The Big Caveat That Comes With Reusing Tea Bags

Have you ever reused a tea bag? I'm the queen of the penny pinchers, and I drink tea just about every day, but reusing the bags is something I didn't think was possible. Or at least, not advisable. My great aunts and my grandma used to do it, but they wound up reusing theirs so many times that the tea bags lost all flavor. That's somewhere I refuse to go. It turns out, though, there is a middle ground between using a fresh tea bag every time and using it until it wears out. According to Jee Choe, a coffee and tea sommelier who blogs about hot beverages at Oh, How Civilized, it's okay to reuse a tea bag before it loses flavor as long as you only do it two times.

"Tea bags are filled with crushed tea leaves, so after the initial couple of brews, all the flavor will be gone, leaving a weaker brew with each steep," Choe explained to The Takeout. Beware, your second cup won't be quite as strong. "Each brew after the first will have a noticeable, weaker taste," she said. This means you might want to steep it a bit longer than you would on the first go-round. Choe also feels that the two-and-done tea bag rule should apply regardless of whether the brew is black, green, or white. "I would say for any tea, I wouldn't steep more than twice," she says.

Loose tea isn't quite as convenient as using a tea bag, since you need a tea ball, strainer, or filter. (You can also brew it in a Keurig for the perfect quick cup.) Loose tea isn't as readily available on supermarket shelves, but it can be healthier since it contains more antioxidants. What's more, using it means you won't need to worry about microplastics in your tea from a plastic-wrapped tea bag. Jee Choe also pointed out another significant upside to loose tea — you can reuse it three times more than tea bags.

"Since loose-leaf tea is usually made up of whole leaves that have been tightly rolled, it takes a longer time for the leaves to completely unfurl and release their flavor," she said. "You can reuse good-quality loose tea up to six times." To help preserve the flavor, it's best to store the tea in an airtight container and keep it away from both direct light and heat sources. "If you don't do this, the tea will taste weak and stale,"  Choe warned, adding that this applies to tea bags as well as loose tea. It's also best to avoid storing more than one type of tea in the same container because the different scents and flavors can transfer to one another.