General Tea Storage?

131 Replies
denisend said

I love the decorated canisters (you’ve probably seen them at Teavana, but I’ve picked them up at other places, too). I have probably a dozen or so of those in my china cabinet, spaced around the tea pots and cups.

I have a chest of drawers in the dining room, too, and one whole drawer is taken up by tea. About half of that drawer is individually packaged bags (greens and stuff my husband wanted to taste, though he never DOES) and the other half is undecorated canisters of loose tea. This drawer is organized by the Deep Drawer Organizers from the Container Store.

http://www.containerstore.com/shop/kitchen/drawerOrganizers/modular?productId=10012726

When I bought a BUNCH of Adagio samples… they didn’t fit into my tea drawer, so now I’m taking up another third of a drawer with Adagio (and now Golden Moon) samples. Whoops.

And I have a cabinet at work filled with Harney canisters and Lupicia bags.

I don’t know what I’m going to do when my Rishi order gets here….

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Angrboda said

I have accumulated a collection of ordinary aluminium tins with tight-fitting lids. I always use these for storage. When they’re empty they get a good rinse with clean water and then I let them stand around in the window sill with the lid off until the next time I need them, so any residual aroma is aired out of them.
I don’t like putting labels on them though, because I don’t want them all covered in glue, so I generally cut the label out of the bag I received the tea in and squeeze it in between the lid and the tin.
I rarely buy bigger amounts than about 50g of any given tea if I can avoid it, so shelf life hasn’t been a very big problem for me. The ones I’ve found that have been allowed to really grow old in my cupboard are generally also the ones I’ve found to be a bit dull.

i too have aluminum tins but to label them i have magnetic tape that i tape onto a label and magnet it to the tin. it works great and doesn’t leave any sticky stuff.

Angrboda said

Hey that’s a good idea! I hadn’t thought about that. :)

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i tend to keep all my tea in tin containers. Tisanes, like mate or rooibos, I’ll keep in the package it came in though. I don’t have much choice for the different storage of teas I’ll drink immediately, compared to teas I’ll have for a while, mostly because of the way I enjoy tea.
I keep all my tea in my bedroom, where it is conveniently accessible for the area I’d laid out of tea time (about 60% of my entire bedroom…) and out of the way of the rest of my family. When I do tea, I almost always have incense going, so I need to make sure to keep the tea separate from that scent, which is really strong. Also, I tend to vary my choices from day to day, so I’m not really a “Earl Grey in the morning, every morning” kind of guy. Two ounces of something can last me months.

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gmathis said

Any foolproof ideas for getting the sticky label stuff off tins?

Angrboda said

I would try soaking the tin in water to get the paper off and then rubing alcohol on the glue left behind. Most glues tend to be alcohol soluble, I think.

theres that stuff called goo gone. i dont know if it works because i just usually use rubbing alcohol wipes. but apparently its quicker

gmathis said

Thanks. Never thought about the alcohol.

Teaspoon said

The goo gone stuff works great, so does goof off, we used it at kmart to get shelf labels off.Smell them though before you buy, because one is made from citrus which smells great and isnt toxic, the other is smelly like harsh chemicals and I wouldnt use it around food containers.

Amber said

lighter fluid works surprisingly well

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Heyes said

I have a few tins that I use to bring my tea to work with me, and my regular store packs them in plastic bags with a small window. I keep them in the bags. I usually buy several varieties of tea at a time, and each given variety rarely stays in cupboard longer than six months at a time.

I find that tea in plain tins does tend to absorb more ambient moisture than the sealed plastic bags.

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Cofftea said

Tea leaves (haha no pun intended) me conflicted. I am very aware that light is very damaging to tea, but it’s so pretty! I know the tops of Adagio’s canisters some how don’t let light in, but does anyone know of completely clear containers that would still protect my tea?

fcmonroe said

They are designed to filter out the ultraviolet light. You can’t see ultraviolet light, but if is what does most of the damage to the tea. Visible light isn’t high enough energy to produce the free radicals that cause the flavor to suffer.

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AJ said

Sadly, I don’t have a cupboard to call my own, so all my tea is stored on a shelf in my room. I keep everything I can in firmly shut tins, although all my loose teabags are meticulously organized (first by company—alphabetically, I might add—and then by type) in a little red box behind the looseleafs. To the right of the collection I have all my teapots set up, so the whole shelf is a sort of ‘tea display’.

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has anyone bought these? http://www.specialtybottle.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=25 thinking about buying some

I love the specialty bottle online store. The tins are pretty good, and very reasonable price. I used many small ones for Christmas gifts of tea and other stuff. They have a taller tea can, which is very regular for a tea can, but not bad. The lid is very tight, which is both good and difficult to open.

thanks! they are much cheaper than buying them at teavana so i think i may keep a few for repacking loose teas that don’t have containers

i tend to spray leaves all over with the tight lids, so i was leaning twoard screw tops

I use Specialty Bottle for all my tins. They are not expensive but they look nice and are good quality. They protect the tea for my customers until they receive it. They can either toss it keep it recycle it does not really matter I toss it in for free. Delivery people are rough with packages these days. I would hate a blooming tea arriving in little bits and not nice tea balls. (remember the luggage commercial with the monkey back in the day)

MzPriss said

I just did another order from Specialty Bottle. Love their tins and their cheapness as I have a LOT of tea. I use my little label maker and label the tops. I like the crew tops best.

placed an order and got it, i like the tea tins, not so sure about the little ones i got for swaps though, the lids don’t seem tight enough http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/02/specialty-bottle-supply-company-review.html

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I have the bad habit of saving all containers possible, which may make me end up being an old woman with an exploded attic. I save all tea cans that are in good shape. Besides, I saved some metal tin boxes from chocolates and Chinese moon cakes, and use them for tea samples.

For some dark oolongs and puerh that I would like them to “breathe”, I’ve collected some ginger jars and ceramic jars that have lids but not tightly sealed.

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SoccerMom said

I love the Washi tins like the one’s they sell at Teavana. Does anyone know where I can buy them cheaper? They have some nice one’s online at Rishi but they are quite expensive too. I prefer to spend money on the tea itself but would still like for my tea to be stored properly. I have all my tea in tins now and I would like to try to make them all the same style or at least as many as possible I don’t think I would change tins for Harney and Sons or for Mariage Friars but would still like to have some more Washi tins for my teas I buy locally that come in zip top bags.

Haven’t bought any, but I did find a few websites you might want to check out:
http://www.yuuki-cha.com/Tea+Canisters
http://www.zensuke.com/teacontainer.html
http://tiny.cc/UaADI
:)

SoccerMom said

@ the quiet life, Thanks sooo much!

denisend said

These aren’t covered in the pretty paper, but they’re only 1/3 the cost. I’ve considered picking up a bunch.

http://www.taooftea.com/detail2788-Copper_Small_Wonder_Tin.html

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