At PROPPR, we’re best known for helping people feel better from the ground up. Our flagship product line – the PROPPR toilet foot stools – was created to support a more natural posture in the bathroom, making the daily routine easier on digestion and kinder to your gut. It’s practical, simple, and surprisingly life-changing for many people. But good gut health doesn’t stop with posture alone. It’s shaped by tiny habits repeated every day – what you eat, how you move, how you rest, and yes, what you drink.
That’s why PROPPR-tea exists. It’s a complementary product line designed to sit alongside our stools, rounding out a bigger picture of digestive support and mindful living. Tea is one of those daily rituals that can quietly nudge your wellbeing in a better direction – gentle, consistent, and enjoyable. When we launched our first two blends, MoVE and SooTHE, just on a year ago, we wanted them to do two things really well: support the body therapeutically and taste so good you’d actually look forward to drinking them.
And right up front, we should say this clearly: we chose loose leaf on purpose. The loose leaf vs tea bags conversation isn’t an afterthought for us – it’s the heart of how PROPPR-tea is made. Because if you care about what a product does for your health, you need to care about what it’s made from, how it’s processed, and what else might be hitching a ride into your cup.
What’s the real difference between loose leaf and tea bags?
Tea bags are convenient. They’re quick, tidy, and everywhere. But most bagged tea is built for speed and shelf life, not for quality or well-being. The tea inside many bags is made from “fannings” or “dust” – tiny broken particles left over after whole leaves are processed for loose leaf tea. These fragments brew fast, which suits mass production, but they usually sacrifice the best parts of tea: natural oils, complexity of flavour, freshness, and often, therapeutic potency.
Loose leaf tea is different. It’s made with whole or partially intact leaves, buds, flowers, and herbs. It’s minimally processed, keeping more of the plant’s essential oils and beneficial compounds. When loose leaf brews, the leaves unfurl slowly and fully, releasing layered flavors and aromas you simply don’t get from dust sealed inside a small sachet.
If tea bags are like instant coffee, loose leaf is like grinding fresh beans. Both will get you a drink, but only one delivers the real experience.
1. Quality comes first – whole leaves beat ‘dust’
When we created MoVE and SooTHE, quality ingredients were non-negotiable. We weren’t interested in a tea that looked good on a shelf but tasted flat, or relied on artificial help to do its job. We wanted pure leaves and herbs that could ‘perform’ in the body without cutting corners in the cup.
That’s why we chose to work with our friends Paulina and Cliff from The Berry Tea Shop. Jac has known Paulina and Cliff for over 15 years, first through her previous foodie tour business on the south coast of NSW. Over that time, she learnt what makes their shop special: they only source their teas – of every variety – from quality growers. No flavour enhancers. No aroma boosters. No additives. Just clean, well-grown, certified organic leaves and herbs.
Loose leaf lets you see that difference. You’ll find whole leaves and petals, not piles of fine brown dust. It’s the plant in its full form, the way nature intended, and that translates into a better brew.
2. Freshness and flavor – because tea should taste alive
You can usually tell a loose leaf tea is fresh before you even taste it. Open the pouch and there’s an aroma that feels vivid – herbs that smell like themselves, leaves that haven’t dulled into nothing. That freshness matters because it’s tied directly to flavor and benefit.
Tea in bags tends to sit around longer, often pre-packaged months before it ever reaches your cupboard. The smaller the leaf particles, the quicker they lose essential oils, which means the tea becomes stale faster. That’s why bagged tea can taste one-note and tired.
Loose leaf, being less processed and stored more carefully, holds on to its natural oils longer. When you brew it, it tastes richer and more nuanced. You get depth – a proper blend of sweet, warming, floral, earthy, or bright notes depending on what’s in the mix. And because the leaves aren’t trapped in a tight bag, they have room to expand and release everything they’ve got.
3. No additives, no flavor tricks, no microplastics
Here’s where the tea bag conversation gets a bit more serious.
Many tea bags contain plastic – either woven into the bag itself or used as a sealing agent. Even bags that look like paper can include polypropylene fibers for strength. When those bags hit boiling water, they can release microplastics into your drink. Not ideal for your body, and definitely not ideal for the environment.
We’re not interested in tea that comes with hidden extras. PROPPR-tea blends are made from certified organic herbs and quality leaves, blended to our recipe with care. No artificial colours, no preservatives, and no “natural flavorings” doing the heavy lifting. What you taste is what’s actually there.
Tea has been used as a medicinal drink for centuries. We want to honor that tradition by keeping tea pure and purposeful – not diluted with additives or modern packaging problems.
4. Getting the blend right – taste and therapeutic benefits
Move and Soothe were formulated by Zhenya, our in-house gut health nutritionist and her herbalist colleague to support specific therapeutic outcomes. Move was built to encourage gentle digestive movement. Soothe was designed to calm and support the gut and nervous system. But we also wanted them to be genuinely enjoyable to drink.
This is where loose leaf really shines. Whole herbs and leaves behave differently in a blend than powdered dust. Their flavors are more balanced, their release is slower, and their synergy is easier to control.
We loved the process of developing these recipes – creating the formulas in-house, working alongside the Berry Tea Shop to source the exact organic herbs we needed, and then refining the ratios until the balance was right. Not just right for performance, but right for your palate. The goal was always a full-bodied, flavorful drink that feels like a treat, not a task.
5. Less waste, fewer resources, lighter footprint
About five billion tea bags are thrown away globally every year, and many can’t be composted because of the plastic content. That’s a huge environmental load for a daily habit that should be simple and low impact.
Loose leaf tea is naturally compostable. Brew it, tip the leaves into your compost or garden, and you’re done. No bag, no string, no tag, no foil wrapper = no waste.
6. More cost-effective over time
Loose leaf can cost more up front, but it usually works out cheaper in the long run. Whole leaves and herbs are more potent, so you need less per cup. You also often get multiple steeps from the same leaves, especially with quality blends. In short: more flavor per spoonful means fewer packs, fewer purchases, and better value over time.
The ritual of tea – a quiet kind of mindfulness
One of the reasons we love tea at PROPPR is the feeling it brings with it. Tea invites you to slow down. It asks for a small pause – to boil water, to measure a scoop, to wait while it steeps. Unlike coffee, which can feel like a launch button (and yes, we love coffee too), tea has a softer rhythm. It calms rather than revs.
Loose leaf supports that ritual. Whether you brew a pot to share, or use a stainless-steel infuser in your mug, it’s simple, tactile, and grounding. A tiny act of mindfulness built into your day.
Why we choose loose leaf – every time
PROPPR-tea exists to support gut health alongside our toilet foot stools, but it also stands for something bigger: mindful consumption, sustainable choices, and well-being that feels good in real life. Loose leaf aligns with that mission in every way.
It’s higher quality. It tastes better. It’s fresher. It avoids additives and microplastics. It’s kinder to the planet. It offers stronger therapeutic potential. And it works out more economical over time.
So, if you’re choosing between loose leaf and tea bags, we’ll always nudge you towards the leaves that can unfurl, the herbs that can breathe, and the brew that can do what tea has always been meant to do – nourish, restore, and help you feel a little more PROPPR in body and mind.