Many people are used to stocking up some good tea at home for drinking or entertaining guests.
At this time, there is a question: Can you still drink tea after it has been stored for a long time and expired? Is it true that the tea is "better with age" as rumored on the Internet? After all, good tea is very expensive, and it is a pity to throw it away.
In fact, whether tea can still be drunk after it expires depends mainly on its storage environment. Tea that is not well stored may have deteriorated even if it has not expired; tea that is well stored can still be drunk even after the shelf life. In other words, expiration and deterioration are not equal.
What is the shelf life of tea?
The production date and shelf life of the tea are clearly printed on the tea cans of general tea.
For example, the shelf life printed on the packaging of green tea is generally 18 months, that is, one and a half years; the shelf life printed on the packaging of black tea is generally 2 or 3 years; according to relevant standards, "the date when food becomes the final product also includes the packaging or canning date, that is, the date when the food is put (filled) into the packaging or container to form the final sales unit."
So what are the final product and final sales unit dates?
Some tea leaves will be stored and aged for a period of time after picking before being packaged. At this time, the printed date is the final product date, and the raw material date is the picking date. The factors that affect the quality of tea mainly include temperature, light, and humidity. Reducing or eliminating these factors can better ensure the quality of tea.
Therefore, when buying tea and drinking tea, you should pay attention to distinguish that the expiration time of tea is calculated according to the production date and shelf life.
How to judge whether the tea has deteriorated?
Step 1: Smell
Smell the tea before brewing tea. If there is already a strange smell or taste change, then the tea is likely to be deteriorated.
Unlike other foods, tea leaves have strong adsorption. In other words, if tea leaves are placed together with other items or foods, they are easily contaminated with other flavors.
Therefore, if you can smell a distinct odor in the tea leaves, it means that the tea leaves have deteriorated during storage, and drinking it will have an impact on your body.
Step 2: Touch it
This step is mainly judged by touch.
Because the optimal moisture content of tea leaves is about 5%-10%, once this threshold is exceeded, the tea leaves are easily damp or moldy. Therefore, under normal circumstances, tea leaves feel dry and easy to break.
Once you feel that the tea leaves feel damp and smell a little moldy. Then the tea leaves must have deteriorated and cannot be drunk anymore.
Step 3: Soak it
If you are still worried, you can soak the tea leaves and rinse them out to see. If the tea soup has obviously changed color, you should drink it with caution.
In addition, you can also taste the tea. If the taste is strong but there is no fresh fragrance.
Then, the tea leaves are likely to be expired and are not recommended for drinking.
If you find that the tea has gone bad after the above identification, then, no matter whether it is within the shelf life or not, don't drink it anymore.
New tea is fresh, and old tea is mellow.
Not all teas are suitable for storage as old teas, and not all old teas are drinkable and delicious.
Therefore, tea must be stored in good conditions to be worth tasting.
