A tea bag is a small, porous, sealed bag or packet, typically containing tea leaves or the leaves of other herbs, which is immersed in water to steep and make an infusion. Originally tea bags were used only for green tea leaves, but with time, they were made with other herbal teas.
Apart from being filled up with loose tea leaves, some companies produce empty teabags where consumers like you and me can fill up our bags with tea leaves of our choice. The tea leaves are packaged loosely in a canister, paper bag, or other containers such as a tea chest. How exciting is that? It saves cost on having to buy endless boxes of different flavors. Knowing how to store everything from the teas to the teabags to even the accessories used in making tea is quite important. The conditions and type of storage determine the shelf life of tea.
For example, black teas have a much longer shelf life, and they hold their taste longer than green teas do. However, some, such as flower teas, may last only a month or so, but not much longer. A few others, such as pu-erh, improve with age (like cheeses).
As a tea lover and avid tea drinker, I take the utmost pride in my tea collection. In the beginning, I used to have a particular flavor and brand that I stocked up on, drinking it religiously until I was introduced to the wonders of other different flavors and even more brands. Suddenly getting bored of my go-to brands, I let myself take an experimental step, did a lot of research, and asked fellow tea lovers around. My friends were also very helpful in my tea adventures, recommending their favorites for me to try. Even now, while I consider myself something of a tea veteran, there are still a lot of flavors that stare me in the face when I go to the store, each of them with their unique tastes and smells. Sometimes, I still somehow feel like I cheated myself out of something beautiful for a very long time.
Apart from the fact that I am completely enamored by the smooth and refreshing taste of tea, they, in my opinion, are incredibly good for the health, perfect for relaxation and meditation as they help me calm my mind and greatly improve my mood sometimes. Certain teas even help with sleep, headaches, and upset stomachs. However, a lot of the time, after I get back from the store with my shopping bag, I wrap my tea up and shove all of them deep into my pantry until I am ready to start drinking. It did not take me too long to realize that I had been doing it the wrong way.
Carelessly locking my tea away in a box, tying them in a bag or throwing them randomly into a tin, or sometimes even just leaving them in the boxes they come in was not the best way to store them at all. I noticed that some of my teas began losing their taste and flavors, leaving me with weaker tasting teas. My obvious negligence and scattered behavior are to blame for the dilapidation of my teas, and I have learned that this is not the best way for me, you, or anyone we know to store our teabags for optimum shelf-life. Trust me. I learned it the hard way.
Note: Storage can be very tricky, but it is very important to keep your tea safe, free from contamination, and still consumable at the end of the day, week, month, or year (a lot of teas can keep longer than they are expected to if they are put in proper storage). One would think that after a century of using tea bags, there would finally be one way to do it and to do it right, but a lot of us are still misinformed about how to go about our tea storage. Without storing tea bags the right way, you may still have drinkable tea, but it definitely will not be nearly as delicious or fragrant as it would be if you had been patient enough to put it in the right conditions to have been stored properly.
The History of Tea Bags
Here’s a little fun fact about tea bags: in 1904, a man named Thomas Sullivan came from New York, and he was a tea merchant. He sent out some samples of his tea to his clients, and the tea samples were wrapped in silk pouches to keep them safe while they were being transported, but the clients did not know this. They thought it was a fancy new way of storing tea, so instead of opening the pouches to view the tea leaves and then using the loose leaves as they were, they simply brewed the tea still inside the bag with hot water; and thus, tea bags were born.
Commercial production of tea bags did not begin until sometime in the 1920s, and the rectangular bags that are used today were not invented until the year 1944. Before the regular teabags we use today; the then teabags resembled small sacks. Before they were put in bags, people thought it would be fun storing almost 350 chests of them into the ocean. Despite the popularity that teabags have gained, some people still prefer their tea loose.
Don’t you think it’s wonderful how far teabags have developed over the years? Now, I can enjoy the rich flavors during breakfast when I want to relax, meditate or just feel like enjoying a cup. Tea has even gone as far as being a product that people use on their hair.
There are so many ways that people can store their tea bags, from cabinets and drawers made specifically for the tea to even putting them in a jar with garlic to keep the moisture away. But these methods have their cons, which, more often than not, outweigh the pros. Personally, I store my tea bags in the boxes they come in. While this is not the wrong way to store your tea bags, they tend to become soggy if they are left in there too long. The issue of tiny insects also getting into the box does not help my confidence in wanting to continue drinking the tea, so if my tea is stored in the boxes, I go through them quickly.
