To be honest, I might check expiration dates out of habit as I'm one of
those who read labels almost compulsively. In the store that I mentioned,
the small selection (a narrow shelf) of boxes were paper and cellophane,
contained teabags, and the store's main business is coffee and tobacco. I
asked the clerks if they knew anything about the teas and they looked at
each other and replied, "no." I'd bet that the only flush they knew was of
the toilet kind. Hence, my decision to walk out and forego looking at the
loose teas which were in glass apothecary-type jars.

--
~~Bluesea~~
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"Space Cowboy" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> I've never had a problem with a commercial tea past expiry. The expiry
> dates on tea packaging essentially has no meaning if the packaging is
> still intact and shelved in modern store. Teas in tins and nitrogen
> vacuum pack are the best with foil a close second. Teas in paper
> cartons with just cellophane wrapping might be suspect regardless of
> expiry even though I've never had a problem perse. I buy tins this way
> expecting them to be less than retail in price. The problem with tea
> storage begins after the package is opened. There is no guarantee a
> three month old flush stored in a container and repeatedly exposed to
> the elements is any fresher than a commercial tea past expiry. I just
> bought a Japanese vacuum tin with a 99 date which means either packed
> for expired. The tea taste fine to me. Does it taste the same as the
> tea it was packed? Who knows. But it is easy to A/B other teas past
> expiry with their retail version and I've never seen a difference in
> taste.
>
> Jim
>
> Bluesea wrote:
> > One thing that I look for is the expiration date on the boxed teas.
> In one
> > store, *every* box I checked was expired several months to over a
> year. I
> > walked out never even looking at their loose tea figuring that if
> they
> > weren't serious enough about tea on the whole to keep their boxed
> items
> > reasonably current, there wasn't any sense in my expecting their
> loose teas
> > to be fresh.