Organic and plastic free teas
Organic and plastic free teas – did you know most mainstream teabags contain microplastics?
Organic and plastic free tea brands are important to chose because many mainstream teabags contain microplastics. We’ve chosen some of the best and highest quality plastic free tea brands on the market, for both loose leaf and teabags, whether you prefer a bag or a good old fashioned loose leaf pot of tea!
Tea lovers have been dismayed recently to discover that many traditional teabags contain small amounts of plastic, called polypropylene, often used in heat sealing methods in teabag production. In recent years the widespread realization that we are drowning in single use plastic and microplastic particles are everywhere – including in our bodies and in the environment as far away as the North Pole.
A new study at McGill University found that one teabag can release billions of microplastics into a cup when hot water is added to seep the tea. These researchers also found evidence that these microplastics are bad for our health (plus its disgusting to think of consuming plastic!) and bad for the environment.
A teabag might be small but considering we Americans drink 84 billion servings of tea each year and 86% of this is made using teabags, it really adds up!
Those small particles of plastic leach into the soil if you’re composting, or through your teabags going to landfill. That’s tea waste that cannot be composted without releasing billions of plastic microparticles into the land and sea.
What can you do to avoid plastic in your tea right now?
- Consider drinking loose leaf teas
- Choose brands that do not use plastics in their teabags
We’ve selected some of the best organic, premium and plastic-free tea brands for both for teabags and loose leaf teas!
The best organic and plastic-free tea brands
Yogi Tea
Yogi Tea’s green, black and herbal wellness teas are made to do more than just taste good.
From floral and soothing Honey Lavender Stress Relief tea to spicy and warming Ginger tea, their best selling teas are a naturally tasty way to support your body and mind. They also have specialty blends for hair and skin!
We selected the best Yogi Teas for you!
USDA Certified Organic
Using organic ingredients encourages farms to maintain or improve soil and water quality, and helps support ecological balance and biodiversity conservation. They are proud to share that all Yogi teas contain organic ingredients, and the vast majority of their teas are USDA Organic Certified or Made with Organic.
Additionally, they require that their suppliers follow the National Organic Program (NOP) for all ingredients they procure from them. According to the standards set forth by the NOP, suppliers must be able to document that these ingredients – and thus, their teas – contain:
- NO GMO ingredients
- NO Artificial Ingredients
- NO Ingredients contaminated by ionizing radiation (irradiation) or sewer sludge
Non-GMO Project Verified
All Yogi teas are Non-GMO, and they are currently in the process of obtaining the official Non-GMO Project Verified certification for all of their tea blends.
Yogi teas bearing the Non-GMO Project Verified seal have completed a comprehensive third-party verification process, which ensures that the tea is compliant with the Non-GMO Project Standard.
Tea Packaging
Once their tea blends are ready for packaging, they’re placed inside tea bag filtration paper made from a select blend of high-quality manila hemp (abaca) fibers and wood pulp, which is free from plastics.
This filtration paper is oxygen bleached – a natural process that’s free of chemicals or toxins. Along with all other components of their packaging, this paper is free of gluten, GMOs and corn, and does not contain any of the eight FDA-recognized allergens (tree nuts, peanuts, milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, wheat or soybeans).
Once their tea blends are secured in tea bag filtration paper, they are then individually packed in heat-sealed envelopes to preserve their intrinsic health benefits and maintain freshness and delicious flavor.
Packaging Components
They’re committed to doing their part to protect and give back to the planet that gives us so much.
All components of their packaging are printed entirely with environmentally-friendly, vegetable-based inks. Their tea cartons are made from 100% recycled paperboard, and their case boxes are made from 60% recycled materials.
All Yogi tea bag components are compostable with the exception of the staples used to seal the bag and attach the tag on some of their teas.
Rainforest Alliance Certified
B Corp Certified
Traditional Medicinals Tea
They’re committed to sourcing botanical ingredients that are produced according to rigorous sustainability standards, including criteria for measuring ecological, economic, and social sustainability.
These Traditional Medicionals are the best for this cold season!
USDA Organic & California Organic Farmers Certified
Today, over 99% of the herbs that they buy, whether cultivated or wild-collected, are organic.
