Survivalist Forum banner

Tea Bags - LTS

Tags
lts tea
4K views 20 replies 16 participants last post by  lasers 
#1 ·
I dug up a thread from 2014 about the LTS of tea. Mylar w/ O2A or vacuum sealing was the post.

The post went sideways with who likes what tea, price per pound, etc and never really came to a conclusion as to the advantages and drawbacks to each method.

In the intervening 6 years, I’m sure some people opened their LTS stash and made a cup. What worked and what didn’t?

So, Vacuum seal or Mylar??
 
#4 ·
Would you happen to have any long term storage times? Tea bags vs loose tea? We keep iced tea bags and some loose tea on hand, about 2 months worth, but I've not put any away for longer than that. Back in February when we went on one last big shopping trip,the gallon sized bags were hard to come by. Thanks


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#5 ·
I’ve used tea bags that I had forgotten I had stored that were two years old, stored in the original box they came in, and survived drinking the tea. Can’t really say if the tea had lost any flavor or anything because it was a brand I really don’t like anyway and never much cared for the taste of that brand (raised on Lipton, all others suck, wife bought cheap stuff and I stuck it in a spot in the back of a cabinet and forgot about it)

But I survived
 
#8 ·
From what I have read tea bricks are crap.

I have some loose in original unopened packaging, mylar and nitrogen packed is better than I can do.

I also bought a fair amount of tea bags from the store and just put them in plain mylar, heat sealed, no O2. I haven't opened them.
 
#9 ·
Tea bricks typify unsanitary asian practices. You never know what was used as a binder or how the material was stored. Lab tests have revealed rat urine, droppings, etc.

I buy loose tea from a reliable source which has been vacuum packed and shrink wrapped, then the 500g bundles are stored in airtight military ammunition cans. O2 absorbers and mylar are good if you have them, but are not absolutely necessary.

In the 1980s I was still using tea from British Army military tins dating from WW2 which my Uncle carried home in his seabag from the CBI and all was still good. I am now using tea which I put up in 1/2 pint Ball glass canning jars, wrapped in newspaper for cushioning and stacked in .50 cal ammunition cans before the Y2K rollover, which is still excellent.

A useful planning standard for a family of four who drink tea in the custom in the British Isles, Canada or Australia is 1 kg/year. However, that would not be sufficient in households that do not also serve coffee for at least one meal daily.

As I use up my old stocks I am replacing it with Product ID# 144 Ceylon Tea BOP 1-lb, Botanical Name Camellia sinensis from Galle, Sri Lanka, which I purchase in 1 pound packages from https://www.sfherb.com/Ceylon-Tea--1-Lb_p_60.html

Ceylon BOP is a very fine, low-grown (under 1000 feet), broken leaf tea from Sri Lanka that produces a dark cup with a good body that is mellow and brisk. This tea holds up well to the addition of milk. In the USA it is commonly used as a base for blended teas. This tea is among the types of teas favored for chai in India, breakfast teas in England or being served in the mess on ships of the British Royal Navy.

After onset of the Dog Watch (1600-2000) it is wonderful when fortified with a tot of dark Admiralty rum.
 
#10 ·
Tea is a bit weird. Oxidation can sometimes be a desired effect. Heat and sunlight damage can be a desired effects.

But it does damage the tea. It's just that either we don't mind or that we actually want the damage.

While tea does have medicinal and nutrition properties, the taste is always far more paramount. So much so that destruction of medicinal and nutrition effects are simply unimportant. Tea is also one of those substances where heat changes its chemical makeup to something else that maybe desirable.

Tomatoes are a good example. While cooking a tomato destroys certain nutrition aspects, it also concentrates others.

Tea that gets blackened through roasting loses certain health benefits but other benefits rise instead.

Tea taste is rarely damaged by time and oxidation if kept in a dry tin, but if you are wanting fresh tea nutrition then that old tin in the back of the cupboard won't help. But if you just wanted a good tasting cup of tea then the old tin holds no worries.

