About tea storage...
I have some questions about tea storage.
I’ve read that stainless steel canisters are a good option to store tea, but what about glass? I use confiture empty pots to storage it. I’m doing well?
What are you storing? How long? What kind of climate do you live in? Speaking very generally, green teas will stay fresh for six months to a year, black teas and oolongs will have about two years, and puer… well, puer storage is a bit of a rabbit hole.
In this confiture pots I only have green, oolong and black.
The pu erh I have it in cardboard boxes separated depending if are sheng or shou.
Muly concern is if this glass pots are going to affect negatively the tea in the short run (let’s say 2-3 months).
In live in the mediterranean, in a city with beach.
My concern would be how much light exposure your teas are getting. Tea should be kept away from light as much as possible; so if you’ve got your tea in glass pots out in the open I’d definitely say that’s negatively affecting them. I always cringe when I go into a tea shop and see tea displayed on the shelves in glass canisters. Such a no-no.
Agree with the above comments about glass. If you must keep them in glass, keep them in a cupboard or somewhere they don’t get exposed to much light. Also I advise against air-tight seals; the tea should be allowed to breathe at least a little.
Not sure about cardboard either, especially for long term storage. I’ve heard that it can lead to off-tastes. I’m doing a few different storage experiments for my pu right now (its a challenge since I live in a dry climate), but I keep all of them in a thick wooden cabinet with a couple jars of water to maintain some semblance of humidity.
Not in the kitchen for sure. Cardboard will leave a residual with puerh. The others in glass away from light as uv can be a killer to good tea.
+1 for not leaving tea in the kitchen, especially anywhere near the stove because of the heat or near spices. It’s important to remember that tea is hygroscopic and will absorb the odors of things it’s stored in and around.
I have it in my room (not in the kitchen to avoid humidity) and the glass pots are kept in the wardrove, so they only see the light when I open it at the morning (not much light at those hours) or when I prepare a tea.
Pu erh is also in my room in boxes.
I think all your storage is perfectly fine. Glass and steel are inert substances and hence perfect to store tea (as long as not exposed to sunlight as already mentioned). If you wish you can paste some dark material over your glass jars. As for puerh, there are as many opinions about it as there are storage options. In any case, storing in cardboard boxes is a well known and commonly practiced option and it should be OK for you in my opinion.
yes, as you mentioned the light factor I envolved the pots with aluminium paper to avoid light exposure.
Yeah, so it sounds fine except for the Puer. I’d stay away from cardboard. Are you trying to store the Puer long-term? What kind of climate do you live in?
Mediterranean weather.
I want to store it for 3-5 years or more (if I can avoid drinking it before xD)
You probably have slightly better natural storage conditions than me. From what I understand, Mediterranean weather is pretty equivalent to West Coast US weather (which is why both regions are good for wine). Scott at Yunnan Sourcing has always spoken highly of the teas he stored in Portland, he’s told me that it ends up being between wet and dry storage. You’re probably fine storing them in a dark, neutral odored place, though it’ll probably tend towards dry storage. As I noted above, I break up some of my cakes to compensate for the excessively dry climate. It probably wouldn’t hurt you to play around with this too if you feel like it.
Well, now I’m interested in storing my Pu…I don’t have much nor any expensive Pu’s, bit what I have I want to learn to store it correctly for when I DO bite the bullet on something more expensive! Also, What Shou I have (one cake), should I store it whole, in cake form, or can I break it up and store it in an airtight container? The container is metal and it is airtight and light tight.
Unless it is something you want to age over decades, you can store your puerh the same way you would any other tea (in a reasonably sealed place away from odours & light). It is fine to open up a cake and store it in container for regular drinking.
For more details on storage:
http://www.thechineseteashop.com/how-to-store-pu-erh-tea.html
If I have the room, I store teas in glass containers in the freezer. Usually I just leave them in the bag they come in originally & put that into a small mason jar. Not worried so much about being light-proof since they are in a dark freezer. But the glass definitely helps keep other odors out. And it helps maintain the original moisture level that was in the tea originally.
I originally got into this habit back in college, when I was doing research on plants. Hands down, freezing plant material (after drying them down, similar to teas) was the best way to hold it closest to its original state for later analysis. I have a large bag (5lbs?) of Teavana jasmine tea that was purchased maybe 5 years ago kept this way, and it still tastes pretty close to how it was originally.
Here is why:
Oxidation- brought to a minimum by storage in a colder temperature.
Volatilization of flavors- again, since it is at a lower temp, flavors do not volatilize off nearly as fast.
Moisture- by sealing the tea in glass you create a small sealed micro-environment & prevent the drying out (in the freezer or other dry environment) that could occur if it were not in a sealed container.
I received a pressed da hong pao yesterday. What’s the best option to store it?
I’m going to say with limited exposure to oxygen, but I’m not completely sure in the case of da hong pao. It may be that pressed form helps maintain its character, rather than enhance it, as it would with a Puer. I know a lot of Dianhongs can be aged and actually benefit from it, but these are a different beast. Again, this is more or less my guess as I have no experience aging anything but Puer or Dian Hongs.
I have mostly had already-stored dian hongs, but the ones that I do have for storage are kept similarly to my puers (away from any extreme or fluctuating temperatures/smells), but separated from other teas.
I think the main question is does a pressed da hong pao need to breath like a puerh? I don’t think it will age like a puerh. You might want to store it an a more or less air tight container. I think the idea is to preserve it not age it. I believe that aging of oolongs is very different than puerhs and usually involves them reroasting the tea every year, but that is for loose.
Most sources I have read say to keep it in a cool dry place. I haven’t read much about compressed dhp, but this source provided some useful information on picking yancha for storing and on the storage and handling of the Oolong for aginghttp://rjtea.net/information-about-tea/wuyi-oolong-tea-understanding-the-three-styles.html?sl=EN.
That article is pretty helpful, and I imagine would apply for da hong pao as well. If anyone has additional information about storing non-puers (black teas/oolongs), I’d be curious to read. In general my Dian Hongs are in more air restricted containers (not necessarily air tight, but vacuum sealing may be an option) and in a room that’s less humid than my puer room, which is not too humid to begin with. Still, non-puer storage is a new domain to me, and one that’s not as frequently discussed.
Lapsang souchong is often aged both the smokier versions and the new style less smoky ones. Good quality ones will gradually loose there fruity notes and the smoky notes will decline but they tend to get creamier and may taste sweeter. I had one that tasted like a caramel chocolate with a creamy Oolong like texture. Basically I’ve only been told to store it in a cool dry place. Though sometimes LS are treated like Oolong’s.
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