BUCKHORN CLIFFSA preparedness field manual

Food · Supply

Tea Bags

How long tea bags and loose tea keep, which teas last longest, how to store them, how to tell tea has faded, how much to keep, and the jobs cold tea does beyond the cup.

2-3 YRWEIGHS NOTHINGMORALEWorks without power

Quick facts

  • Real shelf life2 to 3 years at full flavor; drinkable for years after
  • Label date says18 to 24 months
  • Best storage
    • Airtight
    • dark
    • dry
    • away from smells
  • Watch forFaded aroma and flavor; damp, musty bags; mold

Where this sits on the food shopping list

A box of tea bags weighs a few ounces and is a hundred hot drinks, which is why there is one in every bag on this site and a case in the store. Tea does not spoil; it fades, slowly if it's kept dry and dark, and a bag past its date is a weaker cup, not a bad one. Black tea keeps longest, green and white fade sooner, and herbal teas depend on what is in them.

Which to buy

Black tea in individually wrapped bags (foil or paper envelopes seal better than a loose box) is the storage tea; loose-leaf black tea in a tin keeps as well and makes more cups per ounce. Green and white teas are more fragile and worth keeping in smaller amounts. Herbal: peppermint, chamomile and ginger are the ones that do something, for the stomach, for sleep and for nausea, and they keep like dried herbs. Buy the 100-count boxes and repack them.

How long it really lasts

By how it is kept

FormLabel saysReal, stored well
Black tea bags, sealed envelopes or tin18 to 24 months2 to 3 years at full flavor; years after, weaker
Green and white teaAbout a year at full flavor
Herbal tea (peppermint, chamomile, ginger)1 to 2 years, like dried herbs
Loose-leaf black tea in a tin2 to 3 years; longer vacuum-sealed
Opened box, bags loose6 to 12 months at full flavor
The Preparedness Food Shopping List (PDF), a one page printable PDF

Free download

Get the one-page food shopping list

What to store, how much of it for one person for one month, and how long it keeps. One page with checkboxes, built from the Survival Foods field guide. Print it, multiply by your people and months, and take it to the store.

The PDF comes by email, with my newsletter now and then. Already on the list? You still get it. Read the full page.

How to store it

Airtight, dark and dry, away from the spices and the coffee, because dry tea absorbs every smell near it. Individually wrapped bags in a jar or a bucket; loose tea in a tin. Tea takes a Mylar bag and an oxygen absorber well and keeps its flavor for years that way. Never store it above the stove or near the sink; damp bags mold.

How to tell it has turned

Smell the dry bag: a clear tea smell is a good bag, a faint dusty one is a faded bag that still makes tea if you use two. Bags that are damp, stuck together or musty have taken on water and go; mold on a bag is a discard. Faded tea is never unsafe, only weak.

Keep it

Faded tea used two bags to the cup; a box years past its date that smells of tea.

Discard on sight

Damp, musty or moldy bags.

How much, and how to use it

A bag makes a cup, sometimes two; a box of 100 per person per quarter is a comfortable stock, and the bags in the bug-out bag and the truck get replaced each spring. Beyond the cup: cold black tea is a mild antiseptic rinse and a compress for sunburn and tired eyes, a used bag soothes a bee sting, strong tea stains and dyes, and the tannins tan a hide in a pinch. Peppermint tea settles a stomach, ginger tea eases nausea, chamomile helps sleep, and all three matter more in a long outage than they do in a normal week.

When the power goes out

Hot water from the camp stove and a bag is the easiest hot drink there is, and it stretches the water supply by making people drink it. A thermos filled from the morning boil gives hot tea all day on no more fuel.

Shelf-life figures are from the Survival Foods field guide; fridge, freezer and pantry times are from the USDA cold and pantry storage charts. Run the look, smell, taste check before eating anything past its date.

Questions this answers

Tap a question for the short answer.

How long does tea bags last?

Tea bags have a real shelf life of 2 to 3 years when stored well. That is longer than the label date, which typically says 18 to 24 months.

How long do tea bags last?

Two to three years at full flavor sealed and dry, against a label of 18 to 24 months, and drinkable for years after at reduced strength. Green and white tea about a year; herbal teas 1 to 2 years.

How do I store tea long term?

Airtight, dark and dry, away from smells, in individually wrapped bags or a tin; Mylar with an oxygen absorber keeps the flavor for years.

How do I tell if tea has gone bad?

It fades rather than spoils: a faint dusty smell means use two bags. Damp, stuck-together, musty or moldy bags are discarded.

Keep going

Read nextSugarWhy sugar never spoils, white against brown against raw, the one storage rule (no oxygen absorber), softening a brick of brown sugar, how much to keep, and the jobs sugar does beyond sweetening.Food · Supply

Related to this

Food · Supply Maple Syrup Real shelf life: indefinite unopened; label says 1 year. Opened, refrigerate; it keeps a year or more cold and molds in weeks on the counter INDEFINITE SEALEDFRIDGE OPEN Food · Supply Peanut Butter Real shelf life: 2 to 3 years sealed, cool; label says 6 to 9 months past best-by. Opened, 2 to 3 months at full quality. Powdered keeps longest 2-3 YR170 CAL/OZ Food · Supply Freeze-Dried Foods Real shelf life: 25 to 30 years in a sealed #10 can; label says 10 to 25. The number to read is calories per can, not servings 25-30 YRADD WATER Food · Supply Beef Jerky Real shelf life: 2 years sealed for commercial jerky, 2 to 3 months once opened; homemade jerky 1 to 2 months unless you freeze it 2 YR SEALEDNO COOKING
Everything in FoodNever-mix checkerShelf life tableFind a recipe by needWalk-around auditStart here

Membership · $49.95 per year

There is a lot more behind the lock

158member pages in full
125recipes with exact amounts
11field guide PDFs, 278 pages
1manual of your own, built from any page

Every recipe and resource from the Prepper's Chemical Survival Guide, all eleven field guides to read here and download, the full audit and logbook, all twelve reference charts, and no ads.

