15 Tea Usage Tips (as submitted by iHerb customers)

After iHerb customers did such a great job with coming up with 12 different ways to use Coconut Oil, we thought we’d pick their brain about different ways to use tea (brewed, leaves or tea bags) and boy, did they absolutely deliver.  So take a look at 15 Tea Usage Tips below:

1. Tea bags are good for sun-poisoning. When a friend who fell asleep in the sun was severely sun-burned, the hospital put her in a tub with damp tea bags on her skin. The tea bags drew out the poison and helped heal her skin with less scarring. ~Kimery L.
   
2. Teabags make great eye compresses! If you have puffy eyes, get some left over mint tea bags, pop them in the fridge until cool, and lay over your eyes and relax for 10 minutes or so. After that, puffy eyes will be gone. Green tea works against bags under the eyes and nettle teabags are wonderful for itchy eyes from hay fever. ~Ariane Z.
   
3. It’s difficult to eliminate smells that linger on wooden chopping boards, especially when you cut meat or fish. After using the chopping board, rub it with wet green tea leaves and then leave a layer of the wet tea leaves on for a few minutes. Later, remove the leaves and rinse the chopping board with water. ~Claude G.
   
4.  Different types of herbal tea are great for making home-made facial scrubs. Just pick the tea that suits your skin type (e.g. peppermint for oily skin, rosemary for cleansing and chamomile/lavender for sensitive skin), and place it in a blender or food processor together with rolled oats and almonds. When the mixture is almost like a fine flour, just pop it in a glass jar and use it as you would any store bought facial scrub. ~Ida Marie H.
   
5. One of my favorite tips is to freeze tea into ice cube trays and to use it in the morning to help revitalize my face. ~Jurate V.
   
6. I use tea (or coffee) to clean whiteboards! Just soak paper towel in the tea and wipe away! Environment-friendly – much better than the chemical stuff. ~Elin D.
   
7. You can tenderize tough meat with help of regular black tea. Place 4 tablespoons black tea leaves in a pot of hot (but not boiling) water and steep for 5 minutes. Strain to remove the leaves and stir in 1/2 cup brown sugar until it dissolves. Set aside. Season ~ 3 lbs. (~ 1.5 kilograms) meat with salt, pepper, onion, and garlic powder, and place it in a Dutch oven. Pour the liquid over the seasoned meat so that it covers the meat and cook in a preheated 325°F (165°C) oven until the meat is fork tender, about 90 minutes. ~Liga B.
   
8.  Black tea can be used as a natural self tanner. After boiling 2 cups of water, steep 4 tea bags in the water for about 30 minutes or until the tea is dark and cool to the touch. Then pour the tea in a spray bottle. In the meantime, take a shower to make sure that your skin is oil- and sweat-free. Before using the spray, make sure your skin is exfoliated, clean and dry. Spray the black tea evenly on your skin. Air dry and re-apply if you want a darker tone. You should end up with a nice golden tan. ~Elisabeth P.
   
9. Tea can help to heal bruises. When you get hurt, tiny blood vessels close to the skin’s surface are broken and show up beneath the skin. Just place a cooled tea bag on a bruise and leave it there for at least 20 minutes. Do this twice a day – early morning and before you go to bed. Since tannins constrict blood vessels, they stop the leaking that causes discoloration ~Sora T.
   
10. Tea can clean mirrors. First, make a pot of strong tea and then let it cool. Dampen a soft cloth with the tea and then wipe it all over the surface of the mirror. Then buff with soft dry cloth to make it shine. ~Harri M.
    
11. Tea can be used as a temporary darkening hair dye. Brew some really strong black tea use it as a final hair rinse and the more you do it, the darker your hair gets. You can also use chamomile to brighten up blonde hair, in the same way. ~Krista R.
    
12. Tea bags are good for absorbing moisture and odor. Don’t throw away the used teabags. Instead, dry them under the sun. Place a teabag in your trash bin, fridge, bathroom, gym shoes or wherever place there’s an unpleasant odor or excess moisture. ~Smolov S.
13. Use black tea as a hair rinse to stimulate the scalp  and reduce hair fall/shedding. Brew two bags of black tea for about 10 minutes and leave to cool to just about room temperature. Place large basin in the bath tub, and pour the tea on your hair so that the tea flows from your hair to the basin. Take the tea that has now collected in the basin and keep pouring it on your hair for about 3-4 times so the hair is saturated by the tea. Massage the tea into your scalp and hair, and cover with a plastic cap for 30 minutes to an hour. Rinse the hair once with cool-cold water and style your hair as usual. ~Kachi N.
14. Despite our careful efforts to prevent a sunburn, sometimes that happens anyway. For sunburn soothing, I use cold tea compresses: soaking a piece of cotton cloth in the cold tea and applying it on the sunburned area. Leave on for 15-20 mins and repeat until the burned areas begin to cool. Easy and efficient! ~Asta I.
15. Black tea is great for dyeing paper to get that antique touch. All you need is to prepare a cup of tea, pour the tea in a shallow dish and soak the paper in it. Tips: (1) Crumble your paper first to get nice texture. (2) Use aromatized tea for nice scent of the paper. You can use it instead of letter paper or maybe make your own notebook with it. Enjoy it! ~Azra M.
    

Before trying any of these tips, please make note of our Disclaimer, which you can read by clicking here.

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