Collection: 🫖 Tea

Deforestation: Tea is the second most popular drink on the planet (after water) and it's a major cause of deforestation. That's both for plantations used to grow the tea, and fuel wood used dry it. Take Sri Lanka, a major tea producer. In 1881, 84% of Sri Lanka was covered in rainforest. Today, it's ~3% or less than 500K acres. Nearly 550K acres are used for tea cultivation. That's right, more of the country is tea plantations than rainforest.

Soil Degradation: Monoculture practices and heavy reliance on synthetic fertilizers can deplete soil nutrients, leading to erosion and reduced fertility. This leads to a vicious cycle of more pesticides and fertilizers to maintain yields which depletes the soil more, and eventually leads to more deforestation when the soil becomes so degraded that producers have to move on.

Water Contamination: Some plantations use fertilizers and pesticides, which, aside from potentially being bad for you, can contaminate nearby water sources through runoff and improper wastewater treatment from the facilities

Plastic Pollution: Despite what it looks like (most) tea bags actually contain TONS of plastic. That's billions of nanoplastic and microplastic particles that end up in your cup.

But don't worry! There are lots of growers who are doing things more sustainably! Shade grown, organic, drip irrigated, the list goes on! As far as bags go, loose leaf teas are best, but if you're going to use tea bags, make them compostable, biodegradable, and plastic free.

So go with vetted vendors, ditch the plastic teabags, and sip sustainably instead!

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