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This box of tea has an expiration date which has passed but I would like to know if I can still use it. What do you think?

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7 Answers

up vote 22 down vote accepted

Tea bags will be fine for at least a year in the pantry, but even long after that, they're still safe to consume. They just might change colour or flavour.

If your tea has an expiration date then it's just for best quality, not safety. I've personally found tea bags sitting at the back of the pantry that were more than 3 years old, the packaging had even started to fade, and the tea was still fine. I just had to steep it for a little longer.

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It depends a lot on the packaging - if they're not individually sealed they may have lost a lot more of their flavor. – Jefromi♦ Dec 4 '10 at 22:42
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@Jefromi: Even so, just means you need to steep 'em longer to get the same flavour. Sort of like old spices - if they haven't been kept properly (i.e. in the freezer) you might need to increase the amount. – Aaronut♦ Dec 5 '10 at 0:31
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Yup, you'll never get food poisoning from tea. However, it will be bland as all get out after a few years. Green and Oolong teas suffer particularly from this. – BobMcGee May 24 '12 at 1:14
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I believe they are now putting an expiration for the famous word Profit. Think back, when we were kids that word did not exist. I will agree to the possibility that the flavor may be altered, but spoiled, No!

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My neighbor gave me some old boxes of tea she wasn't going to use. I use them to make iced tea. When I threw out one of the boxes, I discovered it had a best if used by date of 1997! That pitcher tasted a little off but it wasn't terrible.

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This is a good point: the flavor might not just be weaker; it could have picked up smells from other things, and different components of the original flavor might deteriorate at different rates, so even with longer steeping, it may not taste the same. – Jefromi♦ Apr 15 at 17:34
up vote 1 down vote

My guess would be yes. Though they might not be as flavorful.

I have never seen any expire dates on tea before, I'll have to look at my tea bags when I get home. I've had them for a while.

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I will have to check mine as well, I have never noticed an expiration date on tea bags. – Varuuknahl Dec 4 '10 at 19:05
The expiration date is actually on the box, not the individual bags.... – TheX Dec 4 '10 at 19:20
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So you just keep them and throw away the box; that way they never expire! ;-) – Jürgen A. Erhard Dec 9 '10 at 17:35
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Similar to the comments above about "freshness" tea loses it's medicinal qualities as it ages. If you're looking to drink green tea for it's health benefits the quality matters. Green tea that is more than 6 months old has a significant decrease in the amount of beneficial antioxidants the body can absorb. Personally I'm a big fan of loose leaf but if you're going to drink any brand of bagged teas my vote is for Mighty Leaf. They're big on flavor and high in quality.

If you're looking for creative ideas on how to use old tea I've heard they make good fertilizers and also have heard of people using them as air fresheners in their sock drawers.

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Yes, it should be fine. I am drinking Japanese green tea right now which has been stored in a tight tin. It was expired in 2009. I heard that green tea is OK to dring after its expired when I was in Japan. However, flavour is definitely not the greatest if you know the real taste. They suggest to keep them in FREEZER if you can.

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Keeping tea in the freezer is generally considered a bad idea unless you vacuum pack it. Water condensing on the leaves during freezing can cause them to mould once removed from the freezer. – Chris Steinbach Sep 22 '12 at 9:42
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It's funny to see westerners asking "when does tea go off"? Answer --- it doesn't.

Here in Asia, many people drink tea that is years old, including the Chinese who have a tea that is more than 20 years old and is highly desired and very expensive to buy.

Tea does not 'go off'. It is dried, so like any dried herb. Like someone else said, you may have to steep it a little longer but it will never hurt you.

Stop believing all this hype about 'sell bye' dates. It's why so much food is wasted in the west. For sheer profit. Nothing more.

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protected by Jefromi♦ Apr 15 at 17:15

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