Is Vegetable Tea as Healthy as the Label Suggests?

A customer finished a Nayuki Slim Little Green Bottle and found the decorative kale leaf at the bottom of the cup carried visible stains; wiping the stem with a tissue left mud and sand on the paper. The post spread quickly, and people who buy fruit and vegetable tea began checking their own drinks for similar residue, raising food safety questions about the format.

Freshly squeezed vegetable tea has become a trend, with kale, carrot and beetroot appearing in many brand menus and drawing health-minded buyers. Comments claiming to come from Nayuki staff said stores are understaffed and washing of produce is done perfunctorily. It is a reminder that a drink marketed as healthy coffee or as a vegetable blend still depends on handling in the prep room.

Freshly squeezed fruit and vegetable tea has become the new trend in the tea beverage industry, with ingredients like kale, carrots, and beetroot being widely used. While consumers are paying for health, some have found mud and sand in Nayuki drinks. A customer discovered stains remaining on the decorative kale leaf at the bottom of a "Slim Little Green Bottle" cup, and after wiping the stem with a tissue, obvious mud and sand were visible. The post attracted massive attention, and some netizens claiming to be Nayuki employees commented that stores are understaffed and fruit and vegetable washing is done perfunctorily. Behind the genuine ingredients of fruit and vegetable tea, food safety concerns are worrying.

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Recently, freshly squeezed fruit and vegetable tea has set off a craze in the tea beverage circle, with major brands incorporating kale, carrots, beetroot, and other fruits and vegetables into their drink recipes, successfully attracting a group of health-conscious consumers eager to try them.

One customer, precisely with the mindset of "treating themselves to a healthy drink," ordered a Slim Little Green Bottle from Nayuki. After finishing the drink, the customer noticed a leaf settled at the bottom of the cup. Out of curiosity, he opened the lid and took out the leaf to examine it, only to receive an unexpected "bonus" from the store.

From the footage taken by the customer, the unfolded kale leaf had obvious stains attached to it, and after wiping the stem area with a tissue, traces of mud and sand were left on the paper. Although this piece of kale placed in the takeaway cup served only a decorative function, seeing the uncleaned dirt on the leaf, this netizen was shocked and said, "I drank a whole cup of dirty water! I want to throw up!"

After the post was published, consumers who frequently purchase fruit and vegetable tea were all alarmed upon seeing the poster's photos, and they began checking whether the drinks they had bought had similar problems. Many onlookers admitted they had been frightened by the unwashed leaves into not daring to buy anymore.

When freshly squeezed fruit and vegetable tea first emerged, employees from brands like Heytea and ChaPanda shared their daily prep room routines on social media, joking that they felt like they had wandered into a restaurant kitchen, washing large quantities of fresh fruits and vegetables repeatedly by the sink every day. It was precisely because of these employees' firsthand accounts and authentic photos and videos that many consumers built trust in freshly made drinks featuring genuine ingredients.

Who would have thought that the merely decorative leaf in a fruit and vegetable tea would still have uncleaned mud and sand on it. Thinking about those fruits and vegetables that are thrown into the juicer and blended into pulp, perhaps also like this piece of kale, with gravel, soil, pesticides, and insect eggs on their surfaces, many netizens couldn't help but feel a sense of dread. At the same time, a comment from a Nayuki employee under the post stood out, with likes exceeding ten thousand. Interestingly, this comment did not defend the brand, but instead reminded users that "nothing outside is really clean," and advised consumers who love fruit and vegetable juice to "just make some at home."

The employee revealed that Nayuki currently has strict controls on labor costs, resulting in understaffing at many stores. However, the daily preparation work in stores is complicated, and some tasks have set deadlines. Therefore, employees juggling multiple roles, in order to finish their work as quickly as possible, inevitably make oversights, and materials like fruits and vegetables that require careful washing are basically treated perfunctorily.

Another netizen who claimed to have worked at Nayuki also said, "All the fruits are just given a simple rinse, not washed carefully at all. Because someone is always urging you to hurry up, faster, faster."

In the eyes of netizens, since the brand wants to promote fruit and vegetable products made with genuine ingredients, it should ensure the food safety of these fresh materials. But the comments online claiming to be from "Nayuki employees" greatly surprised consumers, and also generated deep concerns about the quality of fruit and vegetable tea products on the market, believing that if the comments are true, the brand should pay attention to such issues.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.