My Manual · included

Build your own field manual

The most useful thing a membership gives you. Save any page on this site, recipes, charts, and whole field guides included. Arrange them in the order you want, name it, and print one manual with a cover and contents, or keep it as a PDF that opens with no signal.

  • It works when this site does not
  • Only your pages
  • Anyone in the house can use it
  • One current copy, not a pile of printouts
  • The house binder
  • A copy for the bug-out bag or truck
  • A copy for family
  • An offline PDF

Join for $49.95 per year

Membership

Save to My Manual is a member tool

Members build their own manual from the pages that fit their household, then print it or keep it as a PDF.

Why it matters

When the grid goes down, this site goes with it. Paper does not. Membership is how you get the whole manual off the screen and onto the shelf: every page in full, every field guide, and a binder built for your own household.

The field guide library

All eleven field guides. 278 pages. Included.

The complete Buckhorn Cliffs PDF set, yours to download, print, and keep from the day you join.

$100if bought one at a time

  • Cover of Stockpile Essentials Field GuideStockpile Essentials39 pagesEverything to keep on hand, category by category, plus the 20 multi-use items.
  • Cover of Survival Foods Field GuideSurvival Foods35 pagesStoring, extending, and using the food supply. Real shelf life by the numbers.
  • Cover of Chemical Compounds Field GuideChemical Compounds29 pagesThe 33 compounds: storage, top uses, hazards, and the never-mix chart.
  • Cover of Spare Parts and Repair Stock Field GuideSpare Parts and Repair Stock40 pagesWhat to keep on hand to fix the home and land when the supply chain breaks.
  • Cover of Walk-Around Preparedness AuditWalk-Around Preparedness Audit33 pagesFifteen systems scored 1 to 5, with the printable scorecard.
  • Cover of The Preparedness LogbookPreparedness Logbook30 pagesThe household information that needs to be on paper.
  • Cover of Off-Grid Portable Solar Power Field GuideOff-Grid Portable Solar Power16 pagesSize a power station and a folding panel, pair them, wire them, keep them alive.
  • Cover of Home Backup Power System Field GuideHome Backup Power System20 pagesA battery and a hybrid inverter wired into the house: hybrid against off-grid, the wiring, the mistake to skip.
  • Cover of The Four KnotsFour Knots6 pagesWhich knot for the job, and how to tie each one in four moves.
  • Cover of The Bug-Out Bag Field GuideBug-Out Bag18 pagesOne bag per person for three days: the twelve jobs, the afternoon build, the packing plan, every item by job, and the checklist.
  • Cover of Home Security and Defense Field GuideHome Security and Defense12 pagesThe four layers from the property edge to the people inside, what to build first, the night something feels wrong, and the plan with or without a weapon.

My Manual · included

Build your own field manual

The most useful thing a membership gives you. No book fits your household exactly. My Manual does. Save any page on this site, recipes, charts, and whole field guides included, arrange them in the order you want, and print one manual with your name on the cover. It holds only what is relevant to you, and nothing you would skip.

Why it matters

  • It works when this site does notNo power and no signal means no website. A printed manual and an offline PDF still open, which is the whole point of writing any of this down.
  • Only your pagesThis site covers every household. Yours needs a fraction of it. Your manual holds the pages that match your water source, your climate, and your gear, so nobody digs through the rest under stress.
  • Anyone in the house can use itThe person who reads this site may not be the one home when it counts. A binder on the shelf, in the order you chose, is something a spouse or a teenager can follow.
  • One current copy, not a pile of printoutsEvery page prints in the same field guide layout with a cover and the print date. Change a page, print again, and the old copy is easy to spot.

What to build with it

  • The house binderYour water source, your climate, your gear. Only the pages you would reach for.
  • A copy for the bug-out bag or truckA short version that travels: water, first aid, comms, and the recipes you rely on.
  • A copy for familyHand a parent or a grown kid a manual built for their house and their supplies.
  • The shop and the barnParts lists, repair skills, and the never-mix chart, kept where the work happens.
  • A recipe book of your ownThe cleaners, fuels, and remedies you make, with exact amounts, in one place.
  • An offline PDFSaved to a phone, a tablet, or a drive in the Faraday bag. It opens with no signal.

How it works

  1. 1Save what fitsPress "Save to My Manual" on any page: a recipe, a chart, a guide, a parts list, or a whole field guide.
  2. 2Arrange it your wayOn My Account, drag the pages into the order you want. Name the manual and add your household name.
  3. 3Print it or save a PDFOne button makes a real PDF file, laid out for 8.5 x 11 inch paper with a cover. Print it from any device or keep the file. Field guides go in exactly as the PDFs are laid out. No ads, no photos.
  4. 4Keep it currentAdd a page, pull one out, print again. The cover carries the date, so you always know which copy is the latest.

Also included

  • The entire site, unlockedAll 158 member pages open in full: exact amounts, every step, every warning, every parts list. Nothing held back.
  • Every recipe and resource in the bookAll 138 recipes and 33 compounds from Prepper's Chemical Survival Guide, with exact amounts, every step, every warning, and the reference charts.
  • A clean PDF of any entryOne press turns any page into a field guide sheet for the binder, the truck, or the shop wall.
  • Checklists and audit scores that follow youSaved to the account, so the phone, the laptop, and the shop computer always match.
  • No adsMembers read the whole site without a single ad.
$49.95per year. About 14 cents a day. Cancel any time and keep the year you paid for.
Join now