What Can We Do With Expired Tea Leaves

Some people like tea bags, but in my opinion, loose tea leaves keep more taste and relish of tea without affecting the nutritional value of tea. Some tea leaves even maintain a similar appearance as it hangs on the tree. But loose tea leaves, compared to tea bags, are more difficult to store properly. What if the tea leaves have expired? Although expired tea leaves don’t suggest drinking, they are still useful.

Remove odor

Tea has a special fragrance, even when it has been out of date. So you can use expired tea leaves to remove odor, especially odor in your refrigerator. To kill odor in the fridge, wrap 50g tea leaves with a piece of gauze and put it into your refrigerator. Every month, get the small bag out and leave it under the sun for a while to remove the odor absorbed in it. You can use it several times until it has no fragrance.

Made into fertilizer

Tea leaves can be made into fertilizer. If you want to have a try, follow the steps below.

Step 1: Brew the expired tea leaves for 3-4 times, which will remove a part of its theophylline. Too much theophylline will change the PH of soil.

Step 2: Mix up the brewed tea leaves and soil in the proportion of one to five. Put them in a proper container that has holes at the bottom. Water can go through the holes. And spray some water.

Step 3: Cover it with a black plastic cloth or other covering. Leave it under the sun.

Step 4: In the process, mix it up every three to four days. Focus on its temperature and moisture. The proper temperature of the soil is 40-degree centigrade. If the temperature is too high or the soil is too dry, spray some water.

Note: The fermentation process will take about two months in spring or winter, while one month in summer or autumn. Too much or too little water will result in fermentation failure.

Cure mid athlete’s foot

Modern science found that tea contains a lot of tannic acids, which has a strong bactericidal effect, especially for filamentous bacteria that cause athlete’s foot. Therefore, brew the tea into a thick sauce and use it to wash feet every night. It will cure athlete’s foot. If you have athlete’s foot, use the expired tea leave to cure it.

Step 1: Brew expired tea leaves. Discard tea water and keep the tea leaves.

Step 2: Put brewed tea leaves in a foot basin. And add 5L warm water of 70-degree centigrade.

Step 3: Add some white vinegar and mix it up.

Step 4: Leave it there for a while. And the effective constituent in tea leaves will spread out.

Step 5: Soak your feet in it for 15 minutes. Two times a day. One to two weeks will see it work.

Find more good methods and share them with us.

Read More:

Does Tea Go Bad? How Long Does Loose Tea Last?

How Many Times Can Loose Leaf Tea Be Used?