Did you know that most high street tea bags can contain up to 25% plastic?

One cup can hold up to 11.6 billion microplastics* and that can be ingested serval times every day! We're always up for trying new blends but tea and plastic is not one we'll be tasting any time soon!

So why is there plastic in some company's teabags? A plastic polymer is added to give the teabag shape and allows hot water to be added without the tea bag falling apart. 

Although there has been a lot of talk about plastic in tea bags in the media recently, since Tea From The Manor began (ten years ago) we have always been committed to giving you biodegradable, compostable tea bags containing NO plastic whatsoever.

All our pyramid tea bags are made from Soilon, which is a material made from corn - starch, so there is no crude oil present. The string is made from the same bio plastic as the tea bag, the tag is paper and coated in the same material. The whole thing can compost together.

If you are looking for an eco-friendly tea bag don't just check for biodegradable tea bags (as almost everything is biodegradable - even some plastics). Take a look and see if they are compostable!

We are now looking at our packaging and want to move to packaging made from Natureflex, this will be our next eco-friendly step once our current stock has been used.

Along with our concern for the planet we are also concerned for its people. We import our tea from all over the world and ensure the tea plantations we buy from are good places to work. One of the plantations we buy from is an estate in Malawi. Here there are four clinics for the people in the area to use. There is also a school where there are 914 students.

We are also proud to say this tea plantation has Fairtrade status, something which was very important to us. 'Fairtrade sets social, economic and environmental standards for both companies and the farmers and workers who grow the food we love." **

Another brilliant green tick for us was that all the wood used for the fires to dry the tea is sustainably grown on the estate. Take a look at the journey from leaf to cup here.

As a small family business we want to be as eco-friendly as possible and make sure the hard workers who pluck our tea are looked after. We believe if we can get this right, your cup of tea will taste that much sweeter knowing you're caring for the planet and its inhabitants.
 
 
Where we've source our facts from:
*Plastic Teabags Release Billions of Microparticles and Nanoparticles into Tea | Environmental Science & Technology (acs.org)
**What Fairtrade does | Fairtrade Foundation