Does Herbal Tea Expire?
Does herbal tea expire? Herbal tea can be really expensive. Especially if it’s organic herbal tea. But even if you grow your own herbs and make your own herbal tea blends, you should know if and when your tea expires. And if you don’t drink herbal tea, I highly recommend trying it for the health benefits! Drinking herbal tea is such a delicious way to get more vitamins and nutrients into your diet. And studies show that drinking tea can boost your immune system and help fight and prevent certain diseases!
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People have been drinking tea for thousands of years and it’s the second most popular beverage in the world. Water is the first.
When we lived in a subdivision, I really enjoyed growing lemon balm for tea. It’s a beautiful plant with spikes of fragrant, white flowers. But it’s also an edible plant and the bees LOVE it!! Lemon balm is in the mint family, so it does spread but not as bad as peppermint or spearmint (both of which are also excellent in herbal tea). We grew it on both sides of our walkways and stairways. It was so much fun to harvest with little helpers and smelled fragrant and lemony when we touched it as we walked by!
Now that we are on the farm, one of my priorities is to establish a tea garden once again. I’ve missed having one!
What is Herbal Tea?
Despite the name, herbal tea is not a true tea. Instead, herbal tea (a.k.a. “tisane”) is a water-based herbal infusion of herbs, flowers, leaves, spices, dried fruits, roots, etc, and is not generally caffeinated.
By contrast, black tea, green tea, white tea, yellow tea, oolong tea, and dark tea (a.k.a. “true tea”) is made by steeping the leaves and leaf buds of the Camellia sinensis tea plant, and is generally caffeinated.
Herbal tea offers medicinal and aromatic benefits that are desirable to promote good health and healing in the body.
Better safe than sorry, so consult your primary care provider before drinking herbal tea. Especially if you take prescriptions or have health conditions such as pregnancy.
Does Herbal Tea Expire?
The short answer is yes and no. Herbal tea is most potent and fresh if used by the best-by date or the expiration date. However, just like coffee, it doesn’t TRULY expire…it just loses its potency. By properly storing your tea, you can expect to get good brewing results for at least 1 year.
If you grow your own herbs, be sure to harvest at the right time (generally morning) and dry and store them properly. If done right, your herbs will retain their best qualities for at least 1 year and some for up to several years. They should have nearly the same bright color, flavor, smell, taste, and medicinal properties that they do when they’re fresh.
Here are some things to look for when judging if your herbal tea has expired.
These are the indicators that your herbs are starting to degrade:
- Your colorful herbs are losing their vibrant color.
- Your herbs are losing their potent smell.
- Your herbs are losing their flavor.
- Your medicinal herbs are not as effective as they used to be at easing symptoms or conditions.
But here is the good news! As long as it’s stored properly, expired tea and old tea won’t make you sick if you use them and can still be beneficial. You may just have to use more of it to get the desired benefit.
IMPORTANT: Never use herbs that have mold growing on them. Also, if your tea has a foul smell or a bad taste, get rid of it and buy a fresh batch.
Tea Brewing Instructions
The herb-to-water ratio varies depending on whether your herbs are fresh or dried, the quality of the herbs, how old they are, and how potent you want your tea to be. As a general rule, use twice as much fresh herb in recipes that call for using dried herbs.
To brew your own tea, put one to three tablespoons of dried tea into a paper or cloth tea bag (like these muslin drawstring bags) or a fine mesh basket (I like this stainless steel tea infuser) into your tea cup. Then pour one cup of hot water just under boiling temperature over the tea. Then cover your cup with a lid or saucer to keep more of the medicinal properties inside your tea.
Here are additional brewing instructions for different types of tea:
- For green tea and yellow tea, steep your tea for 2 to 3 minutes.
- For white tea and oolong tea, steep your tea for 4 to 5 minutes.
- For black tea, steep your tea for 5 to 7 minutes.
- For herbal tea, steep your tea for at least 5 minutes. The longer you let it steep, the stronger and more potent your tea will become. Unlike black tea, herbal tea doesn’t become bitter if it steeps for a long time. I prefer to steep our herbal tea for 15 minutes.
- To make a solar tea, put the herbs in a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid and set it directly in hot sunlight for several hours.
- To make a lunar tea, put the herbs in a glass jar covered with a coffee filter and let it steep for several hours in moonlight.
How Much and How Often Should You Drink Herbal Tea?
How much and how often you drink herbal tea depends on your reason for drinking it.
Dosage for Adults
For medicinal herbal tea to be effective against chronic ailments such as arthritis, back pain, and hormonal imbalances, adults should drink a cup of tea several times per day (up to 4 cups) for a few weeks.
If you have an acute condition such as a cold, flu, or nausea, try sipping your herbal tea every 30 minutes (up to 4 cups) until the symptoms ease.
If you just need help calming yourself down to get a good night of sleep, all you need is a cup of warm, chamomile tea sweetened with some good raw honey.
