h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi there,

I am a Brit living in Germany. A (German) friend of mine asked me (as a Brit who should know these things!!) whether the best before dates on (loose) tea are to be "obeyed"?!

Can tea go off? What happens - does it just lose its aroma / flavour...? does it go bitter??

My shortcomings in the general knowledge tea stakes are clearly pitiful - any info from those who are the wiser would be greatly appreciated and restore my German friend's faith in the good ol' cuppa.

ecl

Tea doesn't really go off, but the older it is the more flavour it will lose. The fresher the better

tea lasts for ages if kept properly. years. much longer than the dates i've seen on tea packets. like the other poster said, it's a freshness thing, but since i haven't seen a tea NOT airtight packaged in years, the loss of freshness would be insignificant unless the date was seriously old.

i'd be asking myself why the tea hasn't sold. clearly it isn't popular.

don't buy any tea grown in huddersfield or oklahoma, regardless of its age.