Q: I was cleaning out my cupboard and came across some old tea, one bag of loose Pure Assam black tea and a large bag of flavored decaffeinated black tea bags. Both have lost a lot of flavor and aroma. It seems like a waste to just dump this tea, even if I'm not going to drink it.
Do you have any suggestions for other ways to use it?
Sent by Mona
Editor: Mona, you'll find some advice here:
→ How Can I Use Up Old Tea?
Readers, any ideas for using tea that is too old to drink?
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Tannic acid is good for cleaning wood floors/furniture. You can use it to mop.
It's great to make things look aged. So, if you have kids that have projects and need documents to look older, you can use the old tea bags. You can also compost the leaves.
used tea bags can keep on your eyes, it makes your eyes cool. just like keeping cucumber.
If you need acidify your soil, tea is good for that.
It should be fine for the compost pile, but I also use it for my watercolor paintings.
Dye fabric with it.
Not only are tea bags good for compost, but directly into the garden as well. Soak the tea bags in water for a few hours, or even a day. Just dump in the garden and turn the dirt over. If you have coffee grounds, all the better.
I did this in the desert sand in Arizona, within 6 months I had wonderful vegetables. Seems earthworms are attracted to this, and between the aeration and fertilizer, earthworms are your best friends.
recently i bought a really cute printed fabric but i wanted it to have more of a muslin look than stark white ... soaking in some tea water for a few hours did the trick beautifully!
Tea makes a fantastic dye - gives your whites a sepia tone. Which reminds me... I have a coffee stained white t-shirt I need to tea-dye.
Give it to me so I can paint with it pls thx
You might be able to extract some flavour by pulverizing/grinding the tea to a powder using a (clean) coffee grinder. Use the ground tea in a batch of shortbread cookies.
If you are a brunette, put it in a pot until it boils. Remove the tea bag from the pot, let the water cool, and then rinse your hair with it in the shower. It's good for your hair and will make it shiny.
Tea smoked fish (use a wok or similar deep pan)
In shortbread!
Chinese Tea eggs?
Use those old tea bags to give your self a tan. Brew tea and let cool. Sponge it on your skin for a nice tan. It will only last 2-3 days.
Tea leaves deodorize. You can use them inside the fridge, etc. before any of the other suggested uses. They can also be dumped in a cat's litter box for deodorizing...even used tea leaves dried work for that.