Michael Austin

Potential Green Tea Benefits for Your Kids

/in / / Michael Austin

If you’re a parent then you know the importance of what your child eats. Making sure your kids get enough nutrients can be difficult, especially with so many foods and drinks being completely void of any healthy properties.

We’ve spoken in the past about the different health benefits of green tea, but most standards of healthiness are for adults. Kids don’t commonly drink green tea, so it’s easy to ignore that they could get the same potential health benefits you get.

Children who drink green tea get the same positive chemicals and nutrients as you, but it may help their bodies in different ways.

Tons of Antioxidants

Green tea is stuffed full of antioxidants, one of the leading agents in fighting against cancerous cells.

For kids, antioxidants are going to do the same thing, only they’ll be getting the healthy antioxidants sooner in their lives. Cancer prevention is ongoing, and it’s never too soon to start making healthy decisions to slow down cell degeneration.

Antioxidants are also good for clearing the body of free radicals. While kids might not experience as much stress as adults, they still need to keep their bodies and minds clear!

Better Oral Hygiene

Finally, an easier way to keep your kids from getting cavities.

There are multiple agents at work in green tea, and all of them help reduce the bacteria that leads to tooth decay, gum disease and cavities.

Because oral hygiene is an ongoing battle with kids, drinking a cup of green tea a day is recognized as a way to reduce the chances of getting a cavity. Of course, this shouldn’t replace your child’s regular tooth brushing.

Great During the Winter

Schools are a hotbed for germs and disease, so it’s nearly impossible for your kid to go an entire winter without getting a cold or the flu.

Catechins, a chemical found in green tea, reduces the risk of colds and helps your body recover from colds faster. These catechins also increase your body’s resistance to the flu.

If you’re concerned about your child’s health this upcoming winter, you should consider adding green tea to their diet. They might still get sick, but they’ll have lighter symptoms and recover faster than they would without green tea.

Healthy Bones

Regular green tea consumption has been tied to an increased bone density, a benefit for people that are worried about aging bones. However, this can also be a benefit for your kids.

Kids live a pretty active lifestyle, and broken bones are almost expected at some point while they’re growing up. By including some green tea in their diet, you might help stave off any major injuries by strengthening their bones.

Keep an Eye on Caffeine

While green tea is healthy, it’s important to remember that it still does contain caffeine. Caffeine intake isn’t typically recommended, but because green tea contains smaller traces of caffeine than coffee and many sodas, you’re safer giving your kids a cup of tea than a soda. Not to mention, no sugar or unhealthy artificial sweeteners. If your child doesn’t like the taste, try adding a little bit of raw honey to sweeten the cup.

You should also make sure that your children are drinking tea in moderation. While the amount of tea that would be considered healthy ranges from kid to kid, you shouldn’t be giving your child more than a cup a day. Some children also display negative reactions to caffeine. If your kid shows negative signs, such as sleeplessness or allergic reactions, then it may be best to avoid green tea.

You should always ask your child’s doctor if green tea is safe for them. If you doctor gives green tea a thumbs up, then there’s no reason to avoid these potential benefits!’

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Michael Austin

Does Green Tea Go Bad?

/in / / Michael Austin

Tea drinkers know what it’s like to be cleaning out a cupboard and find one or two tea packets sitting around behind other items. Those packets can be there for a long time without getting noticed, but they might still look the same way they did the day you got them.

But is that tea safe to drink?

Because green tea is actually just the leaves of the camellia sinensis plant, it will go bad over time – just like any other organic material in your kitchen. However, your green tea might last quite a bit longer than you were expecting.

How Long Does Green Tea Last?
Generally speaking, your green tea is going to last a couple of years, assuming normal conditions. Green tea leaves are already dried out, so they can’t go bad from sitting on the shelf. However, the leaves can get drier, and the properties in the leaves can start to fade.

After about two years on your shelf, you may start to notice that your tea takes longer to steep, or that the flavor and aroma are a little off. These are all signs that your tea is past its prime and time to buy more since green tea is a great source.

Determining exactly how long your green tea lasts depends on a few factors, but pre-packaged and loose leaf is the most important distinction.

Pre-packaged tea bags, like all Jason Winters Tea bags, are sealed in a foil wrapper to preserve freshness before they’re stored, so the chance of something floating through the air and infecting the actual tea is pretty slim. Loose leaf, like our Pre-Brewed Tea, is probably going to be in a container that you open and close regularly. Just be careful to not allow moisture in the container.

But if you take special care to make sure your loose leaf tea is completely fresh, it should last just as long as your tea packets.

If you like to prepare your tea in advance and refrigerate, you’ll want to drink it within one week. Frozen tea will last a few months longer, but the flavor and aroma are going to fade after the tea is prepared, frozen and thawed.

Store Your Tea Correctly
If you want to maximize the life of your green tea, you should be making sure that you’re storing it correctly.

You’ll want to keep your green tea in dark places. The sun can dry out the leaves even more, making the tea go bad much quicker than it would sitting in your cupboard.

Room temperature is also good for your tea, but you can extend the life of loose leaf and tea bags by a year or so if you keep it in the freezer. Putting your unprepared tea in the refrigerator isn’t going to extend its life either, and it could end up making the tea go bad quicker than it would in normal conditions. We recommend using your brewed refrigerated tea within one week.

The longer tea sits, the less potent it’s going to be when you brew it. After you brew the tea, don’t expect the quality of the tea to last very long. While you can always prepare tea with a packet you bought last year, you won’t be able to match the flavor and aroma of fresh brewed tea!

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