Gluten in Tea!!!

I was surprised last week to learn that there IS gluten in some tea!!!!

Whenever I look at a paleo web site or listen to people talk about the paleo lifestyle the mantra is that "coffee (black) and tea" are fine. With there being very few options for clean beverages coffee and tea seems a fair route to take when you want something with flavor or something hot, or just something that isn't regular water.

I found some tea at work and was about to have a cup after lunch but before I did I happened to go to brand web site just to see what the ingredients were (this particular brand was Celestial Seasonings). The label for the tea said "all natural" and I am finding that so many labels say that, but what really are they talking about? and is it really natural (and/or paleo?). The label did not say anything about gluten.

My first clue should have been when the label said "dessert tea". There really is never an easy answer for a "paleo dessert", even in the packaging of tea! When I looked on the brand web site and looked at ingredients for this tea it said right there: Contains Gluten. I was really surprised by this and then searched some other flavors on the site. While most said "Gluten Free" there was more than a handful that in fact did contain gluten!! Most of the time they were the special holiday blends and not the regular herbal variety.

I then went to the site for a brand that I use often (Tazo) and found in the Q/A that all of their tea is gluten free EXCEPT for: Green Ginger, Honey Bush, Lemon Ginger, and Lemonade.

While it seems most tea is still "paleo friendly" if you are trying something new or see a special blend it might be worth it to do some research on the brand site before you sit down to enjoy that cup of tea!