by Dunadan » Jan 13th, '06, 15:31
I was at a friend's house last week and noticed they had a can of Fortnum & Mason's Royal Blend still sealed in the can, with the shrinkwrap on it. They said they received it for a wedding gift years ago but never opened it.
The bottom of the can was printed with "use by 2001", and looking at my own can of F&M's RB which is just a few months old, I saw "use by 2007", so I can surmise that the tea is at least six years old.
Is it any good? I hate to see good tea go to waste, and I'm sure they'd give it to me if I asked...
Feb 3rd, '06, 00:57
Posts: 56
Joined: Jan 31st, '06, 22:10
Location: Black Forest, CO
by Kestrel » Feb 3rd, '06, 00:57
You can always give it a try. About two months ago I opened up a tin of Jasmine #12 from Adagio that's five years old (my boyfriend ordered a bunch of samples from Adagio when he first found them and found that he doesn't care that much for oolong teas) and it was still okay. I mean, I'm still here.
It did taste stale and (for all that it was in a sealed tin) it tasted... dusty. That's the only way I can really think of to describe it. It tasted stale and dusty, which, I would imagine, is exactly how five year old tea should taste. However, I could still taste the supreme wonderful-ness of Jasmine #12, and even though it was five years old, I could tell that it's THE best oolong tea I have ever encountered.
Anyway, as long as it was sealed airtight, it should be stale and old-tasting, but drinkable. If it's growing anything, or if it's started evolving into a sentient lifeform, I'd seal it back in the tin and bury it in the backyard.
