11 Awesome Ways You Can Use Tea, Besides Drinking it!

What's up guys, welcome to Off the Great Wall, this is Dan, it's Mike, and today we're going to be talking about tea. Yes! People have been drinking tea for thousands of years, records date all the way back to the 10th century BC in China, and people were probably drinking tea way before then as well. Lao Tzu, an ancient Chinese philosopher, called tea the froth of liquid jade. Famous Chinese doctors have praised tea for its medicinal properties, and even today, tea is known for its impressive collection of health boosts and benefits. But we are not here to talk about that, in fact, we're here to tell you that if you've just been drinking your tea your entire life, you've been doing it wrong. Not that you should stop drinking it, really, it's super good for you. But did you also know that tea and its tea leaves can be used for tons of other things too? Number one, cleaning. Let's start off with something we all dread, cleaning. Cleaning isn't exactly my favorite way to spend time, but you can make it easier and a little bit more interesting with tea. Wouldn't tea stain everything and make a mess, you ask? The answer is, well, yes, probably, but we're using dry tea leaves here, not brewed tea, so don't worry about that. That's right, guys, sprinkle dry, used tea leaves into your carpets and rugs, leave them on there for about 10 minutes or so, and then vacuum or sweep them away, and it's that easy. That's right. Or, if you want to clean and shine up those mirrors and windows, you actually can use brewed tea or just damp teabags to wipe away all those nasty fingerprints and random grease marks in a flash. Number two, deodorizing. If you think your house could use a little bit of freshening up, then put down that Febreze bottle. Tea's got you covered once again. It's great for de-stinking anything, from the fridge to the cat litter. If the fridge is smelling funky, try putting a few used teabags inside to absorb the odors. And if the cat litter's the culprit, mix in some dry, used green tea leaves to get rid of the smell. Or, hit the entire house all at once by making your own air fresheners. Add dried herbal teabags to potpourri, or add a few drops of essential oil to the bags and hang them up with the string that already comes with them. Hey, why don't they just make Febreze in the scent of tea? How about some Earl Grey, anyone? Or some chrysanthemum with a little dash of honey. It's chrysanthemum, bro. Really? Yeah. So I've been drinking the wrong thing forever? No, no. You've been drinking the right thing, you just didn't know how to say it. Number three, polishing. If you want to put some finishing touches on your newly cleaned house, polish up those hardwood floors and any wood furniture with a soft cloth dipped in brewed tea. Make sure you don't use too much water on the hardwood. Just use a little bit of tea, and it'll help shine and color the wood. Two in one. Cinderella ain't got nothing on this. If only she had tea, she would have made it to that ball without the fairy godmother. Yeah, but she still needed like the carriage. Yeah. The slippers. Okay, fine. Number four, soothing and healing. But tea isn't just for fixing up the house, you can use it on yourself, too. Tea's great for relaxing and soothing pain. Place warm, wet tea bags on sunburned skin, eyes, or razor burn, or cold, wet tea bags on bleeding or gums. And if you've got a toothache, try a do-it-yourself mouthwash made with peppermint tea and a little bit of salt. You can also use wet tea bags to drain boils overnight, or cover blisters with hot tea bags to draw out infections. See, tea is amazing. Why do we even need doctors anymore? Just buy a bunch of tea. You know what they say, a tea bag a day keeps the doctor away. I like that. I hate apples. I like that. Okay, wait. Okay, I don't think replacing doctors with tea would be a great idea. Let's not get too ahead of ourselves. Okay, okay. But still, you gotta admit that it's pretty impressive. That's right. Number five, beautifying, or beau-tee-fying. You get that? For all the ladies out there, or actually guys, too, why not? You can use tea to beautify yourselves, too. I mean, even as guys, we want to look our best, right? I know you do, all the time, with your moisturizers, and your makeup, and your lipstick, eyeliner, whatever you got in your bag of yours. So where does tea come in in your daily routine? Well, it hasn't become a part of mine yet, but you can add shine to your hair by rinsing it with unsweetened tea, letting it dry a bit, and then rinsing it out again. Or help out your skin by washing your face with green tea, or even taking a green tea bath. Now, doesn't that sound relaxing? Number six, cooking. You know what? I think I'll leave all that beauty stuff, and