What’s bad and good about steeping a tea bag for 15 minutes?

November 25, 2009 | By antioxidant In AntiOxidant benefits |
antioxidant benefits
epic_laydown asked:


normally, the steep time is 2-5 minutes depending on what kind of tea it is…but if it is oversteeped, is there anything harmful about this? any benefit?

could you be getting more antioxidants or ECGC if you steeped it for that long? Thanks for your input

 

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4 Comments so far

  1. tracy on November 27th, 2009

    i dont think it is harmful. But the taste will not be good

  2. tresyabedkowska on November 29th, 2009

    No, About a tea bag that steeped longer than 3 minutes, the only thing i observed is the purity of your water tea is different, coz the palp or the paper bag is steeped as well as the tea.
    But along with the changes in the water purity, also the chemicals properties might steeped as well ( i couldnt explain it precisely). But at the end, loose tea or without a bag tea, is better for me!.

  3. BRobb on November 30th, 2009

    The good thing you get from steeping a tea bag for extra long is assurance that all the good nutrients HAVE been extracted from your tea leaves, and you are getting a good, healthy, nutrient-loaded cup of tea.

    The bad thing you may get from steeping a tea bag for too long is a sour or bitter taste. This is caused because the tannins from the tea leaves [or stems] are eventually extracted. Tannins are astringent, bitter-tasting plant polyphenols that bind the proteins together. Once the tea leaf has been cooked by extremely hot water for so long, it eventually starts to break down and decompose, in its own way. This process “kills” the last remaining molecules in the “living” tea leaf’s structure, thus causing the tannins to “give up” and let go from their bonded structures.

    This is not in any way harmful to you or to the nutritious value of your tea, it’s really just a matter of whether you notice the taste or not. I always put about 2 tablespoons of clover honey in my tea mug, so i don’t even notice the bitter taste. For this reason, I generally leave my tea bags inside my tea cup for the entire duration that I am brewing and drinking it. I generally wait 10 minutes before adding honey or taking the first sip, just to make sure all the good stuff is in there.

  4. zakiit on December 1st, 2009

    Nothing really bad except the water will get colder and the taste might not be very pleasant. How long you brew is entirely up to you and your taste buds. Me, I prefer medium strong.

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