A: Approximately 100 million cups daily, which is almost 36 billion per year [Source: ITC].

A: No, the number of cups of coffee drunk each day is estimated at 70 million.

A: Republic of Ireland followed by Britain.

A: China with 2,230,000 tonnes, India is second with 1,191,100 tonnes, Kenya third with 399,210 tonnes (2015 production).

A: 97.5%. 

A: 57% of tea drinkers add dairy milk, 10% add a plant milk, 27% add sugar and 12% use a low-calorie sweetener.

A: Free radicals are unstable substances which can disrupt biochemical processes in the body and have been implicated in cancer and heart disease.

A: Tea, like fruit and vegetables is a natural source of polyphenols and flavonoids which have antioxidant activity.

A: The addition of milk does not appear to affect the bioavailability of the tea flavonoids

A: No, they both come from the same plant known by its botanical name Camellia sinensis.

A: No, approximately half the level of coffee.

A: Simply by "washing" the tea leaves towards the end of the production process in an organic solvent. The method is strictly governed by legal limits.

A: The UK Tea & Infusions Association estimates about 1,500 cultivars of Camellia sinensis, all offering interesting and varied styles, tastes and colours, depending on how the tea leaves are process.

A: Both varieties come from the plant Camellia sinensis and both have similar amounts of antioxidants and minerals.

A: It simply raises the body temperature momentarily, you perspire and the perspiration on your skin creates a cooling effect. Cold drinks quench your thirst but do not reduce your core temperature.

A. The vast majority of teabags in the UK are made from natural plant fibres. It is true to say that some of these teabags contain a very small amount of plastic, this enables their edges to be heat sealed and stops them falling apart in hot water. If you include the tea, typically about 1% of a tea bag’s total weight is plastic (around 0.04g) - 95% is tea and the rest is natural plant fibres, which are biodegradable.

If used for sealing, the plastic used was typically made of polypropylene (PP) or nylon, but increasingly, polylactic acid (PLA) is used. PLA is a renewable and sustainable bioplastic derived from plants and is biodegradable. In fact, the whole industry is working hard to move over to PLA, which is a non-permanent and fully biodegradable.

‘Fully biodegradable’ differs from ‘garden-compostable’. Although a biodegradable tea bag will eventually break down in compost, it can take a long time. This is because the compost heap is usually not the right temperature or doesn’t have the right mix of microorganisms to do the job.

Some councils have industrial food waste systems (industrial composters) designed to allow the necessary micro-organisms needed to break down biodegradable materials, to thrive. If your local council collects green waste, you can place whole tea bags in the appropriate bin for local council collection and composting.

If you would like to put tea on your garden compost, we recommend that you can speed up the process by ripping open the bags before placing the spent tea leaves on your compost heap and disposing of the teabag paper separately in your bin.

Our Commitment to Natural Materials

The UK tea industry’s priority is delivering a safe, high-quality cup of tea. The vast majority of tea bags on the market today are made from paper and plant-based materials, including natural fibres such as abaca (Manila hemp) and wood-pulp cellulose. These are the same types of materials that have been used to brew tea for over a century.

Where heat-seal elements are needed to close the bag, many producers now use polylactic acid (PLA), a plant-derived, compostable bioplastic made from corn starch or sugarcane, not Polypropylene/petroleum-based plastic. All materials used in tea bags sold by our members meet the strict food safety requirements set by regulators, including the Canadian, EU, UK and US bodies whose role it is to make sure products are safe to consume.

The Science in Context

In recent years, a small number of laboratory studies have made headlines by claiming that plastic tea bags release billions or millions of micro- and nanoplastic particles into a cup of tea. The numbers were alarming, and consumers understandably had questions. However, independent scientists and the world’s leading food safety regulators have identified serious methodological problems with these studies that call their conclusions into question.

