Even though drinking Tea is a generally a healthy habit, drinking altered teas may not yield the best when it comes to health benefits. What is altered Tea? Altered teas are Teas that contains artificial flavourings, sugar, colourings or preservatives, usually added to masked low quality Teas .
We all have drunk bottled or canned Teas. Canned/bottled Teas can be found commonly in supermarkets, coffee shops. It makes for a convenient beverage. However bottled or canned Teas contains sugar, artificial flavourings, colourings or preservatives which is added to prolong shelf life. Too much of these chemicals is not good for the body. All these could outweigh the health benefits offered by the tea itself.
Flavouring is sometimes used to mask the bitterness or the impurities of the tea. While it improves the overall taste of the beverage, the original taste of tea gets lost in the flavouring. Good tea is like good whisky/wine; you won't want to use it for mixing a corktail. When its mixed its hard to tell if the whisky is good. Secondly, its a waste because the unique character of the whisky is gone. Its same with tea.
Even tea packed into tea bags might have colouring added to make the tea look fresher. For example, Green Tea leaves requires to be stored in cool temperature to be kept fresh. Exposure to the heat cause oxidation and browning of the leaves. However, if colouring is added, the Green Tea leaves can still mask its colour after exposure to the air and heat.
In contrast, unaltered tea leaves do not contain sugar, artificial flavourings, colourings or preservatives. Taste of the tea is 100% from the tea leaves. As the quality of the tea leaves is generally good, there is no need for sugar or artificial flavourings to cover up the taste of the impurities in the tea leaves. Also natural compounds are already present in the tea leaves add up to give a unique character to the tea.
In terms of storage, unaltered tea leaves can be stored for long periods, if stored in a proper way. For starters, keep tea leaves away from humidity and heat. High Heat and humidity can change the taste of the taste, and also attract mold to grow on the tea leaves. Once there is mold, Tea cant be drunk as mold can be poisonous. Throw it away! Also, special care needs to be taken for unaltered Green Tea leaves, these tea leaves need to be kept in the chiller to retain its freshness. Leave it outside for one month and you will notice it will start to turn brown.
Hope that this can dispel any myths on drinking tea and differentiate between your tea options clearly.