Does your day not kickstart till you brew yourself the freshest cup of steaming hot tea? Do you consume a cuppa at every possible opportunity? Do you make plans to catch up with friends over chai and samosa? If yes, you are most likely a chai lover, a tea connoisseur or what have you. 

A good cup of tea – even on an unbelievably hot day in Delhi – might seem like the elixir of life, but are you sure you are consuming something that’s clean or organic? In other words: Do you know how to check if your tea leaves are adulterated? 

It is pertinent to do this check since it could have health repercussions. Adulterated tea leaves, especially if you consume multiple cups of chai a day, could lead to liver and kidney issues. You could also, unbeknownst to you, be consuming pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals. 

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According to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) there are a few simple tricks to check the purity of your tea leaves.

Detecting iron fillings: For this test, you need to take a few spoons of the tea leaves you consume on a glass plate. Hover a magnet – you can put the magnet in the leaves too. If the magnet does not have any tea leaves, it is clean. If there are iron fillings in your tea leaves, it will stick to the magnet. 

Exhausted tea leaves: For this test, take a filter paper and place some tea leaves on it. Now drop water on the heap drop-by-drop. If the filter paper is left with no streaks of colour then your tea leaves are fresh. Exhausted tea leaves will leave streaks of brown colour on the paper.

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Adulterated tea leaves: For this test too, take a filter paper and place some tea leaves on it. Sprinkle water on the tea leaves, and then remove them. Run the filter paper under tap water, and observe it against the light. There will be no to little stain on the paper for unadulterated tea leaves, but if your tea leaves are adulterated, then the paper will be stained with a blackish brown colour. 

Water test: This is one of the simplest methods of checking if your tea leaves are adulterated. Take a cup of water of room temperature – not hot. Add a tablespoon of tea leaves. If your tea leaves are unadulterated then it will not leave any colour, but if it is adulterated then the water will turn red-brown. 

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Published on: Apr 29, 2026 1:28 PM IST