Can you still drink moldy tea? How to deal with moldy tea?

If you find that the tea leaves stored at home are moldy, do you continue to drink them or throw them away? Some people say that moldy tea leaves have a more mellow aroma. Is this true? Can you still drink moldy tea leaves? How to deal with moldy tea leaves? Let's take a look~

Can you drink moldy tea?

The climate in many areas is humid, and tea lovers often have their tea moldy due to improper storage. Tea lovers are very distressed because some tea stored at home has moldy. They asked their friends around them, some said it was okay, some said it could be drunk after treatment, and some said moldy is a good thing. Can moldy tea be drunk? What is the "golden flower" of black tea?

Moldy tea is very harmful

Tea, like other foods, has a shelf life. Most teas have a shelf life of about 18 months. Tea leaves are prone to mold if they are left for a long time. Tea mold generally refers to the growth of white hairs in the tea leaves, which smells musty. Severely moldy tea leaves will rot and clump, with green hairs growing on them. Pu'er tea can also have black mold.

However, it should be distinguished that some precious varieties such as Biluochun, Maofeng, Yunwu Tea, Dianhong, Tuocha, Pu'er, etc., have white hairs on the tea leaves. This is because the tea leaves are tender, not the white hairs that grow after the tea leaves become moldy.

Chen Zongmao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a researcher at the Tea Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said that tea leaves become moldy because they are contaminated by Penicillium and Aspergillus, which can produce aflatoxin (classified as a Class 1 carcinogen by the World Health Organization's Cancer Research Institute, a highly toxic substance). Aflatoxin is resistant to high temperatures and cannot be eliminated by high-temperature frying or cooking. Its harmfulness lies in its destructive effect on human and animal liver tissues, and in severe cases can lead to liver cancer or even death. Therefore, drinking moldy tea may cause symptoms of food poisoning such as dizziness, blurred vision, and diarrhea, and in severe cases may cause lesions in important organs such as the liver and kidneys. Animal experiments have shown that moldy and spoiled tea may also cause cancer! Whether it is green tea, black tea, oolong tea or Pu'er tea, it cannot be drunk once it is moldy.

However, although tea leaves have a relative shelf life, some tea leaves that have not gone moldy can still be drunk even after the expiration date, but the taste of the tea leaves themselves will be affected. Especially for unfermented green tea, once it is stored for a long time, the fragrance will be replaced by the "stale taste". Fully fermented and semi-fermented teas such as black tea and oolong tea can be stored for a longer time. However, after a long time, the tea taste will inevitably be replaced by the "stale taste".

Therefore, some experts suggest that tea that has been stored for too long, or tea that has become damp and moldy, will not only affect the taste of the tea, but may also harm your health. It is best not to drink it. The ancients said "old wine, new tea", which is the same principle.

How to deal with moldy tea leaves

Moldy tea leaves can no longer be drunk, but they can be treated in this way to make them more effective:

1. Effective deodorant: Tea can eliminate odors. The tannic acid in tea can absorb some toxins in the air and has some effect on purifying the air.

2. Natural eyewash: Due to the polluted air, the eyes are easily uncomfortable. In addition, children are prone to bacterial infection when swimming. The tannic acid in tea has a bactericidal and astringent effect, which can relieve eye discomfort. Soak a cotton ball in cold tea (green tea is the best), then stick it on the eye, and it is best to blink to let the tea touch the eye and play the role of eyewash. This method is also suitable for people who have dirty and congested whites of the eyes after getting up, and those who work under the light for a long time and feel sore eyes.

3. Special conditioner: The tannic acid in tea has softening and repairing effects, and can be used as a conditioner to deal with damaged and difficult-to-comb hair.

(1) Wash your hair with shampoo first.

(2) Then soak your hair in green tea, but the water should not be too hot.

(3) After 15 minutes, rinse the green tea with warm water.

4. Magical hand-washing "tea": After handling fish or eating seafood such as shrimp and crab, oil stains and fishy smells will remain on your hands, which are difficult to remove even with soap. In fact, you can just wash your hands with oolong tea, which is convenient and quick.

5. Natural fertilizer: Tea is rich in vitamins, so placing brewed tea leaves at the roots of evergreens and lucky bamboo can make the leaves greener and brighter.

It turns out that moldy tea leaves have so many uses. So in the future, when you encounter moldy tea leaves at home, don’t throw it away immediately. You can deal with it according to the above methods. Secondly, you should also note that moldy tea leaves are generally caused by poor storage, so you should put the tea leaves in a ventilated and dry place, and not in the sun.

How to deal with moldy Pu'er tea

If Pu'er tea becomes moldy simply due to excessive humidity during storage, there are the following solutions:

First, place in a ventilated place: If the surface of raw Pu'er tea is moldy, you can use a semi-damp clean cloth to clean the moldy part and store it in a ventilated and dry place. Do not expose it to the sun or fry it. Do this once a day, and after half a month or a month, the moldy part will be gone.

Second, break it up into small pieces: The best way to prevent Pu'er tea from getting moldy is to break up the Pu'er tea into small pieces or small clumps, place them in a ventilated and dry place, and turn them over several times a day. This should be done for about half a month.

Of course, mold is always bad, and the quality of the tea will change. So you can deal with it according to the value of your tea. If it is ordinary tea, cheap tea, don't drink it. If it is expensive tea, you can solve it according to the above method.

It is best to pay more attention when storing, especially in humid places such as Guangdong and Hong Kong, where the transformation of tea will be faster, but in relatively humid weather, tea will always get moldy if you are not careful. Pu'er raw tea is a post-fermented tea, and a certain humidity and temperature are necessary conditions for post-fermentation. Some people say that Pu'er tea stored in a hot and humid environment for one year is equivalent to aging it in an ordinary environment for three years. When hot and rainy weather comes, Pu'er tea collectors should pay special attention to observing the changes in the collection, and increase the ventilation and light transmission of the tea storage room in time, especially to accelerate the circulation of air (electric fans can be used to help air circulation). Try to lower the temperature in the room. For tea that has been damp and moldy, classify it and try to dry it by sun drying, baking, etc. The processed collections should be transferred to a cool and dry environment for separate storage.