There's nothing quite like a Saturday morning ritual, brewing a pot of green tea and settling into the study with a favorite read, whether it's "The Creature From Jekyll Island" or "Controligarchs" or a collection of declassified briefings on China's irregular warfare against the West, or even ZeroHedge lifestyle pieces via Watches of Espionage. While many reach for tea hoping its antioxidants will deliver a health and brain boost, new research suggests a hidden and very dark downside: those generic store-bought tea bags may be a far bigger source of microplastics than previously realized.

Researchers at the University of Birmingham published a new study analyzing 31 different beverages, including coffee, tea, juices, sodas, and energy drinks, and found microplastics in every single one. The biggest disappointment was the discovery of the highest concentrations of microplastics in hot beverages, such as tea and coffee. 

Lead researcher Professor Mohamed Abdallah from the University of Birmingham told The Independent, "We noted that a lot of research in the microplastics sphere is focusing on drinking water – tap water, bottled water – and we've also released a paper from the UK on water. But we realised that people don't only drink water during their day. You drink tea, coffee, juices..." 

"We found a ubiquitous presence of microplastics in all the cold and hot drinks we looked at. Which is pretty alarming, and from a scientific point of view suggests we should not only be looking at water, we should be more comprehensive in our research because other sources are substantial," Abdallah explained. 

Abdallah and his team found that heat significantly increased plastic shedding from packaging, with polypropylene and PET among the most common polymers found in the drinks. 

"This supports previous studies indicating that heat increases microplastic release from packaging materials, thereby suggesting that hot beverages pose a greater risk of microplastic exposure than cold beverages," the researchers wrote in the report. 

He added: "We're consuming millions of teas and coffees every morning so it's something to definitely look at. There should definitely be legislative action from the government and also from international organisations to limit human exposure to microplastics … they're everywhere."

Other research suggests that microplastics' impact on health is very damning:

And now, back to tea. Real tea is great - just not the kind laced with glue, ink, or plastics (in other words, most brands on grocery store shelves). That's why we went out of our way to track down the best microplastics-free option. We found it in Kindred Harvest, and we've just added it to the ZeroHedge Store. (If you're looking for just one, try the Black Tea)

Every product we curate is something we personally use - because we know our readers demand the same standards.

ZeroHedge tumblers. 

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