Sunday, August 3, 2014

Tea and Expiration Dates


In a recent discussion about dating teas for freshness, which is not required by the FDA, a born on date or good till drink date, here are some of the discussion responses:

A tea grower:
"Even though FDA does not require expiration or best before date, we feel obliged to print the best before date on the product package. We want the customer to taste fresh and safe green tea."

"As per our green tea item which we have hundreds of them, some have 6 month period, others have 12 or 18 months for the best tasting period(best before date) after production. Loose leaf tends to last longer than powder item in terms of taste. We mention the period for each of the item"
"Expiration dates and tea have a complex relationship. For years U.S. retailers tossed out their old white tea but now people have discovered that white tea can age in the same way puerh does. The same goes for oolongs. For greens I do prefer to drink within a year of production but I have some that have been around quite a bit longer that are perfectly drinkable."

Tea retailer:
"That was my understanding that some teas age like a good wine. One problem is that consumers need to be educated about tea and age. With most things, fresh is better."

At Storehouse Tea we agree that the vast majority of teas are better when they are fresher like any organic food product. We purchase our teas with in the current picking season so we know we are purchasing a fresh product. Since we small batch hand blend our teas shortly after receiving them, we date our teas with the production date plus two years. While it won't harm you to drink teas after that date, it may or may not taste the way we intended it when we produced it. Storehouse Tea is serious about giving our customers the best experience possible with our teas. Even though the Food and Drug Agency doesn't require it, we date our teas because we feel it's important for our customers to know they are drinking the freshest, most delicious and potent tea possible.
Please navigate to www.storehousetea.com to explore all of our 50+  fresh teas, tea ware and accessories.