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How to Keep Tea Bags Fresh – A Comprehensive Guide for Avid Tea Tankers
A good cup of delicious tea serves as a comfort to most of us! Especially when our moods are gloomy, or the weather is chilled, having a fresh cup of tea is soothing. Have you ever savored a cup of earl grey tea?
If so, you will have a good idea of how comforting each sip is. However, if you’re a tea lover and haven’t yet tried it, I suggest you do.
Did you know that tea is much more flavorful and fresher if teabags are stored correctly? Although teabags are not considered perishables, they can lose their intense flavor and freshness over time.
Whether you drink tea daily or occasionally, you should store your teabags properly to get the best out of them.
You can choose from different storage options to maintain their freshness. Let’s have a look at what they are below!
How to Store Tea Bags
Storing Your Teabags in Their Original Packaging
The easiest and most convenient way to keep teabags fresh for the occasional tea drinkers is to store them in their packaging. The boxes can stack and be stored in a dry and dark space in a cabinet or drawer.
It would help if you stored tea bags in a dark cabinet or drawer to avoid direct light. Direct light makes them lose their freshness and dry out. The key is to keep the tea bag wrapper closed until it’s time to brew some tea. That will ensure the tea bags stay fresh and full of flavor for longer.
Storing Your Teabags in an Airtight Container
Airtight containers seal in the flavor of the tea bags and keep them fresher for longer. Keep in mind that the container we use needs to be sturdy and be able to seal tightly.
Once we find the perfect container for the job, it’s time to stack all the loose tea bags in the container until the next cup of tea.
It will help the tea bags stay fresh. It is best to store different types of tea bags separately.
If they are kept together, the flavors and aromas will mix. Another thing we don’t want is tea bags that have been exposed to too much air because they lose freshness.
A tightly shut lid is essential. Glass jars absorb light directly, so storing tea bags in a glass jar will affect the tea quality. Alternatives to an airtight container are tin and ceramic, which are great options for storing tea bags.
Storing Your Teabags : Plastic Bags or Bins ?
Everyone has their preferences, and some tea drinkers prefer to store their tea bags in plastic bags or bins rather than airtight containers. It would be better to use an airtight or resealable bin or bag to lock in that freshness and keep the quality of the tea bags.
It is essential to store your tea bags in a cool spot in your living space to avoid light and heat.
If tea bags are exposed to too much heat and light, they lose freshness and dry out. Teabags can also be vacuum sealed for traveling or keep them fresh until it’s time to use them.
On the other hand, tea bags should never go in the fridge or freezer. Even if the tea bags are tightly secured, the refrigerator or freezer will affect the quality negatively.
Opaque Containers
Another great way to store tea bags is in opaque containers. Opaque containers are not translucent or transparent containers and block all light from passing through them. Direct sunlight is not suitable for teabag freshness and flavor.
If you are an avid tea drinker like I am, you can invest in an opaque glass jar that will keep your tea fresh and keep them from drying out.
It’s best to store the tea bags in an opaque glass container keeping away all heat and light, which lowers the quality of the tea.
Opaque glass containers are also a great way to store tea bags on a desk at work or on a counter that might be affected by direct sunlight.
It is so much fun to organize your tea by flavor, mood, or even daily routine. It makes things more exciting and keeps teabags tidy. It also helps not mix up the different tea bags and combine their scents and flavors.
The only issue with opaque containers is that they are challenging to see inside. An easy fix for that is to label them. That’s the best way to distinguish between the different tea bags.
Pros and Cons of Tea Cabinets
Now that we know what containers we can store our tea bags in, we also need to consider where to store those containers. The first option we have is a cabinet, and like many other things, there are pros and cons to keeping our containers in a cupboard.
The best part of storing tea bags in a cabinet is the amount of space we get. A cabinet allows storage of more than one box at a time. These include large amounts of loose tea bags, and all our tea-making accessories; however, too much space can also be a problem.
Overcrowding often happens in a cabinet, making life more difficult every time we need to find anything there. There is also the issue of forgetting the things we purchased and wasting money rebuying them.
- Storing tea bags in a cabinet saves space.
- You can store more than one tea bag box at a time, loose teas, and tea-making accessories.
- It keeps teabags fresh.
- If not stored in an orderly fashion, cabinets can get very crowded and become a hassle to find anything.
The Pros and Cons of a Tea Drawer
A tea drawer doesn’t offer all the space of a tea cabinet; instead, it is a shallow space where you can place boxes and loose tea containers. Just like a cabinet, drawers also have their advantages and disadvantages.
Have a look below at the pros and cons of tea drawers.
- Tea drawers are convenient for storing teabags and other items.
- It allows for complete visibility of all the items in the drawer, so nothing is forgotten or left to expire.
- It is easier to access because of its compact space.
- Because of the limited space, you cannot stack them.
- A tea drawer might not have enough space for an avid tea drinker’s complete tea collection or accessories.
Is your tea Flat? – Here’s what to do!
Flat tea means that the tea is not as fresh as it should be. It can still be consumed as it isn’t harmful. Although the flavor doesn’t change much, it does become weaker.
A quick fix to correct the problem will be to add more teabags to your pot.
That should make the tea stronger. When tea bags have gone bad altogether, they emit no flavor or scent. Its good to implement proper storage methods mentioned above to avoid this. It will allow you fresh cups of tea every time!
Conclusion
Now that we have all the tools, it shouldn’t be challenging to decide where to store your tea bags or what to store them in. It is just a matter of preference and convenience with whichever method you choose.
Ultimately, we try to avoid direct light, heat, and too much air from getting into our tea bags. Teabags have a long shelf life, but they lose their strong odor, flavor, and freshness over time if we do not store them correctly.
The key to remember when choosing a storage method is that the container or packaging must be able to seal tightly. Another critical factor when storing tea bags is not to keep them in places like the kitchen counter.
The sunlight on a kitchen counter affects the teabag freshness and dries them out. Sticking to proper storage methods is the best way to ensure tea bags stay fresh and flavorful.
We all know that there is nothing worse than flat, tasteless tea!
Photo credits :
Cozy photo created by freepik – www.freepik.com
Tea glass photo created by azerbaijan_stockers – www.freepik.com
Foil bag photo created by bublikhaus – www.freepik.com
Herbal tea photo created by 8photo – www.freepik.com
