Is thee vegan?

"Thee" is the Dutch word for tea, referring to the dried leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant or herbal infusions. It appears on ingredient declarations for foods and beverages imported from or distributed in the Netherlands and Belgium. To make tea, cultivators harvest the leaves of the tea shrub and subject them to withering, rolling, drying, and varying degrees of oxidation to produce green, black, white, or oolong varieties. In retail products, it is found in bagged and loose-leaf teas, ready-to-drink iced teas, kombucha bases, confectionery, and flavored beverages.

thee is vegan because it is a raw agricultural ingredient derived entirely from botanical sources. The harvesting and standard processing methods involved in drying and curing tea leaves do not require animal-derived substances or animal processing aids. Unless a packaged food product includes separate non-vegan additives such as honey, milk powder, or dairy-based flavorings alongside the tea, the ingredient itself is completely free of animal inputs.