Storing Tea is a practical process.

Over the course of ten, twenty, thirty years or even longer, as a new tea cake matures from being fresh and green to rich and mellow, and from intense to refined, it accompanies you through its transformation and elevation in flavor. Everything gradually approaches perfection.

Stockpile new tea to enjoy aged tea. Without stocking new tea, where would aged tea come from? Tea ages along with the tea lover, and the joy of playing with tea lies precisely in this.

Therefore, many people like to store tea because the longer it's stored, the more its character unfolds, becoming a collection of memories.

Tea has hygroscopic properties and strong adsorption capabilities, making it very susceptible to absorbing moisture and odors from the air. If stored improperly, it can lose its flavor within a short period.

Thus, if you know how to appreciate tea, you should also understand the proper methods for storing it.

Conventional Containers for Storing Tea

Generally speaking, the best containers for storing tea are tin cans, jars, and colored glass bottles.

Next best are iron cans, wooden boxes, and bamboo boxes (though bamboo boxes are not suitable for use in dry northern climates). Then there are plastic bags and paper boxes.

Many tea shops choose to use Yixing clay jars, wrapping the tea in film paper before sealing them with a lid.

How Should Tea Be Stored?

In theory, the ideal storage conditions for tea involve keeping it dry, refrigerated, oxygen-free, and out of direct sunlight.

However, due to various practical limitations, it's often impossible to meet all these conditions. Therefore, the most important requirement is to keep the tea dry and take additional measures as needed.

Different types of tea require different storage methods based on their aging characteristics and inherent properties.

White Tea

White tea is the most primitive and simplest type of tea in terms of processing. It's durable and easy to store in an environmentally friendly way without needing low-temperature preservation; instead, it just requires protection against odd odors at room temperature. During storage, it undergoes some degree of transformation, and the longer it's stored, the deeper the color of both the dry leaves and the tea liquor becomes, and the smoother and richer its taste gets.

Pu'er Tea

Pu'er ripe tea, as a type of dark tea, requires no direct sunlight or rain exposure for storage. As long as it's kept in a clean, sanitary, ventilated environment free from other odors, it will be fine.

Black Tea

Black tea has a relatively low moisture content and can easily absorb moisture or lose its aroma. To avoid mixing different types of tea, it's best stored in a tightly sealed, dry container away from light and heat.

Dark Tea

Dark tea requires ventilation, dryness, and freedom from odd odors for storage. Ventilation and dryness are particularly important when storing dark tea. It's best to seal it in packaging materials that allow some airflow, such as kraft paper or traditional paper.

People mature with age, and so does tea.

The value of different types of tea can only be maximized when stored under appropriate conditions. Tea is the best medium for communication. Years later, when friends visit, bring out your precious stash. Amidst laughter and conversation, the depth of the tea slowly reveals itself. The accumulation of time cannot be replaced, turning past joys and sorrows into wisps of tea smoke, drained in one gulp…