Iced Green Tea Health Benefits

by Marybeth
(Green Bay, WI, USA)

I read somewhere that a good idea is to steep 3 green tea bags in 24 oz. of water for 10 min., then drink it throughout the day. I usually wait for it to cool, then add it to a glass of ice. Am I still getting the antioxidant benefits? Or should I drink the steeped tea within one hour?

Answer:

Marybeth, the ratio of one tea bag (about 3 gram) to 8 ounce of water looks about right. So the question is about steeping time and whether tea bags do contain enough antioxidants.

How long can you store brewed green tea without losing the antioxidants benefits?

I believe, the answer is a few hours, up to half a day, but it really depends.

If you ice the tea, fridge it in an airtight container it may keep longer, the most important thing is to learn to read the signs of the quality of tea.

This question has been asked many times before, so it is best you scan through the following article:

Cold Tea Vs Hot Tea Health Benefits
- How Long Can You Keep or Steep

As for the second question - I don't believe tea bags contain much antioxidants (so yes, you can store them for a long time, because it hasn't got much antioxidants to start with!).

There are two reasons.

First, they are made of very low grade tea leaves.

Second, the leaves have been chopped into pieces - any antioxidants would have oxidized.

I hope this helps.

Julian

PS: By the way, today the 2009 harvest Biluochun green tea has just gone live!

Biluochun Tea (Piluochun)