How to store wet puer between sessions/days ?
Sometimes I want to save the tea for the next day and then I’ll forget it for another day or two. How does everyone like to store in these situations? At first i left it in the gaiwan and put it in the fridge but it seemed to rob all the flavor nuances from the tea. Wrapping in cling wrap didn’t help much. I’ve also just left it out in the gaiwan but got concerned that I wouldn’t be able to tell if it had gone bad. I live in So Cal so not much humidity here…I’ve gone back to a tea that was in the fridge for a week and it seemed fine (other than the lack of nuance) as well as a tea left out for 2 days.
What do you guys do ? Or do you all drink so much tea that there’s never leftovers :)
Thanks !
I drank three teas yesterday. lol. If you forget the tea for more than a day, you should probably toss it IMO. In fact, many Chinese drinkers won’t drink tea that’s been sitting overnight. Maybe you should try grandpa brewing instead? Just drop a gram or two into a gaiwan, rinse twice, then transfer the leaves to a preheated mug and pour boiling water on.
Put it on a paper towel laid on a saucer. Spread out you will be surprised on how quick it will dry up. I think after 2 days though and it loses a bunch of nuance.
Hadn’t thought of that though I noticed how the leaves at the top of the gaiwan dried out. I’ll try that. Even if I lose nuance, it just seems like a shame to throw out an expensive tea that is still giving energy/qi but I guess getting sick aint worth it. I wonder what we would compare tea too? I mean, we can safely leave cooked meat in the fridge at least 3-5 days. Veggies are fine for a week. So, why not tea too ?
I do like mrmopar on a saucer.But not every time. sometimes leave in yixing or jianshui overnight. no problem . some aged sheng was still good on day6. why would i toss it?
The tea may darken a bit from oxidation after a few days but even at 3 days I have never had an issue. I think the boiling water takes care of anything. Who is this boychik haven’t seen her in a while….. :P
I leave tea in the gaiwan overnight quite often. Boiling water should kill anything that grows in it overnight (though I doubt it would that quickly).
^ this. Unless you live in an extra humid environment, it should be safe to drink for up to 24 hours. Give it a quick sniff and a rinse if you want to be cautious.
You can also put it in the fridge (either in the gaiwan or a paper towel) but I usually don’t bother.
I do this, including the smell test. It’s ok to leave a loaded pot out here in the cooler part of the year
From a purely biological standpoint, the boiling water will not kill everything that could grow. Many bacteria will not be killed by simply reaching boiling temperature but need to be held at boiling temp for 5-10 minutes. Also, even if you’re pouring boiling water into a pre-heated gaiwan, the liquid will almost immediately drop to 105-110ish. Also a concern with leaving out “food” overnight is mold in which case the concern is not eating the mold itself but the mycotoxins which will largely not be killed by hot water.
I think it’s perfectly safe to leave tea overnight but I don’t want people to think of the hot water brewing as a sanitation process.
I’m starting to think of wet tea like wet veggies that I have in the fridge. So if I think I’ll drink it within a day, I’ll leave it out of the fridge on paper towel. But if longer I’ll put it in the fridge after that and monitor it closely for visible signs of mold. If my fridge veggies get moldy I toss them…I’ll do the same with tea. Unless there’s a reason why you can’t do this with Puer ? Maybe because it has been fermented and therefore already has stuff growing in it as compared to veggies. Then again, my sauerkraut stays in the fridge for months.
I appear to be overthinking this :)
I’ve heard of cooked stuff going bad faster, but can’t personally say since I rarely drink that stuff.
I’ve been drinking Pu-erh more that anything else as of late. I let mine sit out, but try not to go beyond a day. When it starts to lose it’s deep color when brewed, I toss it. I’m in North Carolina. Right now it’s fairly dry since winter’s trying to settle in, but humidity varies throughout the year, and my house seems to have its own climate zone.
I drink mostly young sheng which doesn’t have a deep color. But I can go 30 steeps with some of the good stuff before it is done and that would last me 3 days/sessions. I guess I could steep in cold water in the fridge overnight to get the last flavor out ?
Cool beans. I’m in the Raleigh/Cary area.
I’ve been wanting to cold brew one of the teas that I have (about 20 different varieties). I’ll have to get on this asap.
I’m on the coast in Morehead City, but considering a move to the Raleigh area. Is there any tea culture there? You may be the first person I’ve met on Steepster from that area.
You two get to Raleigh and a visit to Angelina’s tea shop. We may even talk DigniTea into joining us.
I try to avoid using tea the next day as much as possible. I try to time my tea sessions or use less grams of tea so I don’t have to come back the next day. If I am only halfway through a tea I really like, I’ll brew it grandpa style as TeaLife.HK said above. I’ll put the partially used leaves in a glass tumbler with boiling water, when its room temperature or cool enough, then I’ll put it in the fridge. Otherwise, I’ll just toss the leftover tea leaves and use fresh leaves the following day. If its an expensive tea, I’ll definitely plan the session so I don’t have to worry about this.
I got me a lidded 8 oz Factory 1 zisha cup last week, entirely by chance, and I’m dedicating it to grandpa brewing pu erh (the traditional storage stuff). I will start and finish sessions in the cup and just keep topping it up with water. I overdid it with leaf the first time I used it and got a serious caffeine buzz. :o
I need to be more conscientious and try not to keep leaves out overnight. I did this with maocha last night and a lot of the flavor was absent this morning.
While you can store puerh for the next day I always seem to find the flavor a bit lacking when I resteep the previous day’s tea.
me too, that’s the main reason I try to avoid it. leftover tea just doesn’t do it for me…
I often start my day with yesterday’s gaiwan. It isn’t as good, but it’s usually while I’m doing email or reading or something. When I can focus on the tea, I start a new one. And I agree with everyone else; it’s not nearly as good. After one day, I toss it.
Best to get through it in one day. Smaller pots and gaiwans or grandpa brewing are the way! Trying to cut back to 10-15g a day or my anxiety sets in from the caffeine
I find aged sheng does better with a rest between brews and does not suffer drinking over days. Green sheng does get a bit more pale in flavor, however the best leaf suffers less, and so do, hate to say it, smoky bitter tuos. So the high end and the bitter cheap end do better sitting out than the mid tier.
A thick walled clay or thick porcelain teapot keeps Tea better overnight, in my opinion, than a gaiwan does.
I agree with all of the above ^
You have to drink a lot of tea to form that kind of perspective! :D
i normally dont push a tea for more than a second day. either a clay teapot or a gaiwan. ill let it cool down, lid off. then put the lid on and come back the next day after work and start again (with a quick rinse to warm everything back up).
i have forgot about a gaiwan a time or two and found stuff growing on the leaf. never in a teapot. i will hate myself if i did that. my teapots are too special to ruin like that.
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