The Hernandez et al. Study (McGill University, 2019)

The most widely cited study, from McGill University (Hernandez et al., 2019), claimed that a single plastic tea bag could release billions of microplastic particles into a cup of tea. A detailed rebuttal published in the same journal by Busse et al., (2020)[1], a team of independent scientists, including researchers from Germany’s Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), concluded that the study’s methodology was “completely unsuitable for testing microplastics”  because there were flaws in the test design, analysis and application compounded by no definition of agreed methodology for testing microplastics. Busse et al., (2020) found:

• The original study’s particle counts were overestimated by 100 to 1,000 times due to a flawed sample preparation technique.
• Most of what were counted as “microplastics” were actually harmless by-products that crystallized during the drying step of the experiment and were then mistakenly identified as plastic particles.
• The BfR also assessed the soluble by-products that migrate into hot water from nylon or PET materials and concluded that they do not pose a health risk.

The Banaei et al. Study (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2024)

A more recent study from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Banaei et al., 2024, published in Chemosphere)[2] generated another round of headlines by claiming that commercial tea bags release “millions of nanoplastics and microplastics” that can be “absorbed by human intestinal cells.” While the study employed a broader set of analytical techniques, it shares several of the same fundamental limitations as the 2019 study and introduces additional concerns:

What the study actually found — and what it didn't

The tea bags tested weren't typical store-bought products. Two of the three bags came from Amazon and AliExpress — anonymous, unbranded products not representative of the teas you'd buy from established brands in grocery stores. Drawing conclusions about all tea bags from these is like judging restaurant food safety based on anonymous street vendors.

Sample preparation was flawed. The authors took 300 tea bags and had the tea removed. The tea bags were them placed in 600ml water preheated to 95^oC with constant stirring peaking at 750 revolutions per minute for an unknown period of time. This does not mimic how we prepare our tea.

The detection method can create false positives. The microscopy technique used in the study is known to produce imaging errors where by-products get mistaken for plastic particles. European food safety regulators, including EFSA, have flagged this exact problem with this type of analysis.

Lab dish results aren't the same as what happens in your body. The study exposed isolated intestinal cells directly to concentrated particle suspensions. Your digestive system is far more complex — involving food, enzymes, mucus, and gut transit. Particles entering cells in a petri dish is not evidence of harm in a living person.

One of the three bags wasn't even plastic. The study's own analysis confirmed that one bag (the supermarket sample) was made of cellulose — a natural plant fibre. Most headlines didn't mention this, leaving readers with a misleading picture.

The study showed uptake, not harm. There was no assessment of whether particles caused any damage, toxicity, or health effect.

What Regulators Say

Major food safety authorities in the world have assessed the evidence on microplastics in food. Their conclusions are consistent and clear:

What This Means for Tea Drinkers

Tea is the second most consumed drink in the world after water and remains safe to enjoy as it is a regulated beverage.

Here is what consumers should know:

• Most tea bags are made from paper and plant-based fibres, not plastic.
• Where food-grade PLA is used, these materials are approved for contact with hot beverages by major regulatory authorities worldwide and have decades of safe use.
• The headline-grabbing particle numbers from the 2019 and 2024 studies have been shown by independent scientists and regulators to be the result of flawed or limited methodology, not an actual safety concern.
• UKTIA members are committed to transparency, safety, and continuous improvement in packaging materials, including the growing adoption of plant-based and compostable alternatives.

UKTIA encourages consumers with questions about specific products to contact the brand directly. Our members stand behind the safety of their products and welcome the opportunity to share information about the materials they use.

Yes. Tea products sold in the UK and Europe are subject to a range of food safety, quality, labelling, and import regulations. While there is no single regulator dedicated exclusively to tea, businesses operating in the sector must comply with general food laws covering areas such as food hygiene, contaminants, pesticide residues, allergens, packaging, traceability, and consumer information.

These regulations apply throughout the supply chain, from cultivation and processing through to packaging and retail sale, helping to ensure that tea products are safe, authentic, and accurately represented to consumers.

In the UK, tea businesses must meet requirements set out in food legislation and are overseen by relevant authorities, including the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and local enforcement bodies. Within the European Union, tea products must comply with EU food safety and labelling regulations, as well as rules relating to imports from third countries.

For tea producers, importers, blenders, and retailers, compliance with these regulations helps ensure products are safe, accurately labelled, and suitable for sale within the relevant market.