and follow the rules, a certain percentage can be nonorganic, I think to keep the farmers from loosing their livelihood if a problem occurs.
Unless you have the capability to grow everything you need/want you have to do the best you can, and let what you can't control go.  

Timothy Markus wrote:The bags for Red Rose tea look and feel very plasticy, but they claim they're made from plant material.  Does anyone have experience with vermi/composting them?  Do they break down quickly or are they an issue?

I've been tearing them open and throwing out the bag, but I'd like to know if I need to do that.  

Ted
Rose tea bags are made from what they call is PLA, it’s a material which is ver similar to plastic and wil take upwards of 80yrs to breakdown in your compost. They are biodegradable which is different to compostable.
We will now buy our tea loose.

I admit I use a mixture of bagged tea and loose tea, but I don't personally drink Red Rose.

I used to be able to buy loose tea from a local fair trade company, but alas, they don't do that any more - bags only??? Maybe humans wanting instant everything?

I have 2 different tea balls - one small, but it still does 3 cups of a quality tea if you aren't the type who want the spoon to stand up in it. The second one is larger and is also great for pickling spice in the summer.

What I *really* want to up my game on is foraging, harvesting and drying my own teas. Some "tea" plants will grow in areas of North America. Really, we should call "teas" that don't contain black or green tea from Camellia sinensis, "infusions", but tea is just easier to say! I already dry and use both Lemon Balm and Apple Mint from my own property. I really want to try and harvest raspberry leaves and flower petals this year.

If you're looking for ideas, take a peek at the SkIP badges here: https://permies.com/wiki/108662/PEP-Badge-Natural-Medicine

Red rose was the start of this post, so we are all picking on them, but when I first discovered the "plastic-ish" tea bags I searched for companies that don't use them. There are some, but I couldn't find one of them at that time in the stores I shop in.  I was worried about the price, but I don't think it's costing me more. I ues 1 teaspoon of loose leaf tea per cup. A pound of tea last a long time, even in our house where we drink a lot of tea.
I like the tea strainer that's like a small cup with tiny holes. It has extendable arms on the side, and come with a lid. You hang it on your cup put your tea, or herbs, or both in the strainer, pour hot water over, put the lid on. Once you have let it steep as long as you wanted to steep, take the lid off and use it to put the tea strainer in to keep your counter clean. They are my favorite. I got 2 for 10.00 @ Amazon.
I'm thinking about growing my own tea. I understand it takes a long time, and you don't get much, but it would be fun to play around with.