Is this tea safe?

[5YearsLeft]

I’m having one of my very unwell days (feels like a giant stepped on all my joints and my head hurts like hell). So I accidentally left my tea brewing for about… eh… 20 minutes? I can microwave it to get it hot again, but will it make all my teeth fall out? I don’t actually know and Google was pretty empty for “My head feels like shite and will my tea make my teeth fall out”; can’t imagine why.

YABU - It’s a sacrilege against all things good and holy.
YANBU - Teeth? Who needs ‘em?

It will be fine if you like strong tea

The caffeine might not be a great idea if you have a headache.

Overbrewed tea tastes bitter because of the extra tannins. On the other hand there is likely also to be extra antioxidants, so it might actually be better for you!

But honestly, I'd just make another cuppa

In the time it takes to post on Mumsnet I genuinely don't understand why you just wouldn't make another?

I’m always heating mine up in the microwave. Also caffeine and painkillers will help with a headache. My doc told me to have caffeine with the tablets

@Chesterdrawers12 I ended up making another but I’m going to have the headache all day so this is probably going to happen again. Sorry; I should have either marked this lighthearted or made this 85x as long so you would have every detail of my headache cause and tea consumption.

And thanks to @Saisong and @Dodie66 and @Malbecormerlot . And @TheLogicalSong , good point about the caffeine - but unless you have migraines and it’s one of your triggers, it should genuinely help medications work a wee bit faster. When I used to have migraines, caffeine wasn’t a trigger, and the migraine tablets were acetaminophen plus caffeine.

Why would it make your teeth fall out???
I can't see it would do you any harm but a fresh cup would taste much nicer (and would have been quicker than googling and posting on MN)

I'm always microwaving tea.

But when this happens to me and I've made it revoltingly strong, it's always when I've just used the last of the milk. It happened to me yesterday, in fact, and I'd also recently done a new year clean of the cupboards and chucked out the powdered milk.

My Grandad probably would have said it'll put hairs on your chest!

@NannyR I’m realizing I should have marked it “lighthearted” as I don’t actually think VERY strong tea will make my teeth fall out. I think my jokes are just really terrible this morning; sorry about that. But yes, I have ended up making a fresh one. If I do it again today though, to be honest, I just might give up and stick it in the microwave.

@RainbowZebraWarrior This is totally something I’d do. Luckily I hadn’t added milk yet BUT it would definitely be the last of the milk if I had.

Plus hair on my chest would be a new one! Haven’t experienced that yet! And funnily, my granddad used to say the same thing about eating canned sardines.

@RainbowZebraWarrior Possibly some secret arcane granddad knowledge.

Hi OP. Followed you a bit and you're amazing, sorry you're having a bad day/s.

No advice on tea as I don't drink it but everyone online says you shouldn't reheat coffee in the microwave. But then everyone in the world pretty much says you should have a fancy coffee maker these days and not drink instant - which I really enjoy! I am a dinosaur and a philistine!

So my advice is try it and if it tastes OK to you then carry on!

@Teenagehorrorbag Be a dinosaur and a philistine! Do what brings you joy! I actually used to drink coffee, before it was too harsh for my stomach (no coffee, no ibuprofen), though I didn’t know much about instant, so for all I know, I might have liked it. But my friend who DOES drink instant just went home for a few days over Christmas and his mom was drinking this type that’s 95% regular instant coffee and 5% fresh ground beans so I guess it tastes kind of like a mix between instant coffee with just a little bit of fresh, stronger coffee? But he really liked it. Maybe you’d want to try it? I don’t know - if you really like your instant coffee, I can completely understand wanting to stick with something that you love. Plus it was a Nestlé product and I understand that some people are really against that.

Lol - I do like real coffee as well.

I'll look out for the one you mention which is partly fresh beans. The only reason we stick to instant is that it's quick and easy and we don't have a gadget taking up our very limited worktop space....... Thanks for the suggestion.

Hope you sorted the tea situation..... .

I know several people who leave the tea bag in, and don't take it out at all. They still have their teeth.

Better safe than sorry. Make a fresh one love. I once knew a fella whose hair fell out because he used happy shooper tea bags instead of his usual Tetley.

@Teenagehorrorbag Ok, here’s the photo of that coffee. It’s by Nescafé and it says “Instant coffee with ground beans” on the front and I know you can get it in NW England and Scotland. And every time I see your username I start singing, “And I’m just a teenage dirtbag, baby…” Ha.

@XenoBitch teabag in WHILE drinking? Doesn’t it fall up somehow and hit you in the snot locker?

@WhatFlavourIsIt Ha! I knew it! I just got the teeth and the hair mixed up! I’m drinking Twinings so if I move to Happy Shopper, and I already have a buzz cut, the top half of my head might fall off.

@Teenagehorrorbag Are you me??!!
I live off instant coffee (but one of the posher [dearer)]Nescafe versions!), cannot abide tea despite being a Northerner. Also show other philisrine traits...

Lovely, I shall try that, thanks.

(And sorry about the user name thing - I suppose I don't normally think about it these days, but now I have that song on the brain too.....😂)

Glad to know I'm not alone......😁