When you go to a grocery store to purchase a few items, you tend to observe a similar feature in almost all the items: an expiry date. Even your herbal tea has an expiry date. But the question is, does herbal tea expire? The simple answer is no; they don't expire. However, over time, they may begin to develop molds or mildews. The longevity of a herbal tea after its expiry date depends on two main factors:
- The ingredients used to make it
- The storage process
Although you can still drink a herbal tea after its expiry date, it will gradually lose its flavor after a while. The expiry date of a herbal tea does not indicate when it will go bad but rather when it will begin to lose its flavor. That is, it is not detrimental to health when you drink an expired herbal tea. You don't have to bother so much whether your herbal tea is safe to drink or not, except there are molds or bugs present. Herbal tea can easily be infested by molds in comparison to black or green tea.
HOW LONG DOES A HERBAL TEA LAST?
You can get the best flavor from your herbal tea for up to eighteen months after its production. All you need to do is make sure you properly store them in a favorable condition where air cannot penetrate. How you store, your herbal tea plays an important role in its longevity. Nevertheless, if you can follow the right storage procedures, your herbal tea can last as long as possible:
- Do not expose the herbal tea directly to sunlight
- Store in a tight or sealed container to block air penetration
- Keep tea away from humid conditions
- Do not mix different flavors
- Do not expose to heat
Not adhering to these guidelines can cause your herbal tea to go bad after a short period. Hence, it is very important to follow them.
Compared to other varieties of tea, herbal tea tends to lose its flavor more easily. In the real sense, herbal teas are not essentially tea; they are just a mixture of dried herbs, flowers, and fruits. Hence, they are more vulnerable to spoilage and fungi infestation. Other kinds of teas, such as green tea and black tea, show more resistance to decay than herbal tea.
HOW TO KNOW IF A HERBAL TEA HAS EXPIRED
To know if your herbal tea has expired, you may observe a few signs. Sometimes, these signs are barely noticeable, that it becomes difficult to fish them out. You may begin to perceive a foul smell coming from the herbal tea. The smell coming out from an expired herbal tea is very odd that you can easily tell the tea is not smelling like it should.
Another way to find out if your herbal tea has expired is to look for molds on your teabag. This is easy to spot. Whether or not the molds have infested every single teabag, it is advisable to throw away the herbal tea to avoid health problems.
Furthermore, if your herbal tea loses its flavor and begins to taste bland, it is high time you threw it away. While this doesn't mean the herbal tea will cause any health issues, you wouldn't want to experience a bland taste whenever you sip a cup of tea, would you?
If your herbal tea box is more than three old, you need to throw it away. Even though there are no noticeable signs that the tea has gone bad, it is advisable not to use three-year-old tea for health reasons.
HOW LONG DOES HERBAL TEA LAST ONCE BREWED?
While it is safe to drink a herbal tea that has been in the fridge for more than five days, you must know that it retains its best flavor within eight hours after brewing. If your herbal tea expiration date is getting closer, you may want to consume it in large quantities so that it doesn't just waste.
The smartest way to achieve this is by brewing the herbal tea in large amounts and storing it in a refrigerator. By doing so, you can simply choose to drink it cold or warm, whenever you wish. But how long can a brewed herbal tea last in a fridge before it goes bad? This question is tricky. However, it essentially depends on how the herbal tea is brewed and whether other ingredients were added to it. If you adhere strictly to iced tea brewing and consumption principles, it is advisable to store your herbal tea in a refrigerator for up to eight hours. Although not everyone is strict with such a principle — many people drink homemade iced tea well after eight hours!
Aside from the fact the tea may lose much of its flavor days after the first few hours of brewing, there wouldn't be anything wrong with drinking it. Therefore, the best way to preserve your herbal tea's flavor is the cold-brew it. If you opt to brew the herbal tea with hot water or other means that require heating, it may likely lose its flavor quickly. Another thing you may have observed is that adding fresh fruits and sugar make a brewed tea ferment. This may eventually give a bad taste to the tea, especially when refrigeration is no longer helpful.
You must not forget to follow the same guidelines for keeping your dried herbal tea fresh if you want to keep your refrigerated, brewed herbal tea fresh.
One of the most important things to remember is keeping the brewed tea in a sealed container while putting it in a refrigerator. Also, do not use sugar or other fruit extracts during brewing to prevent fermentation.
FINAL THOUGHTS
There are a lot of things to consider when determining how long a herbal tea lasts. Some of these factors include how they are stored and the place to store them. Putting the herbal tea in a sealed container to prevent heat and air is extremely important.
After reading this, you can easily determine when to throw away that herbal tea and tell when it loses its flavor. Generally, one cannot pinpoint exactly how long a herbal tea lasts. After a while, the tea may lose its flavor; it may also be infested by molds if left in an unfavorable condition.