05 Sep 5 Ways to Repurpose a Tea Bag
5 Ways to Repurpose a Tea Bag
Eliminating waste is not the only growing trend in the food industry. In many food service industries, there is a growing interest in food and beverage pairing. For example, Olive Garden includes a recommended wine on their menu listed beside an entree or appetizer. Other food industry markets promote an increased selection of craft brewed teas and coffees paired with delicate desserts. Beverages are becoming more sophisticated and diverse as marketing teams push to sell food and beverages paired together. 123ce offers a Beverage Management course that qualifies as one of the ACF’s mandatory certification courses for certain designation levels and counts towards 30 hours of continuing education.
This course includes the e-textbook: The Beverage Manager’s Guide to Wine, Beers and Spirits that focuses on building and sustaining a profitable beverage program along with concepts to assist in training employees, managing and marketing beverages. This Beverage Management course also includes a lesson on how to identify and explain the five categories of tea and understand the variables of proper brewing of tea.
In some cases, “spilling your tea” could a beneficial, natural remedy to fixing other common health or home-maker issues. Inspired by earth-friendly alternatives to throwing away a used tea bag, here are some alternatives the Food & Wine blogs share to repurpose this cozy beverage.
1. Watering plants
Instead of throwing away your used tea bag, save the herb leaves to use as a natural fertilizer in your indoor or outdoor plants. Mix the loose tea leaves with the soil or spread them around the top of the soil. If you used a tea bag, simply cut open the bag and remove the tea leaves and use the bags as a drainage layer for potted plants. What this does for your plants is lower the soils pH and increases acidity – which is great for acid-loving plants such as rosebushes and ferns. This can be done with coffee grounds as well. To cut back on the acidity level, you could re-brew a used tea back and let the weakened tea cool before watering any plant.
2. Neutralizing odors
After you enjoy your cup of tea, dry out the leaves out on a counter overnight. Spread the dried tea leaves in a litter box or the bottom of your trashcan to naturally combat odor. Sprinkling these tea leaves over your carpet or area rug before vacuuming also does the trick.
3. De-Greasing Pans
To remove and stubborn grease or crusty-food from your dishes, soak them overnight in water with a used tea bog tossed in – one pan will require at least 3-4 tea bags. By morning, the grease and residue will have already broken down and removed the residue.
4. Soothing Skin
Tea is also great at soothing a sunburn. Prepare two cups of tea and pour them in a big bowl. Let it cool completely before grabbing a clean tea towel and soaking it in the tea. Put the tea towel on the afflicted area and you’ll notice a cooling effect. This method also helps the skin tan rather than fade. This compress can also be used to reduce pain and inflammation in a bug bite or bee sting.
5. De-puff Eyes
Swollen eyes from tiredness, allergies, or even tears can be soothed and reduce puffiness by using tea bags. Replace those cucumbers during a spa with cooled, used tea bags. It is said that the tannins, a bitter substance in plant tissue, can reduce bags and dark circles.
Enroll in 123ce’s 30 hour Chef Beverage Management to learn more about two of the most profitable beverages in the industry, tea and coffee. Or if you need this course for certain designation levels within the ACF, browse the details on this course here: https://123ce.com/
