I’ve been a tea enthusiast my entire life. I think it all began when I was about 9 and was convinced I exuded main character energy sitting in my living room reading Charlotte’s Web with a cup of chamomile tea. Honestly, not much has changed since then. I’m just like- taller I guess? Ooh! I can also vote and stuff. Teenage me was a perpetual aspiring main character so naturally I tried whole leaf tea because it looked more “Tumblr.” (I wish I was kidding) But shit was inconvenient as fuck. So, what do we do? We go back to regular tea bags. Here’s what I didn’t know then-
The average tea bag is made with food-grade plastic (yuck), silk cotton or silk. Due to the plastic content in these tea bags cannot completely decompose. Making it a terrible option for both your body and the environment. The plastic most used in bags is polypropylene which sucks. Polypropylene has been known to mess with our endocrine systems which directly deals with metabolism, growth, development, emotions, sex, mood and our sleep. To make matters worse, these bags are filled with “tea leaves” AKA ‘fannings’ or ‘dust.’ These are created during the Crush-tear-curl (CTC) method of production. To achieve this, leaves are placed under large rolling machines that break down the pieces. This makes them smaller for the common regular-shmegular small tea bags. This doesn’t sound that bad, right? The thing is, once the leaves go through that process it results in degradation of healthy compounds basically defeating the whole “wellness” purpose of drinking tea in the first place. Also, the small tea bags constrict the leaves. Tea leaves release flavor by expanding in water. If they’re restricted they are unable to infuse the flavor…so there’s literally no point.
Another super fun fact we learned about the tea industry is that other companies’ ‘fannings’ or ‘dust’ often include sweepings from the factory floor! Gross. You deserve a tea that promotes health wellness and doesn’t fuck up the environment.
At Ultraviolet, we understand that not knowing what’s really in your tea bag is not it. We care about your well-being and we’re beyond frustrated with brands not using real loose leaf tea inside their bags. Every cup of tea should be bliss, for us and the environment.
So, we’re at a crossroads aren’t we. We want the GOOD tea, without the “ruining the planet” part, where do we go from here? The answer’s simple: getultraviolet.com (duh.)
Our premium teas are FULL LEAF blends that are carefully hand-selected and crafted by tea masters. We then micro-blend and pack them in Los Angeles, California in small batches - into our air-tight re-sealable bulk pouches, and premium tea sachets - assuring that you get fresh handcrafted tea from this year's crop. We do this so you never have to compromise quality for convenience again! Whether it's loose leaf or premium sachets, you will find only the finest quality full leaf teas always. Life’s too short for marginal tea, bestie.
Have a magical day