Why are my earl grey tea bags losing flavor after a couple weeks?

[fuzzybabybunny]

I buy a box of Safeway organic earl grey tea and it's in tea bag for. It's so aromatic and flavorful for the first week. It's been 2 weeks and I can hardly tell that it's earl grey anymore. What the hell? They're all in individual tea bags. Shouldn't they be, uh, airtight and not lose flavor?

I'm thinking about heading to the grocery store and getting a tin of Twinings loose leaf earl grey, but wouldn't this be even worse? The last thing I want is to have an entire tin of crappy flavorless tea.

 

[mnewsham]

Get a new box, brew two cups of tea, one new one old, steep for the same amount of time at the same temperature, label cup (so you can't tell just by a glance) for the new, one for the old. Get someone else to make it for you, or go into another room and tell them to bring you one, and then the other.

double blind this bitch like a boss and rule out your own pussified tastebuds and the god damn placebo effect.

 

[SSSnail]

Not enough snorgles. Either that or buy an airtight glass jar to put your teabags in.

 

[RocksteadyDotNet]

You're not supposed to reuse teabags. Let alone for 2 weeks!

 

[PlasmaBomb]

Teabags aren't airtight... they aren't even watertight... or else they would be useless.

Get an airtight jar!

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Teabags aren't airtight... they aren't even watertight... or else they would be useless.

Get an airtight jar!

I meant the bags that you tear to get at the teabags. Wouldn't a cheap ziploc bag work just as well or even better?

 

[WelshBloke]

I preferred your threads about lost soft toys. :-(

 

[Madwand1]

A difference might be in your taste adjusting over time. There are lots of good teas; you could try switching to something else for a time and then switching back.

E.g. Prince of Wales, Russian Caravan, Darjeeling, etc.

BTW, most tea bags are lesser quality than loose leaf teas, the exceptions being the higher-end ones which are more like full leaf teas in a bag.

 

[WelshBloke]

... Russian Caravan...

That really is very good tea. :thumbup:

 

[alkemyst]

some people just have a way of sucking the life out of everything around them.

 

[mmntech]

Could be old tea. Make sure to store it in an air tight container as well. Those old timey glass/latch jars used for preserves work well. You can get them at the dollar store.

 

[AstroManLuca]

#firstworldproblems

 

[chusteczka]

It helps to store your tea in an airtight container.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

1) likely low quality tea
2) can be getting old/stale
3) your palate may be getting 'used to' the flavor

 

[Sinsear]

Seriously, do you have any idea how life works?