My Parents Use This $7 Hack for Microplastic-Free Tea

While I wake up every morning craving my daily cup of coffee, my parents won’t touch the stuff. For as long as I can remember, my mom’s go-to morning ritual has been brewing tea, even packing up her supplies to take when we’d travel. (She then got my dad on board the tea train several years back.) So, when news recently came out that tea bags “release micro- and nanoplastic particles” by the millions, it didn’t faze my parents; as the tea snobs they are, they ditched single-use tea bags long ago.

If you’re a fellow tea lover looking to rid your daily cup of microplastics, I chatted with my mom and dad to learn about their favorite tools, including a now-$7 stainless steel tea infuser.

Bligko Extra Fine Tea Infuser with Silicone Lid

In Food & Wine’s initial coverage of a Chemosphere study, which details the release of microplastics by commercial tea bags, we recommended opting for loose-leaf tea and a stainless steel tea infuser instead. My mom recommends the same gadget; she loves that the design of her cup-style infuser allows her to “add any kind of tea” she likes. (Typically, Black tea from Steven Smith Teamaker.) She also noted that having this sort of infuser is handy if you frequently make a second or third cup since you “can easily add a touch more of fresh leaves.” She went on to explain that “Using loose tea means that you can customize your brew in terms of how dark you like it — in other words, you don’t have to snap a tea bag out of the mug at a certain time.”

While the exact infuser model she uses is no longer available for purchase, this now-$7 pick has the same features she loves about hers. The separate lid traps in heat while your tea steeps and serves as a coaster for the diffuser as you sip your first cup. She is also a fan of the insert’s fine mesh material, which ensures that “leaves don’t escape and gunk up your drink.”

Sweese 15-Ounce Ceramic Mug with Infuser and Lid

My dad’s tea opinions are just as strong as my mom’s. While she drinks out of a stainless steel mug daily, which keeps her drink “hotter so I don’t even need to use the microwave,” he’s not a fan of the sensory experience of drinking out of the steel material. Instead, he snagged this 15-ounce Sweese ceramic mug, which comes with a similarly designed stainless steel infuser insert and a ceramic lid. (The mug is also microwaveable once you take out the insert.) Ultimately, though, they both agree that using a stainless steel cup-style infuser is the best way to achieve a cup of truly tasty tea — and one that’s free of microplastics.

In terms of cleaning your infuser, all you need to do is rinse out the remaining tea leaves and pop the infuser in the dishwasher, my parents say. Since both of the models they use are made from stainless steel, “they, well, don’t stain” and clean off quite well. It’s worth noting that stainless steel tea balls are another popular alternative to tea bags (a few made our list of the best infusers), but in my mom’s opinion, “they’re a pain to clean and screw together.”

Looking to rid your morning beverage of microplastics? Take a (tea) leaf out of my parents’ book and snag my mom’s go-to infuser and my dad’s favorite cup and infuser set. 

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