What can I do with a pound of tea that has no aroma and is bitter?

You can put it in tea bags and set them in your shoes at night. Black tea absorbs odours and the tannins deodorise.

What temperature are you brewing the tea at? If it is above 185 deg F (85 deg C), or you brew it for more than two minutes—it can draw out flavinoids that are bitter. If that doesn’t work, then it can make an excellent compost pile component.

@cazzie : Thank you. I hadn’t thought of the deodorizing qualities of tea.

@rish11 : I use water just off a rolling boil as recommended on the product. It’s a black tea. I let it steep for 5 minutes since I like a stronger flavor. I have no problems with other, higher quality teas from Ceylon.

EDIT: @rish11 – Welcome to Fluther.

Tea Stain some clothing.

You can take it back to the store and tell them the problem.

The bitter taste is likely the natural bitterness of caffeine within the tea. I bought a kilo size package of green tea and it is pretty much tasteless except for a bitter taste. I drink it not for the flavor but for how I feel after I drink it. It wakes me up in the morning without the giving me the jitters that I use to get from coffee.

The only thing I can think of is to add lots of honey.

Or use it to dye some fabric for a curtain or revive old white sheets.

You could try making some of this:

Sweet Spiced Indian Tea

Absolutely delicious!

1 pint water
1” cinnamon stick
8 cardamon pods
8 whole cloves
¾ cup milk
6 tsp sugar
3 tsp loose black tea

Put water and spices into a saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, on low for 10 minutes. Add the milk and sugar and bring to a simmer again. Throw in the tea leaves, cover and turn off heat. After 2 minutes, strain and serve.

This tea is beautiful, I make it often. Recipe from a Madhur Jaffrey cookbook.

I buy only ¼ lb. bags of fresh loose tea at a time. That way, if it is stale, I don’t get so upset at using it as compost or mulch. Plus, it doesn’t get stale.

And I buy it only at places which have containers that I can open and sniff. Mail-order tea seems a doomed idea to me.

How can you write an answer about tea that is spam?

Along with what others suggested:

You can polish wood with your old black tea (steeped and cooled). The tannic acid restores the natural sheen of the finish on your wood furniture (it also works on wood floors). You can also use it to remove really old dull finish from wood. I’ve done this and it works great.

Here are some other uses for tea.

Soak it in water and use it as compost for your garden.

Mix it in with the mulch around your plants.