For nearly four decades now, they’ve been committed to sustainable agriculture. They began sourcing organically grown herbs back in the 1970s from America’s first major organic medicinal plant farm, Trout Lake Farm. Today, they continue to buy herbs from their friends at Trout Lake Farm.
CCOF-logoIn 1980, they were the first American company to market a range of organically and domestically grown herbal teas made from herbs grown at Trout Lake Farm. In 1995, they became a member of the California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF), both an organic certification agency and organic trade association.
Traditional Medicinals® is a CCOF-certified organic handler and processor. CCOF inspects their operation and reviews our labels to verify that they meet the USDA National Organic Program (NOP) organic standards and regulations, which became law in 2001.
By the mid-2000’s, they were able to transition nearly all of their wild-collected botanical ingredients to organic certification in compliance with USDA’s new “Wild-crop Harvesting Practice Standard”.
NON-GMO Project Verified
They believe in the integrity and biodiversity of our ecosystems. That’s why 100% of their herbal teas are Non-GMO Project Verified. Our Non-GMO standard not only applies to the herbs they use, but also to their tea bags and strings – ensuring that every part of what steeps in your cup is healthy for your body and the environment.
It is a long-standing policy of theirs to purchase and use non-GMO (genetically modified organism) botanical ingredients and packaging components. They remain opposed to the practice of genetic engineering, an experimental technology which merges DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) from different species, creating unstable combinations of plant, animal, bacterial and viral genes that cannot occur in nature or in traditional crossbreeding.
Fair Trade
They believe that everyone deserves a fair wage for hard work. That’s one of the reasons why they’re committed to fair trade. Traditional Medicinals® is a registered Fair Trade “brandholder”, “licensee” and “manufacturer,” and their products are certified by Fair Trade USA, an independent third party certifier. They were an early adopter of Fair Trade, having launched their first fair trade tea product in 1998, just one year after Fairtrade International (FLO) was established. They continue to work closely with their network of producers to help them to implement fair trade standards and get certified.
TeaPigs Tea
Teapigs are the amazing beverage for your days!
Certified Plastic Free
The very first Plastic-Free Trustmark from A Plastic Planet. This certifies packaging which is free of conventional plastic derived from fossil fuels. Their 15s and 50s packs of tea temples, their tins of tea and matcha tins are certified plastic-free.
Rainforest Alliance
Their everyday brew blend has Rainforest Alliance certification. They’re working with the RA to get their black tea estates certified so you can see the little green frog on loads more of their packs!
Ethical Tea Partnership
Teapigs are members of The Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP); a not for profit organisation working to improve tea sustainability, the lives and livelihoods of tea workers and smallholder farmers, and the environment in which tea is produced.
Sustainable Restaurant Association
They’re an approved supplier of the Sustainable Restaurant Association which helps guide restaurants in all areas of sustainability – from the way they source their products, to the way they impact society, staff and the environment.
Pukka Tea
The Pukka teas are another perfect and delicious option to enjoy organic teas!
Sustainability at Pukka
Our planet is our home. From being Fair for Life certified, sourcing organic ingredients to reducing their carbon footprint, they believe a healthy world means a healthy you.
Organic Soil Association
100% certified organic herbs, protecting people, plants and planet.
Fair Wild
89% of the wild-sourced herbs they source are certified Fair Wild.
Carbon Zero
Commited to becoming carbon zero by 2030
Fair Trade
All their teas are Fair for Life, one ot the fairest trade systems in the world.
Certified B Corporation
Using business as a force for good as a certified B Corp since 2016.
Carbon footprint – from ‘crop to cup’
In 2017, for the first time, their team was able to map their carbon footprint, breaking down their total carbon output from the fields where their herbs are grown right through to enjoying a cup of tea.
They call this “crop to cup” Now they’re using this data to inform science-based carbon reduction targets. They’ll submit to the Science-Based Targets initiative, setting targets to join global efforts to limit warming to less than two degrees.
Rishi Tea
Enjoy the Rishi teas every day!
Organic
They believe that organic certified teas and herbs, grown without the use of agrochemicals like pesticides and fertilizers, are generally healthier for the environment, farmers and tea drinkers alike.
