Why tea bags are hazardous to your health

When I first got into the business of tea, I love all things tea. But soon I realise tea bags are doing more harm than good. 

I hear you say, "I am drinking tea. Isn't tea healthy?"

Several years ago, I started noticing certain types of tea drinkers are calmer and others, not so much. 

It's like what tea you drink affect your mental state and behaviour.

For example, there are the new style bubble (boba) tea drinkers - I see sugar and processed food written all over those teas. But the thing is most (young) people buy those are drinking and walking, maybe with friends. This bubble tea thing is fun and people enjoy it like they enjoy an icecream - it's a treat. 

There are the zen tea drinkers - the yogis who prefer herbal tea and seem to have all the time in the world to put the earthly tethers aside.

And the guys who drink tea at their workstations. Usually, they will go to their office kitchen, grab a tea bag, or if they need something with real taste, maybe 2 teabags, drop them in a mug half-heartedly and pour in hot water. Dunk, dunk, dunk, teabags out, and dress up the tea if needed with milk and sugar, and take the tea back to workstation to drink while working. 

Then there are guys like us, life is full of stuff to do, and we try our best to swim upstream in this torrent of stress and tasks. 

So what do we do to give us the faith to keep going?

Oddly enough it is a very very small thing, but we do it really really well. 

And that is, choose leaf tea. 

Imagine this with me: 
You are stressed from work. Your shoulders are tensing up. You know you are ready for a cup of tea. 
You go to the kitchen, pull out your packet of leaf tea. 
You open the pack and the aroma instantly comes to life and you breathe in this faint smell, a soothing scent and you smile.
Then you spoon out a bit, you are consciously putting the tea leaves into your infuser.
As soon as the hot water hit the tea leaves, the smell is released further with the steam. 
You smile, and bring the mug close to you. 
You let the steam envelop your senses. 
You smile.
The warm liquid on your lips, travelling to your throat and invigorate your body. 
Perhaps someone is there, and you hold the cup and chat a bit. 
Perhaps you are on your own, you feel more relaxed as you took 5 minutes to sip the tea before you return to your hustle and hassle. 
But you feel better prepared for the next quest. 

So why teabags maybe hazardous to your health?

Tea bag users usually go back to their workstation with their tea. Comparing to tea drinkers using leaf tea, teabag users go through the motions of making tea without any heart. 

They are busy and they reaffirm it to themselves by the act of taking his cup of tea back to their workstation. They don't have time to even finish the tea before return to work. 

They are reaffirming to themselves they can't even afford not just time, but also money to buy leaf tea. How much does it cost someone to buy 1 teaspoonful of leaf tea to make a cup of tea anyway? Are we kidding ourselves when we say we can't afford leaf tea?


So when you put a tea bag in a mug and drink this tea, you are saying you have no time, no money and no self-worth. 

I think you can call that hazardous to health. 

If you are a decision maker in any organisation that has a kitchen with tea bags, what are you saying to your team? They don't even worth a cup of decent tea a day, when they are dedicating their time and experience in your organisation?