People are raging about Yorkshire Teas new biodegradable teabags splitting in their brews

You know us Brits – were not usually the type to get angry.

We do love a grumble, though. And we do love tea.

So its not surprising that its Yorkshire Teas new teabags that have pushed us over the edge into pure rage.

Yorkshire Tea has introduced new biodegradable teabags in an effort to make their products more environmentally friendly.

In case you didnt know: Most teabags have plastic in, so take longer to break down. Making the switch to biodegradable packaging is a good move environment-wise.

Yorkshire Tea used to use an oil-based plastic to seal the teabags. That plastic has now been replaced with a plant-based material.

Sadly, what sounds like a great idea hasnt worked out particularly well.

Tea fans are ranting online after reportedly experiencing the ultimate tea disaster: the new biodegradable teabags splitting in hot water.

Imagine the horror. Youre stressed and exhausted, and know that a cup of tea will soothe your soul. You pop in the teabag and sugar, pour in the hot water, and are just trying to remove the bag when it splits, wrecking your cuppa with loose bits of leaves. Devastating.

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Naturally this horror has pushed people to share their misery and anger on Twitter.

I'm not one to complain. Especially when it is to do with my beloved – @YorkshireTea . However, every other tea bag my family has used, has split! Causing much moodiness in the mornings! Most likely #Brexits fault. #cutbacks. #SaveYorkshireTea

— KatyCummins (@KatyCummins) December 17, 2018

@YorkshireTea I've been drinking your tea the last month or so (having been a Tetley drinker all my life) and I really enjoy the taste… what I don't enjoy is the number of split teabags that I'm getting. Every third or fourth bag splits.. what's that about?

— Spiritually Minded (@davej_watson) December 17, 2018

Unlike many recent issues in British culture, this one cant be blamed on Brexit.

Back in June Yorkshire Tea announced that they would be getting rid of the plastic in their teabags, stating that they had started the switch and planned to completely convert by the end of 2019.

Our new tea bags will be renewable and biodegradable and will use a plant-based material for sealing, the brand said months ago. It doesnt have any effect on the teas flavour or its shelf life and wont cost you any more to buy.

The new tea bags will be compostable, too – though because the new material only biodegrades fully in industrial composting, the best way to dispose of them will be to pop them in your garden waste or food waste bin rather than home compost.

You might actually have already tried them, as weve had some on shop shelves since May as part of a first trial run. The results have been great, so were now beginning a full switch.

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It appears that the new bags have been rolled out more widely, and issues with teabag breakage are starting to pop up.

In response to Darren Fletcher, Yorkshire Tea tweeted: Yikes – sorry Darren! Yorkshire Gold has switched to biodegradable bags, replacing the oil-based plastic that used to seal them.

More: Food

Its early days so were very keen to hear feedback. Fancy telling our customer services team at [email protected] so they can put this right?

So hopefully the backlash will encourage some improvements.

Weve reached out to Yorkshire Tea to find out whats going on, and will update this article if we hear back.

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