Used Tea Bag Art – What a Beautiful Way to Recycle

I love both coffee and hot tea. To me, coffee is less maintenance though. You just pour it in a mug, add a little cream and go. Tea, on the other hand, takes more patience. You have to stand there while it steeps and then deal with the drippy messy tea bag when you take it out.

What do you do with your used tea bags? Do you throw them in the garbage can? Do you recycle them? I have a very close friend of mine that drinks a lot of tea. I’ve often wondered what he does with his tea bags.

If you like the idea of recycling and reusing, there are lots of things you can do with used tea leaves and tea bags. Some people use those tea leaves for making hair dye, adding to potting soil, making fertilizer, flavoring meat, making homemade incense and even deodorizing their refrigerator. Used tea bags can be used as an eye compress to reduce swelling, or even to rub on a baby’s bottom. Did you know that tea leaves are naturally antibacterial?

Gifted designers Yuree S. Lim and Jieun Yang created these tea coasters as a way to reuse dripping tea bags to create beautiful artwork. You simply place the tea bag on the little coaster and feel the Zen as you watch it create something beautiful to enjoy. If I had these, I would be very inspired to drink more tea. I feel relaxed just from looking at these pictures.

[via yankodesign]