Direct Trade
They are a Direct Trade importer of organic teas and botanicals from the very best sources. Their Direct Trade is founded upon long-standing, personal relationships with growers who cultivate ecologically sustainable gardens in remote locations around the world.
Culinary Inspired
Tea was originally a food and medicine long before it became a steeped beverage. It is only natural that their tea practice draws inspiration from numerous disciplines, including third wave coffee; cocktail mixology, sommeliers’ oenology; botanical apothecary; and the traditional culinary arts from global food cultures.
Stash Tea
Tea Garden Selection
They take great pride in carefully selecting the tea gardens from which they purchase their teas. Through the years, they have chosen to do business with tea gardens of the highest quality and that treat their workers honestly and fairly.
They also sell premium organic teas that meet their exacting standards. All of these teas are 100 percent natural and USDA and QAI certified organic.
Renewable Energy & Transportation
At Stash Tea, they are committed to renewable energy and purchase green power through their local electric utility, Portland General Electric. A 2005 lighting upgrade project in their plant replaced metal halide high-bay fixtures with new energy-wise fluorescent light fixtures and other energy-efficient lights and saving nearly 50,000 kWh annually and improving the quality of lighting for employees.
They also encourage the use of public transportation by paying for half the cost of monthly bus passes for their employees.
Recyclable Paper & Packaging
They reuse and recycle packaging materials, office supplies, printer cartridges, scrap paper and newspaper. In fact, they began using recycled paper for packing material in their shipping department more than 12 years ago when bubble wrap and foam peanuts were still the industry standard.
They also use recycled paper and paper from sustainably managed forests for their packaging and other printing projects.
They always look for a greener option. In an effort to create more sustainable packaging, they have eliminated their packaging overwrap. Their tea boxes are 100% recyclable.
Numi Tea
Compostable Plant-Based Tea Wrappers
Designed to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, their compostable* tea bag wrappers are made from renewable resources. They use sustainably grown FSC® certified paper lined with sugarcane-based Non-GMO PLA and metalized eucalyptus. These plant-based materials ensure complete disintegration and no eco-toxicity when they break down.
Climate Neutral Certified
They’re proud to be Climate Neutral. This means they measure, offset and reduce their annual emissions footprint.
Carbon Offsets
Their carbon offsets support biodiversity, forest conservation, and community development in the Amazon Rainforest.
OSC2 Packaging Collaborative
Numi co-founded this collaborative to find compostable alternatives to petroleum-based plastic packaging.
The Climate Collaborative
Leveraging the power of the natural products industry, they work with other brands to fight climate change.
Bulk leaf tea options!
Frontier Co-Op Tea
Frontier- Co-op Teas committed to the health and welfare of the environment and all the people involved with producing and consuming their botanical products.
Stewardship: the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care — in Frontier Co-op’s case, this includes the health and welfare of the environment and all the people involved with producing and consuming their botanical products.
Their Growers
They meet personally with growers whenever possible and help them improve their livelihood through true partnerships built upon mutual respect for quality botanicals and sound social and environmental practices. Their Well Earth sustainable sourcing program is built on the expertise they’ve gained from over three decades of experience buying botanicals. The direct relationships of Well Earth help farmers and allow them to develop effective and meaningful social giving projects for their grower communities.
Their Prairie
In the spring of 1992, employee volunteers planted 21 acres of tallgrass prairie at their Norway, Iowa, headquarters on land that was previously corn and bean fields. The prairie, which contains dozens of species of grasses and forbs, later became part of the United Plant Savers Botanical Sanctuary Network, a group of environments dedicated to restoring and preserving natural habitats and native plants.
Quality
In order to ensure quality in their products, they set high quality specifications and buy direct from responsible, sustainable sources — certified organic whenever possible. They handle product carefully from receiving to shipping to maintain quality and do extensive product testing to guarantee safe, high-quality products.
Sustainability
Doing business sustainably involves measuring your success in terms of social and environmental responsibility as well as financial results. They care deeply about the effect Frontier has on the world they live in — the people and communities they do business with, the way the production of their botanical products affects the environment, and the holistic health of them all.
Frontier Co-Op Tea – Loose Leaf Bulk Options
