More than half of the U.S. drinks tea daily. Researchers now say it can be a cup of microplastics. Microplastics are linked to heart concerns, cell damage and some cancers.

A team compared 28 brews of tea. Fourteen cups of tea were made with brands that use plastic tea bags, and 14 were loose-leaf, or bulk, tea. All of them were brewed for three minutes at 203 degrees Fahrenheit. The cups from the tea bags had 555 to 2,498 microplastic particles per cup. The loose-leaf tea has 0.3 to 2.4 particles per cup.

The plastic in the loose-leaf tea most likely came from processing or environmental contamination. The plastic found in the tea made with tea bags was polyamide fibers. That’s the material that the bags are made from.

“Upon contact with hot water, tea bags cease to function as inert packaging materials and instead transform into active sources of contamination, releasing thousands of microplastics and endocrine-disrupting chemicals per cup,” the team wrote.

The team also looked at what chemicals had steeped into the tea along with the leaves. They measured BPA and phthalates. The chemicals can disrupt endocrine function, harm heart health and have been linked to cancer. Both BPA and phthalates were found in the bagged tea, but the levels were considered safe. The researchers cautioned that the amount of BPA could still be a concern for pregnant women and kids.

The teas in the study were mostly from Turkey. Most tea bags in the U.S. are made from natural fibers. But not all brands are the same. Tetley’s tea bags have a small amount of plastic to seal them. Tazo, Celestial Seasonings and Twinings all contain plastic. Some brands have a mix of tags and vary by tea blend. Some teas from Organic India, Traditional Medicinals and Yogi are in plastic-free bags.

Other studies have found that tea bags imparted a lot more plastic to a cup of brew than this study did. One study found that tea bags could taint a cup with billions of particles of microplastics. That study looked for nanoparticles. This one did not. This one only counted particles larger than 100 micrometers.

You can google the brand you drink and do your own research about what kind of bags they use. But your safest choice is to switch to loose leaf tea. The good news is that loose tea can be bought online and is cheaper when bought in bulk than tea bags. You could save yourself money and protect your health.

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