Our teas go through at least three different levels of testing before they are sold to you. Before the blending process, all tea ingredients are tested by the European Commission for Health and Consumer Protection for any harmful components. After blending the ingredients together, our tea blends go through another series of tests to examine pesticide content and harmful chemicals to ensure that any trace amounts of pesticides, if any, are well below the regulations set by the EU. Before packaging the teas for distribution, our teas go through one final test to ensure the safety and quality of the finished product.
The tea leaf itself contains no sugar whatsoever and we do not add individual sugar particles to any of our teas. For blends that contain dried or dehydrated fruits, cane sugar is sometimes added at origin to the fruit pieces to conserve the fruit's taste and freshness. This addition will always be clearly marked on the front of our packaging or listed clearly on the product description online. Those particular teas may contain trace amounts of sugar after brewing, but never more than 2-3 grams per cup.
Loose leaf fruit tea is better for you than bagged fruit tea. Loose leaf fruit tea utilizes whole tea leaves, fruits, herbs and spices allowing the full flavor and health benefits of each ingredient to steep into your cup. For bagged fruit tea, the tea leaves and ingredients have to be chopped into tiny pieces in order to fit into a small tea bag. Whenever bagged tea is chopped up finely like that, it gives the leaf more surface area. And with that surface area comes more space for the health benefits and flavor to be released immediately into the air. Loose leaf fruit tea, on the other hand, is not chopped up like that. It stays whole and therefore holds onto all of the flavor and health benefits until it unfurls and releases it into your cup. Not only do you get stronger flavor and more natural health benefits with loose leaf fruit tea, but you also eliminate the waste of a tea bag, string, staple, etc making loose leaf fruit tea better for you and for the environment. Once you go loose, you never go bagged.
Our natural flavoring is an extract or oil taken directly from the same fruits that are present in our tea. All of our natural flavors and oils comply with all USDA and EU regulations. These are completely plant-derived and extracted from ingredients present in that particular blend.
Your tea blend will stay fresh and hold its flavor and health benefits for about a two and a half years when properly stored. Make sure to keep your tea stored in a room temperature, dry environment that is not exposed to light. We suggest to also store the tea in an area that is not exposed to additional heat or humidity.
The reuse of tea leaves depends on the type of tea you are brewing. Below is a breakdown of our recommendations:
Black tea: 1 brew
Green tea: 1-4 brews
Oolong tea: 1-4 brews
White tea: 1-4 brews
Fruit tea: 1 brew
Rooibos and Honeybush: 1 brew
Herbal tea: 1 brew
We do not recommend letting tea leaves sit for more than 4 hours after the most recent brew to limit bacteria growth from the moisture.