My dog is pukey. In itself not really an issue, and I do feel bad for her, but finding the surprise yak piles throughout the house is NOT fun. She's upchucked a total of four times since yesterday, twice on our nice wool rugs. How perfectly...f*cktastic.
But you're not here to read about dog vomit, so focus Jazzy, focus.
Today we're talking about tea. That's what's calming me down. A soothing cup of Wild Berry Zinger.
I only started drinking tea as an adult, and so far will only drink un-caffeinated fruit or herbal teas. My friend Sarah drinks a lot of tea. It's a family tradition for her, passed down from her grandmother who stopped her day every afternoon for tea time, Downton styles.
Sarah now keeps such a variety of tea that it takes up an entire cabinet in her kitchen. So it was easy for me to want to try something new one morning when we were having breakfast. She pulled out this box of Lipton, Blackberry Vanilla.
Sounded delish, and tasted great, too. My next trip to the grocery store I picked up some and also got the Blueberry Pomegranate White Tea.
Jazzy, where is this going? Can we get there already? Sorry, sorry!
I was eager to try my new tea and busted it open as soon as I got home. And that was when I noticed the 'pyramid' tea bag. I'd seen them before, but never so closely as to notice that it's made out of...plastic.
WTF?!?!?!
I called Lipton. I wanted to be sure. And yep, it's plastic. PET, the same used for water bottles. Would I like to receive money-saving coupons and other promotional offers?
I couldn't get off the phone fast enough. And I couldn't believe what I had heard. Water bottles. Like, single-use, don't even think about washing with hot water to reuse. But by all means, let's make a tea bag out of it! Here, we want you to pour BOILING WATER over this fine plastic mesh, let it steep for 3-5 minutes, and THEN drink the whole thing down.
Mmmm, mmm!! Those toxins really do bring out the vanilla flavor!
Well f*ck that. I've already had cancer. I went out and bought a stainless steel tea strainer because while I refuse to give Lipton any more of my money, I also refuse to waste perfectly good tea. So now I cut open the tea bags and steep the loose tea in the hot water. Teavana sells a really nice super fine one here or you can get cheaper ones here or here or here.
Think I'm crazy? A columnist at The Atlantic had the same revelation a couple months ago. Read about it here. I didn't interview experts or the like, but it's the same idea: food companies are taking us for FOOLS.
This packaging, marketed as 'premium' gives the likes of Lipton (and parent company Unilever) the chance to charge consumers more money for a lower quality product. They poo-poo the idea of a few tiny tea leaves getting into your drink, when the reality is that they are poisoning you.
So guess what! Guess who's getting the brunt of my pissed-offness today! That's right. Get ready Lipton, 'cause it's coming and it ain't gonna be pretty.
I feel better already!!
-- Jazzy
No comments:
Post a Comment
Here at SMACK! we value decorum nearly as much as chemical-free living. Thanks in advance for keeping your comments clean and civilized!