ConsumerLab.com closely examined green tea products and found that some bottle varieties are just a little more than flavored water and the leaves may be contaminated with lead. The lab tests focused on whether the labeled amounts reflected the amounts actually in the teas, and whether there were contaminants in the tea; the amount of caffeine was also examined. Pass on the Bottled Tea None of the four green teas selected by ConsumerLab listed the amount of EGCG and it is a good thing because the antioxidant is lacking in these products. The only brand to list an amount, Honest Tea Green Tea with Honey, only contain 62.7% of the 190mg of catechins the 16.9-oz bottle touted. It was the second highest amount with 27.2 of EGCG per 8 oz of the four bottled green teas tested. Harney & Sons Organic Green had the most—46.8 mg and Diet Snapple Green Tea had the least amount—3.5 mg. All of the bottled teas contained some type of sweetener. Brew Leaf Tea It isn’t surprisingly that ConsumerLab found that green tea brewed from loose leaves had the best and most potent concentration of EGCG. However, the amount of lead they found in the tea leaves is. What’s more: ConsumerLab did not find traces of lead in the brewed tea. Tea bags from Bigelow and Lipton contained 2.5 and 1.25 mcg of lead per serving, respectively; and Celestial Seasoning’s K-Cup contained 5.2 mcg of lead. Teavana’s leaves as well as leaves from decaffeinated varieties from Salada and Bigelow did not contain measurable amounts of lead. Why the difference? The decaffeinating process may remove the lead, while the lower lead levels in Teavana’s leaves may be explained by their country of origin—Japan. Lead comes from the ground in which the tea is grown and it is possible that the other brands’ leaves originated in China, which is known to have substantial amounts of lead in the ground. As for the amount of EGCG in the loose teas, Teavana had the most with 86mg of the antioxidant in a teaspoon followed by Lipton Green Tea with 71.1 mg per a tea bag. Salada’s decaffeinated variety had the least amount of EGCG with only 36.5mg per tea bag. Next time you reach for green tea make sure it’s brewed—the reasons should be obvious.
