Being an everyday drink for almost everyone, for centuries tea was considered safe and healthy. However, fungal contamination of tea at any stage of commodity production can pose a serious health hazard due to the accumulation of toxic secondary metabolites of moulds.
Mold can produce toxic substances called mycotoxins, which can harm your body. When you ingest moldy tea, you might experience digestive issues, allergic reactions, and respiratory problems. Mild symptoms may include diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain.
Clumping tea: If you shake your tea bag and the tea leaves inside clump together rather than sliding loosely inside the tea bag, then this is an indication that the tea inside may be contaminated with mold. Off smells: If your tea bags are infested with mold, they may have a musty or “off” smell to them.
Tea is almost all water, slightly acidic, and has a range of trace elements. That's enough to support a wide variety of molds. The airborne spores dropped into the tea after the boiling water had cooled, and have grown to this stage in about 4–8 days depending on the temperature. Best avoid.
Just be sure to store it in the fridge as soon as possible. Brewed tea that has been left out for more than four hours should be thrown away. This is because bacteria can start to grow and cause food poisoning.
Tea is almost all water, slightly acidic, and has a range of trace elements. That's enough to support a wide variety of molds. The airborne spores dropped into the tea after the boiling water had cooled, and have grown to this stage in about 4–8 days depending on the temperature.
If you're worried that drinking expired tea after the best by date will make you instantly ill, don't worry - only in extreme cases will old tea make you sick. However, it's likely that any tea consumed beyond a recommended best by date will start to taste bad and bitter, a natural sign that your tea has gone bad.
Tea is relatively forgiving, and rarely spoils as long as it's stored properly. Old tea may simply be less flavorful and fresh than new tea, and will brew up a weaker cup with a stale flavor. In this sense, tea doesn't actually have an “expiration date” after which it will be unsafe to drink.
Generally tea, like other dry herbs, doesn't really expire, but may loose flavor and aroma. So while your tea bag may not taste great, it should still be ok to consume, if the tea bag hasn't come in touch with too much humidity. Only with excessive humidity, the dry leaves may absorb it and develop mold.
The oily film on black tea is mostly made of some of the compounds in the tea – particularly, molecules called polyphenols – and calcium carbonate. Calcium carbonate is present in tap water, but its content varies from place to place. A higher concentration of calcium carbonate will create a thicker film.
Scientists at the Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health in Zurich, discovered that tea leaves contain compounds called polyphenols. These have a habit of bonding with calcium carbonate in tap water. And when this happens, a film tends to appear at the surface of the tea cup. That's disgusting.
The research shows that the scum on tea is composed primarily of calcium carbonate (about 15-25%) and the rest is a mixture of complex organic chemicals or minerals. Others research has stated it is also due to the due to the oil in the tea leaves.
Q: Can drinking mold make you sick? A: Yes, drinking mold can cause health issues such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headaches, and skin rashes. Mold can be found in food, water, air, and soil.
Smell: Generally, the aging time of mildewed tea is relatively long, which carries strong dusty and musty odor. There's even smoke when the package is opened in some cases.
Moist tea bags can be kept at room temperature for a day, but any longer and you will want to refrigerate them in a moist medium to prevent mold and bacteria growth. The smell test is your best measure of bacteria growth — if that bag smells funky, then toss it in the trash.
As mentioned, tea bags do not expire. Neither does loose leaf tea. Dry tea leaves and bags are typically good for a whopping two years before quality starts rolling down a hill. All teas made from the camellia sinensis plant, whether green or black teas, will begin to lose their flavor over time [3].
However, dried tea leaves that are kept dry will not spoil, and as long as they are stored away from heat, water, light and air, the flavor and phytochemical content can be maintained for up to two years.
You always have the choice to reheat the tea. However, doing so might steal many of its flavours, nutritional properties and aroma. If you have left your tea abandoned for more than four hours, it is downright not recommended to reheat the tea as it may harbour mould and bacterial growth.
If iced tea is brewed at inadequate tem- peratures or in an improperly cleaned urn, or if it is stored for too long, it may grow coliform bacteria, most frequently Klebsiella and En- terobacter, and less commonly E. coli.
Tea is often considered as a healthy drink that is rich in antioxidants and other health constituents. However, tea can become contaminated during production and pathogens such as Salmonella can persist over extended storage periods.
We describe an outbreak of botulism associated with the ingestion of liquid herbal tea packaged in sealed pouches [1].
The best way to clean a teapot that has been infected with mold is with hydrogen peroxide. Pour it in and leave it in the pot for at least an hour, rinse several times with hot water and follow with a vinegar rinse to neutralize any peroxide that may remain.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has stated in the past that brewed tea at room temperature is only good for 8 hours. After this length of time, bacteria will start to grow, making it unsafe to drink.
Fresh leaves in withering. Drying requires heat, and heat needs to be created. If the heating up process takes too long, it's possible that tea leaves get fermented again and develop the sour taste. Furthermore, area of production also has an impact on the fermentation process.