Okay, so I’ve been messing around with Lipton green tea lately, specifically checking its pH level. You know, just to see how acidic or basic it is. It all started when I stumbled upon some articles about how the pH of what we drink can affect us. Got me curious, naturally.
First off, I grabbed a pack of Lipton green tea bags from the store. Pretty standard stuff, nothing fancy. Then, I needed a way to test the pH. I remembered I had those pH testing strips somewhere in the house from a little gardening project I did last year. It took a little digging in the shed, but I finally found them!
Next up, I brewed a cup of tea just like I usually do – boiling water, let it cool just a bit, and then steep the tea bag for about 3 minutes. I wanted to test the tea as I normally drink it. I also made another cup, but this time I let the tea bag sit for a bit longer, like maybe 5 minutes, just to see if it made any difference.
Once the tea was ready, I dipped a pH strip into the first cup and waited for the color to change. It was kinda cool to see the strip change color, I’m not gonna lie. I matched the color to the chart that came with the strips. Looks like the pH was around 5.5, which is a bit on the acidic side. Not super acidic, but definitely not neutral.
- First cup (3-minute steep): pH around 5.5
Then I did the same with the second cup, the one I let steep longer. The color was a little darker, and when I checked the chart, the pH was closer to 5.0. So, steeping it longer made it a bit more acidic. That’s something I didn’t expect.
- Second cup (5-minute steep): pH around 5.0
I also got this idea to add a bit of lemon to a fresh cup of tea, just to experiment. I know lemon is acidic, so I thought it would really bring the pH down. After adding a squeeze of lemon, I tested the pH again. This time, the strip turned a much lighter color, indicating a pH of around 3.0. That’s pretty acidic!
- Third cup (with lemon): pH around 3.0
My Observations
So, from my little experiment, it looks like Lipton green tea is naturally a bit acidic, and the longer you steep it, the more acidic it gets. Adding lemon really amps up the acidity, which makes sense. I guess this means if someone’s sensitive to acidic drinks, they might want to watch how long they steep their green tea or maybe avoid adding lemon.
It was a fun little experiment, and I learned something new. Plus, I got to drink some tea, which is always a win in my book! If you want to mess around with this test, you will get a different result.
