If you love a good cup of tea, here’s another reason to enjoy it even more—your brew might actually be filtering out harmful metals from your water!
A recent study from Northwestern University found that tea leaves can absorb toxic heavy metals like lead and cadmium, preventing them from making it into your drink.
“You’re taking the metals out of the water with the tea, but you don’t consume the tea leaves after, which is why it works,” lead researcher Benjamin Shindel told The Washington Post.
The Science Behind It
The research team tested various types of tea—black, green, oolong, and white—by measuring metal content in water before and after steeping. The results? The longer you steep, the more effective the tea is at pulling out contaminants.
“Brewing tea for longer periods or even overnight—like iced tea—will recover most of the metal or maybe even close to all of the metal in the water,” Shindel explained.
Finely ground black tea proved to be the most effective, especially when brewed in cellulose tea bags. The high surface area of the bag gives metal ions more space to cling onto, maximizing the filtering effect.
So, whether you prefer a steaming hot cup or a refreshing iced tea, you can sip with confidence knowing your favorite drink might just be making your water cleaner. Cheers to that! 🍵
