Tea - can dried tea from tea bags be ground for instant tea?

I doubt it. I think instant is probably freeze dried concentrated tea. Meaning the tea is made, and then concentrated and turned into a powder. Coffee grounds from coffee beans are not instant coffee. You could make a lot of tea and freeze it for later probably. Freeze the liquid like you would popsicles or ice cubes.

I would check that out very, very carefully before I tried that. You don’t drink the tea leaves. That’s what you are going to be doing if you try that. I’d have to do some research before I’d say it’s safe.

No. According to Tea Class, instant tea is:

“The tea is usually a relatively a minor component, with sugar typically the primary ingredient, followed by flavorings, coloring agents, anti-caking agents, etc. Most instant teas do not contain real tea, rather tea extract. This artificial addition further separates instant teas from their parent leaves.”

So, my question, is why would you want to drink it?

I’m sure it would be “safe”, but I don’t think it’ll be very palatable. That tea will be so cloudy, have so many dregs in the cup and be so strong that I doubt you’d be interested in it.

How long do you need to steep tea, anyway? When I put a tea bag into a cup of hot water the tea is generally ready in less than a minute – faster than the water cools to a drinkable temperature, anyway.

It won’t work. The tea in teabags is non-soluble, which is why it’s in a bag to begin with.

Honestly, instant tea is terrible, and tea bag tea ain’t great either compared to loose leaf tea. Now, since you already have tea bag tea, why not just put some water in a cup and nuke it in the microwave then add tea bag, or alternatively, invest in a highly efficient electric water kettle that will have your water boiling in a matter of seconds without the nuke.