Can Old Tea Make You Sick
Lipton tea has a shelf life of 18 months. Powdered tea is recommended to be good within 12 months from the production date. Tea does not actually have any expiration date. The expiration date is the date after which the product became unsafe for humans to eat or drink. Drinking old teas can cause nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea.
If you get a sense that your iced tea tastes or smells different, that means that tea has gone bad and expired, and, again, drinking this can make you feel ill if you have a weak stomach. If tea has gone bad, it is evident by smell or mould growing on the surface of the tea, so most likely, you are not going to even be drinking it. It is recommended not to drink tea left out overnight, as it is very possible for germs to begin growing inside.
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If you are not planning on drinking immediately after making, keep expired tea in your fridge, for a maximum of 8 hours. A good way to keep tea fresh is by keeping it in glass containers like mason jars in the fridge. To best retain the proper flavours and aromas of the tea, we need to use containers that will not absorb and transfer smells from what is being stored inside.
| Tea | Shelf life |
| Lipton tea | 18 months |
| Powdered tea | 12 months |
To prevent oxidation and flavor loss while storing your tea, I recommend using an air-tight tea container such as this one (link on Amazon) for your tea. If you have a box or another container that you use for your stored tea leaves, and that you frequently use, freezing is not recommended because it exposes the tea leaves to humidity. You can either use leak-proof containers for tea storage, or store tea in cool, dry places, while keeping it from being exposed to the smells of food.
Loose leaf tea should be stored in a dry, airtight container which prevents the sun from getting into it. Leaf tea leaves are stored in an airtight container to keep the humidity out of the leaves and to avoid mould growth. Dried tea leaves kept dry do not spoil, and if kept away from heat, water, light, and air, their flavors and phytochemical contents may last up to two years. The same rules apply to older tea leaves, which can be safe if stored correctly, but they will have lower-quality older tea leaves.
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Even if a lot of packaged tea has a shelf life printed on the package, tea stored correctly is probably safe for long past this date. As long as you brew your tea prior to the date listed on the packaging, your tea should taste great. Once you pass the best-by date, expired tea is still safe to drink**, however, you might notice that the flavor might not be as potent as when it was first purchased.
If tea has been stored properly, away from light and humidity, it is fine to consume, just not in the best form. If tea has not been stored in a sealed bag or container expect to find it to taste even less. The container or bag that you use to store the tea in your refrigerator or freezer must be vacuum sealed, otherwise, moisture can ruin the quality. To keep your tea, you need to ensure it is kept away from exposure to light and air, which may lead to humidity and cause tea to spoil.
One drawback, however, is that no matter how well you keep it, eventually, it starts losing some of its health properties and flavour. The taste and aroma of tea will start to fade, and it is likely our cup of tea is not going to be that great, anyway. Your tea will have lost some floral and vegetable notes, as well as any bitterness that might be present.
Brewing yourself a cup, you will notice the tea does not add colour, it does not smell nice, and it tastes flat and boring. You could try making a cup of tea with your own tea, if you really wanted to, but you would likely just find a very bland, watery brew.
Older teas might just be less flavourful and fresher than newer ones, and they will produce weaker cups that taste like they are aged. It stands to reason that old tea can, over time, have less flavour, become flat, old, or weaker.
In some cases, the tea has maintained a certain quality for much longer, so it is impossible to tell when tea is going to begin to deteriorate. If tea is beyond its tea-expiration date, it is very likely that tea has lost much of its flavour and aroma. Flavors occur mostly because tea is sensitive to temperature fluctuations and the water that is released from leaves, rather than the fact that it is expired.
Using hot water for tea is obviously more susceptible to bacteria, and it goes bad more quickly than tea that is cold-brewed. If you use lukewarm water or cold-brew your tea, you are not killing off any of the bacteria or moulds that are in your tea. By using boiling water to wash down the tea, or by steeping the tea straight, you will kill off and remove most of the things that could ruin your tea. If you used boiling water, you are more likely to get a good cup of tea from day-old tea.
If you have accidentally made too much tea, and you do not want to throw it down the drain, you can try storing it in a refrigerator. This can all be accomplished with a proper tea pot or tea chest, and making sure to store your tea somewhere cool. Even when it is free of mould and smells like it is stale, you can pretty much guarantee that you are not supposed to touch your tea. If your teas have been left this way for months, even years, you may simply end up with some really dank odors in the tea.
If you used ingredients such as creamer, milk, or sugar, your tea might also have started to develop mould, and if this is the case, please avoid drinking it. If you have added other ingredients like milk, creamer, or sugar to the tea, then that could mean that your tea might have gone bad (for instance, milk in tea gets spoilt quite quickly).
Why does tea upset my stomach but not coffee?
Despite having less caffeine than coffee on average, black tea can nevertheless cause digestive issues including an upset stomach after being consumed. Black tea also has tannins, which may cause some people’s stomaches to become upset by increasing the production of stomach acid.
Is drinking water after tea harmful?
Little to no scientific evidence exists to support the claim that drinking water after the tea is unhealthy for your health. However, it is thought that consuming water right away after consuming a hot beverage, such as tea, can result in complications like pyorrhea disease and digestive problems like acidity or soreness.
What happens if you drink old iced tea?
It is advised that you should store your brand new bottle of iced tea for as long as possible for maximum quality, after that, the color or taste of the unopened bottle may change, but in most cases, it will still be safe for consumption if you store it properly and make sure that the bottle is not damaged.