That is one of the issues with the form of storage I listed above. The tea bags absorb moisture over a period of time. Tea drawers and cabinets, although suitable for storing large numbers of different types of teas; the teas have a higher rate of absorbing moisture faster, especially since cabinets and drawers allow the flow of air. Teabags readily absorb moisture from the air. The drawers and cabinets tend to become cluttered, too, and this causes a lot of frustration when I want to find a particular flavor or brand of tea. The thought of pulling out everything one by one till I find the right flavor I am looking for seems like a chore that I am usually not excited about. I have learned that shoving garlic and/or onions into the boxes, drawers, or cabinets to keep away moisture is not also a full-proof storage plan. The taste and smell of garlic or onions slowly seep into the tea, and before long, all of the tea becomes garlic flavored and scented.
Teabags are also weak when it comes to light and heat as they degrade the tea very quickly. So, storing teabags in translucent containers like glass jars and keeping them in spaces where light can easily access or store them in plastic containers is not the best option. I would not like to wake up in the morning, pumped to drink my tea, and find out that it does not taste the same way anymore. Finding the best way to store my teas is very vital if I want to keep enjoying the rich tastes and sniffing the lovely aromas that teas produce when brewed.
Just as they are degraded by light and heat, teas are also susceptible to odor. People tend to place their teabags in different places without much thought, which is not a good way of storing the teas. Leaving a mild-flavored tea close to a more robust flavored tea can impact it. Once, I kept jasmine tea and green tea together; when I took the green tea out to brew. Placing your teas near other spices or in places that have dust can influence the taste of the tea, so the spice cabinet should be out of the question as well.
Another fun fact about teabags is that they are not very air-tight, and so the tea tends to lose flavor over time. To avoid losing our teas to flavor loss, we need to learn better ways to store our teabags to prevent these from occurring. This brings us to the best way to store our teabags, one that will ensure that they don’t absorb moisture, become soggy, degrade with light and heat, absorb the taste or smell of another substance, or get infested by tiny organisms. And there is absolutely no need for garlic or onions to be stored beside tea unless you’re a fan of that, of course.
Best Ways To Store Tea Bags In Your Pantry
Some of the best ways to store teabags in your pantry are;
1. In air-tight, opaque containers. This way, neither light nor air can have an impact on them.
2. They should be kept in the dark spaces, away from light, in tightly sealed containers, especially if you do not have an opaque container to put them in. This way, the flavor of the teas remains because of the lack of air coming in and out.
3. Keeping them away from places that have moisture or naturally absorb moisture, like near walls or near water.
4. Separate strongly scented teas from milder teas. Also, store your teas away from other food substances that have overshadowing scents. Especially onions and garlic.
5. The use of desiccant or oxygen-absorbing packets, vacuum sealing, or refrigeration in air-tight containers can also help extend the storage life of teas. They work just like opaque containers, keeping them safe from foreign smells, tastes, and insects. And you don’t have to worry; the lights in the refrigerator won’t affect your tea in any way.
Additional Best Practices
Ever since I started consciously practicing these storage methods, I found out that my teabags last longer, and they stay just as fresh as they were on the day I bought them. I make sure that I make sure my tea stays intact to make sure that whatever materials I am using to store my tea are safe, have no prior smells, and are completely dry. Another I make sure to do, is only to open what I can drink in the next few months. I tend to get excited after a new tea purchase and open more boxes than I can consume. It is bad practice, and if you want your teas to last, don’t indulge in it. Trust me.
Also, unless they are well-stored, don’t hold onto tea for longer than a year or two, depending on the shelf life. Instead, drink them when they are at their freshest and best. Black tea in a bag within a sealed opaque canister may keep for two years. Green tea deteriorates more rapidly, usually in less than a year. Tightly rolled gunpowder tea leaves stay longer than the more open-leafed Chun Mee tea.
Storage is vital and a critical factor in the proper preservation of every item we own. It is even more necessary in food storage. We should always endeavor to store our teas properly, and making a conscious effort to do so can help you save on money and time lost from carelessness and negligence. I hope you enjoy your next properly stored cup of tea.