Brewing tea with certain bags can remove heavy metals like lead from water, per Northwestern University study.

A new study conducted by researchers from Northwestern University could have more consumers increasing their tea habit. The researchers discovered that

Among other things, tea has already been shown to reduce depression, reduce the risk of diabetes, and possibly even extend its drinkers' lifespans. New research now indicates that tea also removes toxic heavy metals from the water in which it's being brewed.

“Some people brew their tea for a matter of seconds, and they are not going to get a lot of remediation. But brewing tea for longer periods or even overnight — like iced tea — will recover most of the metal or maybe even close to all of the metal in the water,” Shindel explained.

Brewing tea is a ritual as old as civilization, a moment of calm amid the storm of daily life. But scientists now say that it might be doing more than just waking us up and providing comfort — it could be purifying our water,

That daily brew might be purifying the water, too. In a new study, Northwestern University researchers demonstrated that brewing tea naturally adsorbs heavy metals like lead and cadmium, effectively filtering dangerous contaminants out of drinks.

According to a team of researchers from Northwestern University, tea leaves and bags adsorb lead, trapping lead ions on their surfaces and filtering them from drinking water during the process of tea brewing.

That comforting hot cup of tea—or refreshing glass of iced tea on a hot summer day—could help reduce the amount of toxic metals in drinking water, according to a new paper published in the journal ACS Food & Science Technology.