If you were an avid tea drinker, you’ve probably considered how many times you can reuse your tea bags to get the most out of them.
A general rule is to reuse tea bags one or two times. However, this does depend on the type of tea, like green teas or white teas can be used more times than darker Blends like orange pekoe. Darker blends usually only hold up to being reused once, whereas you can reuse green or white teas twice.
Let’s discover the best way to reuse your tea bags, how long you can wait between uses, and how safe it is to reuse them.
How do You Use a Tea Bag Twice?
A couple of things to keep in mind is that if you are going to be using your tea bag, you should be using them within a couple of hours of the first time you grew them. You don’t want to be reusing your tea bag the next day as they can develop mold, and they’re going to lose their potency.
Also, remember that you will have to steep your tea bag for longer on the reused time because the first cup used some of its potency.
If you decide to use your tea bag more than once, here are some tips for the best reason for your tea bags or whether you’re making a single cup of tea or a whole pot of tea.
How to Reuse Tea Bags for a Single Cup
If you’re only making tea one cup at a time, but you tend to drink more than one cup of tea within a couple of hours of each other, then it’s a great idea to reuse your sea bag. The best way is to have some saucer or plate that you can put your tea bag or infuser on as safekeeping until your next cup.
Keep in mind that it’s best to reuse your tea bag within 1 or 2 hours of making your first cup of tea.
If you would like to have milk in your tea, then you have a couple of other things to consider. You can either remove your tea bag before you add milk so that you don’t get any of the proteins from the milk into the tea bag, which can go back a lot quicker than the tea itself.
Or you can add milk before, which will make sure that you don’t have any uneven heating, but it will mean that you’ll have to use the tea bag a lot quicker after that first cup of tea. If you like to drink 2 Cups of Tea back to back, then this shouldn’t be an issue.
How to Reuse Tea Bags for a Teapot
If you’re someone who wouldn’t drink enough to end the day and making a whole pot of tea is your standard practice, then you’re going to be using multiple tea bags for your pod. However, once you finish the first infusion, you can’t remove your tea bags using a spoon and then put them into a saucer or plate and set them aside to use later.
Just keep in mind that the second time that you steep your tea bags but is going to take longer for the tea to properly steep and be strong enough for you to enjoy drinking it. However, the longer brewing time does have other benefits because it brings out more of the beneficial properties that are in tea leaves.
Is Reusing Tea Bags Safe?
If you’re worried that there might be some health issues with reusing tea bags, you don’t need to worry about it since there isn’t anything unhealthy about deciding to reuse your tea bag after a couple of hours. The only real health issue that starts to form is if you leave your tea bag for a significant amount of time before reusing it.
Leaving your tea bag on a saucer for 24 hours and then making your morning cup of tea the following morning with the same bag used the day before could be unhealthy because bold couldn’t develop overnight. This is especially true if you like to add milk to your tea and don’t remove the tea bag before adding milk.
Suppose you do decide that you want to keep your tea bags for a long. Of time there is a way that you can do it safely. You should cover the bags tightly with some plastic or other material that will keep them from drying out and then put them in the fridge so that you can come and use them when you need them.
What are the Health Benefits of Reusing a Tea Bag?
It may be hard for some people to believe, but there are actually health benefits to reusing your tea bags. When you brew with the same tea bag a second time, more antioxidants end pathogens end up being part of your tea in a way that they aren’t on their first steep.
Not only can drinking tea from used tea bags help you out, but you can also use the already used two tea bags to help with dark circles under your eyes. If you kill them and then place them under your eyes, it can help with any puffiness, but it’s there.
However, there are some adverse effects if you are drinking too much tea daily, such as anxiety, digestive issues, and headaches, so while it is going to be helpful for you to save money by reusing tea bags, it should encourage you to overindulge.
Conclusion
The best rule of thumb is that you can reuse your tea bags at least twice as long as they’re within a couple of hours. White and green teas, you may even be able to reuse them three times as long as it’s within a specific time frame. However, you don’t want to leave your tea bags out for 24 hours before reusing them.
Hi, I’m Jen Williams, chief editor and writer for ThirstPerk.com.
I’ve been drinking coffee and tea for most of my life, but it wasn’t until I started working at Thirstperk.com that I became an expert on the subject. I’m a total caffeine addict who has spent hours upon hours reading about and experimenting with the different types of coffees out there in my search to find the perfect cup of joe.
I’ve been a tea lover for as long as I can remember as well. I grew up in a house with a mom who loved to drink herbal tea, and I think that’s where my love for tea first began. These days, I’m always on the lookout for new and interesting teas to try, and I love experimenting with different brewing methods and flavoring combinations.