What do I do with all this green tea?
October 30, 2016 2:23 PM Subscribe
I'm in the process of tidying my kitchen cabinets by finishing old products, and it's quickly becoming clear that there is no way I'll get through the massive jar of dried green tea leaves I got two Christmases ago. I drink tea, but this is not my favourite tea so I maybe have three cups a week of it at most and it's not making a dent. Help me use up the tea in creative ways.
The tea isn't the greatest quality. I got it from someone in the sales department at my old job, who got several boxes of it from a contact in China as a courtesy. I don't like throwing out food, so I want to use it up, but not necessarily by drinking it all.
Useful info:
-The leaves are dried, but they are whole leaves. I can probably grind them to smaller bits quite easily.
-I am open to bath product suggestions, and already looked at green tea bath bomb ideas.
-Also very open to craft suggestions. Can I turn my green tea into paint? Can I make something out of it?
-I don't eat meat. That seems irrelevant, but I saw some "marinade meat with tea" ideas when I tried to Google this question, and I want to save you the trouble of telling me about it.
-I have almost a full bag left, and the bag is the same size as a standard bag of ground coffee beans as you'd buy in the supermarket. That's a pretty international unit of size, I believe, and gives you a better idea of the amount of tea than weight would do.
The tea isn't the greatest quality. I got it from someone in the sales department at my old job, who got several boxes of it from a contact in China as a courtesy. I don't like throwing out food, so I want to use it up, but not necessarily by drinking it all.
Useful info:
-The leaves are dried, but they are whole leaves. I can probably grind them to smaller bits quite easily.
-I am open to bath product suggestions, and already looked at green tea bath bomb ideas.
-Also very open to craft suggestions. Can I turn my green tea into paint? Can I make something out of it?
-I don't eat meat. That seems irrelevant, but I saw some "marinade meat with tea" ideas when I tried to Google this question, and I want to save you the trouble of telling me about it.
-I have almost a full bag left, and the bag is the same size as a standard bag of ground coffee beans as you'd buy in the supermarket. That's a pretty international unit of size, I believe, and gives you a better idea of the amount of tea than weight would do.
I was holding onto what I thought was a quality loose leaf green tea I bought at my favorite Japanese market a few years ago but never opened... I made a cup and discovered the tea was horrible due to the overlong storage, plus it was in a dark cupboard next to a heat source which probably ruined the tea. I briefly thought about using the tea as some kind of soaking product, etc.. Then I chucked it.
Like you, I hate to throw away food. But if it was ruined to drink, I doubted any beneficial qualities would be evident as a bath bomb, face mask or scrub, or whatever.
Do you have a lot of plants? You could make it into a mulch, start a compost bin, or donate the tea to a friend's compost bin. Commit this back to the earth. That's a valid use!
posted by jbenben at 2:38 PM on October 30, 2016 [4 favorites]
Like you, I hate to throw away food. But if it was ruined to drink, I doubted any beneficial qualities would be evident as a bath bomb, face mask or scrub, or whatever.
Do you have a lot of plants? You could make it into a mulch, start a compost bin, or donate the tea to a friend's compost bin. Commit this back to the earth. That's a valid use!
posted by jbenben at 2:38 PM on October 30, 2016 [4 favorites]
Make a simple syrup with it, for cocktails?
Green tea ice cream?
posted by fancyoats at 2:51 PM on October 30, 2016 [3 favorites]
Green tea ice cream?
posted by fancyoats at 2:51 PM on October 30, 2016 [3 favorites]
List it on freecycle, craigslist, nextdoor, or your local equivalent. I would be honest about its age but also say, truthfully, that you are still drinking it and it's OK to drink just not your favorite type.
posted by needs more cowbell at 2:56 PM on October 30, 2016
posted by needs more cowbell at 2:56 PM on October 30, 2016
I would probably throw out two year old tea.
In fact this reminds me of the half-box of chamomile that's been sitting in my cupboard for at least a year now.
Also, if you're desperate to keep the tea and want to use some of the above advice, it would be helpful to know if it's matcha powder or just ordinary loose leaf green tea. Most "green tea flavored" things (ice cream, syrups used in "green tea lattes" and such, etc) are made with matcha, and leaf tea won't produce the desired effect.
posted by Sara C. at 3:27 PM on October 30, 2016 [7 favorites]
In fact this reminds me of the half-box of chamomile that's been sitting in my cupboard for at least a year now.
Also, if you're desperate to keep the tea and want to use some of the above advice, it would be helpful to know if it's matcha powder or just ordinary loose leaf green tea. Most "green tea flavored" things (ice cream, syrups used in "green tea lattes" and such, etc) are made with matcha, and leaf tea won't produce the desired effect.
posted by Sara C. at 3:27 PM on October 30, 2016 [7 favorites]
Best answer: If you like iced tea, the recipes I've used go through a lot of tea fast.
posted by lorimt at 4:04 PM on October 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by lorimt at 4:04 PM on October 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
You could experiment with tea dyeing fabric.
posted by christa at 4:13 PM on October 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by christa at 4:13 PM on October 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
I have the cookbook called Steeped which is about cooking with tea. Can't find it at the moment, but know it contains at least a few recipes that that call for using green tea.
posted by rw at 5:41 PM on October 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by rw at 5:41 PM on October 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
It IS making a dent! Add lemon, add ginger, add all sorts of things to spruce up your assorted thrice-weekly green tea beverages. You'll get through it eventually.
posted by aniola at 5:47 PM on October 30, 2016
posted by aniola at 5:47 PM on October 30, 2016
Best answer: Make iced green tea, take it to parties? Lord knows the parties I go to could use some beverage choices besides terrible beer and flat colas.
posted by Trifling at 6:04 PM on October 30, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Trifling at 6:04 PM on October 30, 2016 [2 favorites]
Green tea kombucha is an option - can use up a lot of tea to make a few quarts/gallons. You can make a kombucha starter out of good store-bought kombucha. Let me know if you want/need more details.
posted by SaltySalticid at 6:10 PM on October 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by SaltySalticid at 6:10 PM on October 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
Bath tea is a thing.
