WARNING TO THOSE WHO HAVE TEAKRUTHI’S HIBISCUS TYPE BLENDS: They might have living bugs in them.
So a couple days ago I was going to steep up some of So Berry and was trying to pick out some of the hibiscus in my hand before putting the rest in the infuser. I saw a tiny brown three segmented bug on my hand, looks kind of like an ant or tiny termite. Thought it was a fluke. Then there was a second one on my hand, so it was definitely coming from the pouch. My pouch of So Berry was ordered in March. Since then, I’ve been emailing the wonderful people at Teakruthi. Then got curious just a minute ago and wanted to test the other teas. My method: I poured the tea pouches onto a paper plate, agitated the tea, and then kept it still for a minute to see them start crawling around. The hibiscus focused blends from March had at least a few bugs before I stopped counting. This one was particularly bad. It was crawling.
From a March 2020 order, these pouches have bugs in them: Summer Isle, So Berry, Serendipity and Ceylon Peach. I feel terrible giving Teakruthi this news, because they are otherwise fantastic. But I drank these teas… with living bugs actually living in them. This is disgusting. Serendipity I luckily didn’t even open before today, so I KNOW it isn’t a problem from my end of things. I’ve never even seen these bugs before. I sent some of you guys these teas! Luckily not these four.
I tested ALL Teakruthi’s blends that I still have, by pouring on a paper plate and observing. From what I can tell, these teas are FINE:
Original samples from 8/2019: Ceylon Emerald, Lemon Kandy (though there was a big piece of what looked like pocket lint), Vanilla Earl, Colonial Mornings, Afternoon Ritual, Zen Mint, Ceylon Ivory, Majestic Chai
From 3/2020 order that were FINE: big pouch of Lemon Kandy, big pouch of Ceylon Emerald, Wild Monsoon, Southern Malt, Cinnamon Chai
I hate bringing anything to light that is negative about the great Teakruthi BUT I also don’t want my Steepster buds to be drinking living bugs. They clearly have a production problem, at least with these four blends. BUT they do say they make really fresh batches, so the problem might already be solved by now? I HOPE SO. I’m also glad Teakruthi uses very thick quality, fully sealable pouches because if I had a bug infestation in all of my teas, I would be pissed. I know I’ve been lucky with the thousands of teas I’ve sampled, I think I only have found a tiny bird feather in one of them before. So yes, very lucky. At least I didn’t say this tea was the most delicious tea ever? I guess I could taste the bugs. :/