Dosage for Children
Even though herbs are more gentle and less potent than a concentrated over-the-counter pill, they still have medicinal properties that we need to be mindful of.
Children’s bodies are more sensitive to herbs and they respond quicker to herbal tea. Therefore, they need smaller quantities of herbs. Consider the size of the child, the child’s constitution, and/or the severity of their illness when determining how much herbal tea to give.
This list of suggested dosages for children is in Rosemary Gladstar’s Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health book. When the adult dosage is one cup, follow the general guidelines below for children.
| Age | Dosage |
| Younger than 2 years | 1/2 to 1 teaspoon |
| 2 to 4 years | 2 teaspoons |
| 4 to 7 years | 1 tablespoon |
| 7 to 11 years | 2 tablespoons |
Use High-Quality Herbs
If you plan on buying your herbs, make sure to buy high-quality herbs that have been grown organically and harvested ethically by reputable companies. On Amazon, I like Frontier Co-op and Starwest Botanicals. I like to buy their herbs in one-pound bulk packages to save money in the long run.
Better yet, grow your own herbs organically! Using fresh herbs in your tea is more potent and has the best flavor anyways!!
Grow Your Own Tea
There are so many herbs that you can grow in your garden or on your window sill that are not only beautiful but also make terrific herbal tea. Anything in the mint family is wonderful for making tea and will last a very long time in your garden. Plant it where you don’t mind it spreading because these perennial herbs will take over if it likes the spot where you plant it!
Also, try growing your own camellia sinensis plant to have black tea for decades. These shrubs are perennial in USDA agricultural zones 7 to 9; however, you can also grow them in pots if you live in a colder climate and move them indoors in winter. These cold hardy tea plants are hardy down to 10°F (-12°C).
Store Your Tea Properly
The best way to store your homemade loose-leaf tea is in an airtight container in a dark, cool, dry place. For proper storage, keep it away from heat sources and direct sunlight to prolong its shelf life and medicinal properties.
A great way to store your loose tea leaves is in glass jars. If you purchase a box of tea, keep it in its original packaging in a cool place like your pantry.
For a longer shelf life, use a vacuum sealer for mason jars. Store your loose tea in your jars and get all the oxygen out. This is especially helpful if you like to buy in bulk like I do. Keep a jar of your favorite homemade herbal tea blend in your cupboard where you can access it easily. Then store all the extra herbs in quart or half-gallon mason jars and suck out all the oxygen so that it keeps for a really long time.
Once brewed and cooled down to room temperature, it’s a good idea to store your excess herbal tea in the refrigerator and use it within 4 days. Try to avoid putting your loose leaf tea in the refrigerator or freezer. Not only can the leaves absorb the moisture but they can also absorb any flavors and smells!
My Favorite Herbal Tea Blends
For a general nighttime treat, my favorite homemade blend has chamomile flowers, hibiscus flowers, rose hips, and red raspberry leaves. But plain chamomile tea on its own and sweetened with honey is also delicious.
If anyone in the house is sick, I like to make tea using elderberries, echinacea root, and astragalus root. Even though I prefer my herbal teas to be warm, iced tea is a good alternative.
For more specific ailments, I will add whatever herb I need and have to combat the ailment and nourish the body. A good recipe book on herbal teas can provide you with lots of options and ideas.
I hope I’ve inspired you to start drinking more tea!
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Rosemary Gladstar’s Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health
Extra Fine 18/8 Stainless Steel Tea Infuser Mesh Strainer
Muslin Bags Cotton Drawstring, 50 Pieces
Vacuum Sealer Kit for Wide-Mouth & Regular-Mouth Mason-type Jars
Lemon Balm Leaf, Cut & Sifted, Organic, 1 Pound Bulk
Peppermint Leaves, Organic, 1 Pound Bulk
Chamomile Flowers, Organic, 1 Pound Bulk
Raw Dandelion Root Tea, Cut & Sifted, Organic, 1 Pound Bulk
Echinacea Purpurea Herb, Cut & Sifted, Organic, 1 Pound Bulk
Dried Elder Berries, organic, 1 Pound Bulk
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Such good information! Thank you!
I love herbal teas! I planted some chocolate mint under our apple trees a few years ago when we put in a small orchard. It makes excellent tea with fresh leaves, but I haven’t tried drying them yet. It’s on my list for this summer!
I’m going to have to write down chocolate mint to add to my tea garden when I get it planted this year. Thanks for bringing it up!
I LOVE herbal teas. Very good info to keep in mind! Thanks!
As someone who’s too frugal to throw anything out (I’ve also had food poisoning around 10 times over the years…), I was scared to read this in case it told me I needed to throw old teas out if I neglected one part of our collection for too long. Very happy to learn that I have more time.
Good to learn the child dosages as well as my oldest loves to do tea time with my wife but we weren’t sure how much to water it down
I love that you have tea parties at your house, too! My kids also love drinking herbal tea. It’s a special and memorable time.