DIY bath tea can include herbs, flower petals, essential oils, salts, rolled oats...
If you don't want to make the bags, you could use a regular infuser or maybe just dump some tea in the bath and strain it out before you drain the tub.
posted by meemzi at 6:58 PM on October 30, 2016
DIY bath tea can include herbs, flower petals, essential oils, salts, rolled oats...
If you don't want to make the bags, you could use a regular infuser or maybe just dump some tea in the bath and strain it out before you drain the tub.
posted by meemzi at 6:58 PM on October 30, 2016
If you have the space, making your own paper is surprisingly easy and rewarding, just messy. You could use the tea in a lot of different ways for that:
Soak the leaves so they uncurl and lay them flat, use on the outer layer of your paper arranged carefully in patterns, maybe as a border if you want to write on it, or an all-over pattern for other uses.
Whir them up in a spice grinder and mix them into your paper pulp to make flecks of color and texture. If you have other old spices that need using up you could make a series of different papers with each that will have special scents and tints.
Make very strong tea and use it in completed handmade paper applications for an aged look; you can soak stronger paper to dye it but you might like the look of it better if you brush it on in thin layers and blow dry each one.
Right after your paper has dried, before you take it out of its frame, steep leaves in a small amount of water, enough to soften them. Put some very thin cheesecloth on the paper and a layer of the tea leaves on top. It will make a soft marbled stain. If you do this a bunch of times on smaller and smaller areas you can make gradients.
posted by Mizu at 7:44 PM on October 30, 2016 [3 favorites]
Soak the leaves so they uncurl and lay them flat, use on the outer layer of your paper arranged carefully in patterns, maybe as a border if you want to write on it, or an all-over pattern for other uses.
Whir them up in a spice grinder and mix them into your paper pulp to make flecks of color and texture. If you have other old spices that need using up you could make a series of different papers with each that will have special scents and tints.
Make very strong tea and use it in completed handmade paper applications for an aged look; you can soak stronger paper to dye it but you might like the look of it better if you brush it on in thin layers and blow dry each one.
Right after your paper has dried, before you take it out of its frame, steep leaves in a small amount of water, enough to soften them. Put some very thin cheesecloth on the paper and a layer of the tea leaves on top. It will make a soft marbled stain. If you do this a bunch of times on smaller and smaller areas you can make gradients.
posted by Mizu at 7:44 PM on October 30, 2016 [3 favorites]
Grind it very fine, use it a spice. I've made green tea cupcakes this way. They were pretty good!
posted by Aquifer at 7:45 PM on October 30, 2016
posted by Aquifer at 7:45 PM on October 30, 2016
Compost it.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 8:14 PM on October 30, 2016
posted by WalkerWestridge at 8:14 PM on October 30, 2016
If it still tastes good, make green-tea ice cream with it. I loooove green-tea ice cream.
posted by limeonaire at 9:27 PM on October 30, 2016
posted by limeonaire at 9:27 PM on October 30, 2016
Best answer: This might help in combination with other options: mix half green tea and half hibiscus for a an ever-ready pitcher of iced tea in the fridge. I really like hibiscus, but the flavor is a little too intense for a casual beverage, so mixing with green tea is a good way to dilute it a bit and have a refreshing and flavorful not-soft-drink on hand. I sometimes add other stuff, like lemon, ginger, or cardamom, for more zest or spice. (If you aren't fond of hibiscus, then of course this idea is moot!)
posted by taz at 2:37 AM on October 31, 2016
posted by taz at 2:37 AM on October 31, 2016
Response by poster: Thanks for all the ideas! The bath tea, iced tea and fabric dying seem the most feasible. I'm intrigued by the ice cream and paper making, but in both cases it looks like I need things I don't have (and most green tea ice cream recipes call for matcha green tea powder and not my green tea leaves).
I'm moving a in a few months and this tea jar is not coming along either way, but hopefully this way I'll get to use it up rather than throw it out.
posted by easternblot at 2:37 AM on October 31, 2016
I'm moving a in a few months and this tea jar is not coming along either way, but hopefully this way I'll get to use it up rather than throw it out.
posted by easternblot at 2:37 AM on October 31, 2016
If you have cats, you can sprinkle it on your litter box to help mask the smell! I do this with used green tea leaves after letting them try, and just crumble them up a bit in my hand as I sprinkle them.
posted by 168 at 5:20 AM on October 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by 168 at 5:20 AM on October 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Follow-up: I used up a lot of leaves in a batch of iced tea (steeped with a few spoonfuls of golden syrup which I'm also trying to finish), and it turned out great, so I think I'm going to be drinking home-made iced tea for the foreseeable future.
Marked all the iced tea answers as best answer. :)
posted by easternblot at 3:16 PM on November 2, 2016
Marked all the iced tea answers as best answer. :)
posted by easternblot at 3:16 PM on November 2, 2016
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Here is a list of uses for the leaves I found on Google.
posted by ian1977 at 2:36 PM on October 30, 2016