Tea Storage

The gustatory quality of an opened package of tea is continually changing from the beginning to the end, during its course of consumption. The important thing is that we finish drinking a package of tea within its period of best quality.

Tea sealed in a bag within a sealed canister will still undergo degradation, albeit at a slower rate. Properly sealed and stored teas will last up to a year in quality. Some teas are sold in flimsy bags that may or may not be seal. From their production source, some teas are sent to market in Kraft paper and taped sealed! When you get home store the teas properly. A tea that is not properly stored and protected from the environment will undergo further oxidation, it is unavoidable. Once opened, a package of tea should be drunk and not stored indefinitely.

At a practical level, what can we do to preserve our teas? Always place tea in a bottle or canister with a tight seal and in a cupboard away from light. When a package of tea comes with small packets of desiccant or oxygen adsorbent, do not throw away these chemical pillows when transferring the tea to a storage container. Use the pillows to help extend the shelf life of your tea for long term storage.

Note that one cannot place the pillows of desiccant and oxygen adsorbents closely together. The two packet should be separated. The oxygen adsorbent needs moisture to function properly. One way to do this is to place the desiccant at the bottom of the bag or container before filling with tea and to place the oxygen adsorbent at the top before vacuum sealing a bag or closing a container. The extra expense of such protection is not required if you are actively drinking the tea

A side point of observation here. When oolong and lung ching teas are very fresh and have just been obtained from the distributor/retailer, there is little scent/aroma to the dry tea leaves. After storage in glass jars or canisters, their typical dry leaf aroma develops for an oolong -- floral -- or lung ching -- mocha and sweet. The opening and closure of the storage containers help to oxidize the teas. Compare the taste/quality of the tea when it is very fresh to when it has reached a level of oxidation that you like. How does the tea taste when it has become very oxidized? Note the appearance/color of the tea liquor when the tea was fresh and when it has become very oxidized.

At a more extreme level, one could repackage his purchase of teas into smaller vacuum sealed bags of 50 to 75 grams with chemical pillows and place these into a canister or bottle, stored in a cupboard until they need to be used. Remember to select and buy chemical packets that suit your final package size. These could be found online. Thus, one would always have fresher teas to drink during the year. Select a place which is not subject to light, humidity, moisture or wide range temperature fluctuations for tea storage.

Rolled pearls and tightly rolled oolong pellets or gunpowder teas could be vacuum sealed with a full vacuum. Leaves that are loose like green teas, some oolongs or pouchongs should be sealed with chemical pillows and no vacuum drawn. Applying a vacuum will crush the leaves, resulting in a bitter brew.

Page last updated 09/08/2001.