Tea is the most consumed beverage in the world. For the millions of people who drink tea for its health benefits, there is an additional and important benefit. Northwestern University researchers demonstrated that brewing tea naturally purifies the water, absorbing dangerous contaminants, such as lead and cadmium, into the surface of tea leaves, where they stay until the used tea bag is disposed. They wrote in the journal ACS Food Science & Technology that with tea, people don’t need to do anything beyond enjoying their brew. Simply putting the tea leaves in water and steeping them naturally removes the harmful metals.