During the past few frigid days, steamy mugs of tea have been a lifesaver. I’ve been sipping on a robust chai in the mornings and refilling my cup of delicate green jasmine each afternoon to ward off the creeping sense that the weather is out to devour me alive. I can rest easy that tea, of course, is good for me. Or, is it?

Many of today’s teas – including the one you may be drinking right now – are laden with pesticides, toxins, artificial ingredients, GMOs and “natural flavors.” Much conventional tea isn’t even washed before it is bagged and dunked into your cup. 91% of Celestial Seasonings tea tested was found to have pesticides in amounts over the legal limit. They aren’t the only ones peddling poison as a comfort food; check out this handy chart made by Food Babe that gives us the dish on your most popular tea brands:

The tea leaves themselves aren’t the only danger in your hot beverage ritual. The paper and mesh bags used to package many types of tea can be quite harmful. Tea bags are often made of plastic or genetically-modified corn. Even the paper ones are often treated with epichlorohydrin which is considered a possible carcinogen.

What is a tea-lover to do in times of such chilly temperatures? Learn more here and steep yourself in research. Stick with loose tea – actual tea, not tea-like powder – from a company that doesn’t put pesticides on their products. For tasty tea that you can feel good about, we recommend Numi, Choice, Traditional Medicinals, or Madura.