Are you storing tea long term because you just like the taste? Then O2As aren't a big necessity.

But if you want the health benefits of any style made to stay the same then you need mylar and O2As.
 
#12 ·
You can probably find an Asian grocery in NJ Ack and they have really good tea in bulk. I got some Pu-erh tea (very good for your health and digestion, it is fermented black tea sold loose) already packed for LTS in mylar and vac sealed in a canister. When I am ready I can open it. Get some Pu-erh bags see if she likes it and if she does you can get a couple canisters and a tea ball.

I am also a huge fan of my electric kettle, so easy for tea or a cup of noodles. Or Mountain House for that matter.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Observer and MikeK
#13 ·
I don't drink hot tea, but I make sweet tea frequently. I buy Red Diamond quart size tea bags, take them out of the box, and vacuum seal them all into one of the food saver bags. I take these vacuum sealed bags and store them in a zip top mylar bag that will hold several vacuum sealed packages. I just took out some that I had sealed in 2014, and they tasted good as new.
 
#14 ·
Here's how I was taught as a young lad to brew up a proppa cuppa:

Buy the best possible tea. Traditionalists insist on loose tea, scorning tea bags as not up to snuff. Me Sainted Mother would not allow tea bags in her kitchen. Loose tea leaves historically have been considered of higher quality, but today there's no guarantee. There's a lot of bad loose tea out there, too. Once you find a variety you like, from a reliable purveyor, then my advice is to stick to it.

Always warm the teapot with a little boiled water, swirl it around the pot and discard. Place one tsp of fresh loose leaf tea per person plus one for the pot into the teapot. Top up the teapot with boiling water (do not allow the water to go off-the-boil or it will not be hot enough to brew the tea).

Don't use a tea ball or infuser. Most people overstuff them, impairing the brewing process. Always brew tea in a ceramic or glass pot. While a metal teapot will keep the tea hotter for longer, china or ceramic keeps a finer flavour with no tainting from the oxidized metal. Pouring the tea into white-lined cups enables you to better judge the color. Always use filtered well or spring water water for tea, never from a municipal supply. Aboard ship distilled, desalinated sea water was used after filtration and aeration.

Different teas take different brewing times. For black teas, it's four to five minutes, three to four minutes for green tea. The darker the tea, the longer the brewing time required. Adjust timing to suit your tastes.

Pour the tea through a tea-strainer directly into clean teacups, China cups or mugs are supposedly best to use, though why has never been proven; the tea just tastes better.

Debate continues about whether to put milk in the cup before pouring or after. In the Royal Navy milk (or RUM!) was always poured into the cup before the tea to prevent the hot tea from cracking the fragile bone china cups in the mess. After all, it is tradition.

Modern tea experts agree with this tradition but also state that to pour milk into hot tea, alters the flavour of the tea.

Finally, take the time to savor the aroma and taste the tea carefully, as you would a fine wine.
 
#17 ·
Here in the north the culture is to drink a lot of tea.. This household drinks about half and half, tea and coffee..

When on sale we stock up significantly on our 2 favorite brands in bags. Red Rose and Tetley brands.. Repackaged in liter, quart canning jars with vacuum sealed canning lids.. Stored in the cold room, cool, dark, dry...

Has worked well with no noticeable loss of quality or flavor..
 
#20 ·
A few years ago I found some Lipton tea bags that I had stored in a small aluminum mess kit when I was a kid. I never used this mess kit so it was kind of like a time capsule. The tea bags had probably been in this thing for maybe 30 years or so. That night I made a cup of tea from 1 bag! I did not sleep a wink all night. I was wired! You may consider this if you think it helps. lol
 
#21 ·
The most recent liptons tea 100 pack I bought came with the tea wrapped in 4 milar like sleeves. It has a best by date 18 months away. I would imagine the way it is packet it would last for years and years.

I personally don't care if the flavor or nutrition degrades to nothing, as long as it still contains caffeine that is my number one concern. However we go through tea so fast that it would take a pretty large stock pile to get beyond that 18 month best by date.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top