Building a Pu'er Tea home storage room has always been a challenging issue for many novice tea enthusiasts.

Clean, shaded from light, moisture-proof, and odor-free, it needs to ensure breathability while preventing excessive oxidation. Different solutions are required for long-term and short-term storage, and choosing and using the right tea storage containers can be difficult…

Today, this article by Lu Li aims to solve various problems related to storing tea at home for novice tea enthusiasts.

Long-Term Storage

The first principle of building a Pu'er tea home storage room is to store the tea in a clean, shaded from light, moisture-proof, and stable environment while regularly monitoring and adjusting the temperature and humidity of the room.

Temperature: The temperature for storing Pu'er tea should generally be around 18-32°C; temperatures too high or too low are detrimental to the aging process. Avoid direct exposure to air conditioning, quartz lamps, and sunlight.

Humidity: Relative humidity should be kept around 55%-75%; too high or too low a humidity level is also not conducive to the transformation of Pu'er tea. A hygrometer can be purchased to accurately monitor changes in humidity within the room.

Tea enthusiasts in the north need to pay particular attention during dry seasons like autumn and winter, when the air humidity is very low, and the transformation rate of Pu'er tea slows down. A humidifier can be used to increase the air humidity appropriately, and wiping the floor with a damp towel can achieve a similar effect.

Tea enthusiasts in the south need to be especially vigilant during wet and hot seasons like the plum rain season, when the relative humidity is extremely high. The tea will absorb moisture from the room rapidly and excessively, leading to mold growth, which requires timely use of a dehumidifier to lower the indoor humidity.

Ventilation: The main purpose of ventilation is to balance the temperature and humidity inside and outside the room. When the indoor temperature and humidity are too high, or there is some stuffy smell, the Pu'er tea should be ventilated appropriately. However, try not to expose the Pu'er tea cakes directly to the airflow, nor lay them out on a balcony, as these places have a larger airflow that can reduce the tea flavor and affect the internal transformation of the Pu'er tea.

The duration of ventilation should be flexibly chosen according to the season. During autumn and winter, when the air humidity is low, cross ventilation can be chosen. In summer, when the temperature is higher, exchange-style ventilation should be used, meaning only the windows or the door should be opened. Additionally, avoid ventilating in a high humidity environment.

Shade: Keep the Pu'er tea in an environment where it is not exposed to sunlight, reducing the impact of strong light on the internal quality of the Pu'er tea. Do not keep the Pu'er tea in an environment with artificial lighting for a long time, as this may cause the internal quality to lose its vitality, and beneficial microorganisms might die in large numbers.

No Odors: Pu'er tea has an extremely strong ability to absorb odors, and once it absorbs foreign smells, it's hard to remove them. Therefore, a clean and odor-free environment for storing Pu'er tea should be sought after. Items such as gasoline, paint, perfume, tobacco and alcohol, pets, ointments, liniment, electric mosquito repellents, hot pot, spicy sticks, pickled vegetables, etc., which have strong odors, are often overlooked sources of unwanted smells in household storage.

In summary, to achieve a clean, shaded from light, moisture-proof, and stable environment, tea enthusiasts who have the conditions can set aside a separate room as an independent home storage room, equipped with smart temperature and humidity control devices. These devices can be linked to a smartphone to monitor changes in the temperature and humidity of the tea storage room at any time.

The second principle is to ensure the long-term stability of the small environment for storing tea.

Traditional Pu'er tea cakes usually come in bundles wrapped in bamboo shells or in boxes made of bamboo strips. Keeping the original packaging intact during storage can provide a certain degree of water resistance and offer a relatively stable internal environment for the post-fermentation of the Pu'er tea.

If stored in bundles and without the original paper box, the bundled bamboo-wrapped tea cakes can be placed in unused paper boxes (to avoid odors). They can be stacked in a confined space, but the quantity should not exceed the weight limit, typically no more than three bundles.

It's important to note that paper boxes should not be placed directly on the floor and should not touch the walls, as paper boxes absorb moisture from the air, and walls and floors are often the areas with the highest humidity in the room.

During the plum rain season in southern regions, when the relative humidity can reach 100%, and “water return” can occur on the ground, it's recommended to check the storage and moisture condition of the tea every day (those with dehumidifiers linked to their smartphones can check directly, which is more convenient) to prevent mold growth.

Therefore, paper boxes containing tea should ideally be placed on a shelf that is 30 cm above the ground, 30 cm away from the wall, and in a dry area. Tea enthusiasts with a large amount of tea to store can choose to order custom shelving units for storing Pu'er tea.

The third principle is to avoid mixing raw and ripe teas and different-aged raw teas in the same storage space. This is because Pu'er raw tea and ripe tea are two types of tea with significantly different qualities and styles, and they should not be mixed and stored in the same small environment, i.e., not in the same paper box or tea jar.

Firstly, in terms of aroma types, Pu'er raw tea mostly features aromas of downy fragrance, lotus fragrance, fresh fragrance, chestnut fragrance, and aged fragrance; Pu'er ripe tea mostly features aromas of ginseng fragrance, soybean fragrance, aged fragrance, jujube fragrance, and camphor fragrance. Due to the difference in aroma types, if Pu'er raw tea and ripe tea are mixed and stored together, the aroma substances will often cross-adhere, covering or altering each other, making it difficult for both the raw and ripe teas to obtain pure and natural aromas.

Secondly, strictly speaking, raw teas of different ages should also be kept separately as much as possible. This is because raw teas aged for over 10 years, compared to newly made raw teas, have undergone certain changes in taste and aroma.

Storing the two types of tea in the same small environment can easily result in the older tea acquiring the fresh taste of the new tea, while the new tea can easily absorb the scent of the older tea, developing an aged taste. The aged taste acquired by the new tea is partial and uneven, and although it has an aged taste, it is not pure.

This point is also considered for moisture prevention. After long-term storage, old teas have a lower water content, while new teas have slightly higher water content. In a humid environment, mixing old and new teas can likely lead to the old tea becoming moist.

Daily Consumption

For daily consumption of Pu'er tea, attention should be paid to sealing conditions to avoid excessive oxidation. For precious aged Pu'er teas, they can be stored in sealed aluminum foil bags. Open the bag when breaking off tea, put it back after taking what you need, and seal it again.

In addition to sealed aluminum foil bags, impermeable glazed porcelain jars, well-sealed tin cans, and purple clay jars can also be used. Although this method is somewhat cumbersome, as long as the seal is ensured, it can effectively prevent excessive oxidation.

Another approach is to break up Compressed tea completely and store it in a purple clay jar. This is suitable for aged teas with odd odors, newly made raw teas with pronounced bitterness, and Pu'er teas with sourness in the infusion that have issues.