F.A.Q.
You've got questions, and we've got answers. If you don't see your question below, please feel free to contact us.
What are your tea sachets made out of?
We aim to provide the cleanest tea possible at Artillery Tea Co. Included in that aim is to avoid any microplastics or PFA / paraben compounds (also known as ‘Forever Chemicals’) in our tea sachets. Many conventional tea bags are petroleum-based and use bleached paper, epichlorohydrin (also an ingredient in insecticide products), glue, and, of course, plastic. Research shows that when using these tea bags, up to 11 billion microplastic particles and phthalates are released into your drink! These hormone-disrupting compounds may be associated with reproductive toxicity, cancer risk, metabolic issues, and neurodevelopment, among others. We don’t feel right at all selling a product with this nonsense in it.
Our sachets are made out of a plant-based, not petroleum-based, polylactic acid (PLA) material. This material is completely devoid of any artificial plastics and is even secured together using ultrasonic vibrations rather than conventional glue substances or staples. Even our own bodies produce the base molecule lactic acid during physical exertion, a compound that the US FDA classified as Generally Recognized as Safe in 1978. Our sachets use a natural process to create lactic acid from plants and then polymerize them into the poly-lactic acid (PLA) material we use for our sachets.
Are the sachet materials biodegradable?
Yes! Since they are plant-based and not petroleum based, and contain no forever chemicals, our tea sachets are completely biodegradable.
How is it that you can brew 2 cups from 1 sachet?
Many conventional tea companies use something called tea dust, or fannings, in their tea bags. This is not only literally dust particles of tea, but the lowest grade of tea possible. Because there is almost no surface area on a dust particle, this kind of tea can only be brewed once.
Our tea is leaf-grade, which is the highest grade of tea possible. Not only that, but our pyramid sachets allow enough room for the full leaves to expand and reveal maximum surface area for brewing. For these reasons, we can brew each sachet twice. Depending on preference, 3 cups can be made per sachet when keeping brew times at 2 minutes. The third cup will be clearly weaker than the first two, but some of our customers don’t mind that for an extra cup.
Where is your tea grown?
We source our variety of ingredients from different regions and make every effort to source USA-grown ingredients whenever possible. As we grow as a company, the number of ingredients we source from the USA will increase as we are able to commit to larger volumes of ingredients before harvest season.
Yaupon is an herb grown in the USA for centuries – the only known caffeinated plant native to the US. Ours comes from a small family-run farm in Texas and is featured in our MAGA Mint blend.
Our tea ingredients (black tea, green tea) are sourced from the best producing high-elevation tea regions around the world, including India and South Africa. Our green tea is currently the only ingredient sourced from China.
The remainder of our ingredients (apart from the USA-grown ones) are sourced from small farms in Chile, Turkey, Egypt, Australia, and Malaysia.
What are my options for subscribing?
Our subscription program offers maximum flexibility. There are no commitments so you can cancel anytime. You can also swap out different flavors at any time with no interruptions in delivery. We offer plans for monthly delivery, but also delivery every 60 days or every 90 days to fit anyone’s tea-drinking plans.
Why are there 3 different packaging options?
One of the options is a Sample Pack. We wanted to provide a low-cost option that allows customers and potential customers to try out a flavor before committing. Otherwise we offer a Reusable Airtight Canister. This is a stainless-steel canister that keeps tea fresh for up to 2 years at a time in a plastic-free environment. Lastly, we offer Reload Pouches which are designed to refill the Reusable Airtight Canister once depleted.