(I was going to make a pun on the word ‘tragedy’ but couldn’t think of anything funny. Which works because this post is definitely not funny, especially to tea lovers)

Thanks to some serendipitous reconnection with friends, I was rifling through my tea cabinet, trying to find teas that I could give to them. One box caught my eye:

I had a hunch it would be tea, but I couldn’t remember when I got it, so I opened it up and…

Yup, definitely tea.

I was pretty excited, especially since there were blooming teas inside, but I picked up a sachet and noticed the expiry date

2017!! 

Still, I was pretty hopeful because they’ve been in the cupboard the whole time and I’ve heard that tea doesn’t expire (it just loses its flavour) but I opened a packet and… I saw mold. I also opened up a blooming tea and while I didn’t see the mold, it definitely smelled musty. Everything was sealed individually, but I was scared that they may have spread to each other somehow and ended up throwing away the whole box.

My tea storage habits aren’t the best, but I do make an effort to seal the teas and keep them in shaded places away from strong smells, so it’s always a little sad to realise that some of my tea has gone bad.

At any rate, this is a reminder for me to quickly drink my teas when I get them and to try not to let the tea stash grow too big. Luckily, after this spring clean, I will only have 2 unopened canisters of tea, which I hope to open and try over the weekend. And if I continue drinking at a steady pace, I’ll soon be able to buy more tea.

And that will be something to be happy about.

P.s. I went to google what the expiry date of tea was and I found two articles I liked – one by teamuse about spring cleaning your tea stash, and another one by a Quora user on how to freshen up old tea.