How do I store the essiac liquid tea after brewing?“What do I do with the essiac liquid tea, once I have brewed it?” Amber glass bottles are traditionally used to protect the tea from the degenerative effects of light on herbs. Clear glass bottles kept in brown paper bags can also protect the tea if you don't want to invest in, or can’t afford, amber bottles. You can find amber glass bottles online for less than a dollar apiece. You could even use “free” amber beer bottles you might already have, if they were very clean to start out with. Personally, we like the idea of using something like this: Easy Seal Amber Beer Bottles because the cap is already included, and they look cool, too! “How many bottles do I need?” Seven 16-ounce bottles, or three and a half 32-ounce quart bottles if using4 ounces of powdered essiac tea and 1 gallon of water (yield of about 120 ounces of essiac liquid tea due to boil-off and absorption.) All bottles (and caps) must be washed and sterilized before filling with tea.Store unopened bottles of essiac liquid tea in a dark cool place like a closet or drawer. Always refrigerate an opened bottle of tea. “What about using plastic bottles? I have a lot of them…” Always use glass bottles. Because the essiac tea brew is acidic, it has normally been stored in glass containers due to the fact that glass is inert or chemically non-reactive. Plastic can react with the essiac mix and release gas into the brew, especially if the bottle is an inferior soft plastic, like plastic soda or water bottles or plastic milk jugs. In addition, there is some growing concern that drinking ANYTHING out of most plastic bottles is potentially unhealthy, and plastic bottles are certainly worse for the environment than glass ones are. (The same applies to storing dry herbs in "grocery store" plastic bags or ziplocs for an extended period of time. Store the unbrewed essiac tea powder in glass jars in a dark cool place. The bags we package and ship the powder in are food-grade, non-reactive plastic.) "Freebies" are colored glass bottles you might have from consuming other products. You could use bottles from prune juice, colored wine or beer bottles, or root beer bottles like IBC root beer is sold in. If you had enough of them, the blue bottles that milk of magnesia is sold in might also work. Again, do not use metal or plastic containers to store your brewed essiac tea, and always keep it in the refrigerator. Discard any unused, brewed tea after two weeks.
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