the hair shining, and the tea bathing to you, my friend. I'd rather use tea for my favorite, meat. Tea and meat? Sure about that? Trust me, man. Tea is actually great in marinades. Add your favorite seasonings and spices to freshly brewed black tea, and let your beef marinate in it overnight. It will add great flavor and make the meat delicious, tender, and juicy. There's actually one more thing you can do. You can make a dry rub by grinding up tea leaves, and it works better if the tea leaves are scented. Like, my favorite is Lapsang Suchan, which adds a really smoky flavor to your meat or duck. My favorite is rose, because I like rose. Yeah, but you're not going to make rose-scented chicken. Why not? Rose-scented beef. That's weird, man. It just sounds and smells delicious. You know one more thing you can cook that's great with tea? What's that? Tea eggs? Oh, yeah. One of my favorites, if you guys want to see the video, it's right here. How to make the tea eggs. Check it out. And you'll never go back to plain old hard-boiled eggs again. Never. How could you even think about plain hard-boiled eggs when you've got tea eggs? Number seven, baking. And while we're on the topic of food, you know what else tea is surprisingly good for? Cookies. Cookies! Oh, have you ever tried green tea cookies made with matcha powder? So good. Green tea flavor anything is amazing. Ice cream, cookies, Pocky, Kit Kats. Wait what? Green tea Kit Kats? Those exist? Uh, yeah. And they're like the best thing ever. Like, come on. Where you been? Okay, all right. Sorry. We're getting a little carried away here. Tea and cookies is basically when you grind up some tea leaves into a powder and add it to the flour mixture or substitute any liquid with the tea. Just be careful not to overdo it. A little goes a long way. All right. Number eight, gardening. As it turns out, some plants like tea just as much as humans do. And I mean, I don't blame them. Pour tea or add leaves into your compost bin to speed up the process and improve your compost, which you can then use as fertilizer. Or spread used tea leaves around your rose bushes or directly water other plants that like acidic soil with brewed tea. And if you have potted plants, put tea bags in the bottom of your pots to add both nutrition and help the soil retain water. Happy plants, happy you. That's right. The love for tea is really universal, isn't it? Number nine, painting. But if gardening really isn't your thing, I get that. How about painting? With tea, of course. Tea and coffee stains are usually a huge pain, but we can use those natural staining pigments to our advantage. Next time you're feeling artsy, grab a piece of paper, a paintbrush, and a cup of strong Some artists have created some seriously cool paintings with tea or by using a mix of tea and ink. So give it a try and who knows, you might become the next Da Vinci or Tea Vinci. Next up, not a lot of you know this, but I happen to know a trick you can do with dry tea leaves. Pillows. Really? That's right. You can actually dry tea leaves, store them on the side, and once you've collected enough dry tea leaves, you put them in a pillow. Is it like memory foam? No, it's not. But it's actually very soft and some people say that it's very therapeutic. I would think it smells very nice as well. It does, but actually it smells all right. It doesn't have much of a smell. Does it smell like tea and backwash? No. No, you sure? No. Are you just saying this because you're an infamous double dipper and you want everyone to double dip on their tea? All I'm saying is, bro, be careful because if I give you a pillowcase for a present- Yeah, that's not good. It's going to have my backwash tea leaves in it. Last but not least, fortune telling or tassiography. Tassi-whatta-whatta? Close enough. Tassiography is fancy speak for reading tea leaves to tell your fortune. To read your own tea leaves, grab a cup of unstrained tea, drink all the liquid, swirl the cup a few times for good measure, and then stare into the cup and try to find some meaning in the soggy, clumpy tea leaves stuck on the bottom and the sides. So if you see the shape of an apple or something, that could be predicting success in school or something of that sort. All right, let's try this. What do you see, bro? I see success and happiness in my future, money, a beautiful wife, lovely kids, fun vacations, all of that stuff, you know? I see a big piece of steak. Which one is going to come true? Who knew tea had so many other uses? Mind blown. So give a few of these a try and let us know which ones you used and how well they worked. Especially the predict your own future with the tea leaves kind of thing. See if there's a nice big piece of steak in your future. All right, guys, thanks so much for watching. See you later. Peace.