Source for Plain Wrapper?

[cha-fu]

Interesting study of (wet) cardboard smell.

The emissions worsen as the cardboard absorbs humidity over time, at a range of 70-85% RH and becomes permanently damp.

Please correct me if I am wrong. Moisture (percentage) in a cardboard (over time) will be similar to ambient relative humidity. A wet cardboard will eventually dry up in a 70-85% RH room. Just like air dry clothes in a room. Not sure how cardboard becomes permanently damp in this RH range. I don't have access to full paper to see how tests were done, but I would assume "moistened" cardboard has moisture content close to 100% to emit unpleasant odors.

As for tea wrapping paper, I would suggest vanilla envelopes, which are breathable, cheap and easy to find. I use vanilla envelopes and cardboard boxes to store my tea collection, similar to Cloud's approach (http://www.cloudsteacollection.com/html ... 028_e.html). Yes, tea bricks and cakes will absorb smell of cardboard boxes and any ambient smell where you store tea. Xing Cha (awakening the tea; basically aerate your tea) usually can take care of that.

If you have 30+ years old tea, put it in a sealed plastic bag or wrap to preserve its smell/flavor.

[Intuit]

Cardboard is hygroscopic, meaning that it adsorbs moisture from its surroundings.

[pgho]

Thanks Intuit for the in depth scientific analysis of cardboard volatile compounds. Quite a few of the smells you mentioned are very similar to those described in puerh reviews .... mushroom, vanilla, rubber, leather, citrus, smoke, woody, sweet. Cardboard and puerh are also cellulose based, does this account for the same flavors?

From what I read, most wrappers are from cotton fiber paper. Apparently this type of paper is very stable and had been used for centuries. Thicker ones are used for bank notes too. Try wiki on "cotton fiber paper". If you look at the older wrappers, you actually see strands of fiber and also bits of brown lumps which I think are other parts of the cotton flower. These are not so refined because they were usually handmade paper. The color is also off white or light beige, meaning no bleaching, so just natural fiber.

For OMTP, our mutual tea dealer, Mr Khor, has a bundle of these handmade paper. So far I managed to pry 1 piece off his hand. He is holding on to them tighter than his high mountain purple tip cakes.

[Intuit]

Yes, I did notice that some of decomposing cardboard odors were also commonly noted flavors in aged pu.

I've commented elsewhere that camphor would be an unexpected flavor/odor to find in pu. It's not made by fungi or bacteria. Since then, I've found references to camphor for pest/odor control in pu'erh storage.

I'm willing to bet the supply of cotton or bamboo fiber paper is cheap and plentiful - if you know where to find it.

[oldmanteapot]

For OMTP, our mutual tea dealer, Mr Khor, has a bundle of these handmade paper. So far I managed to pry 1 piece off his hand. He is holding on to them tighter than his high mountain purple tip cakes.

PG!!.... long time no see!!.. ahahaha....

I've gotten myself a good stack of the rice paper from a good reliable source. Give me a ring if you need some...

Cheers!!

[nonc_ron]

Quite a few of the smells you mentioned are very similar to those described in puerh reviews .... mushroom, vanilla, rubber, leather, citrus, smoke, woody, sweet. Cardboard

I have to remember Cardboard next time I do a puerh review.
trying to work it in between woody and Smokey

[Tea and coffee]

I can probably think of someone that might sell tea wrappers, but not entirely sure.
The person/company I bought some white ans green teas from they also make Pu Erh teas and I'm pretty sure if you needed some wrappers they would have some.
No idea if they would be plain or printed or what, but they are in China.

I'm thinking they might be helpful as the persons website says "Questions, comments or special requests are always welcome.
Please contact us at:"

and that company has gotten some tea for me that they do not normally sell,so they are helpful.
But shipping is from China...but have to say price was good for shipping I thought at least compared to Canada prices.

[Intuit]

I can see you're not quite 'getting it'.

Thin cotton rag paper is one of the most abundant paper products in the world. There are significant quantities produced here in North America, as well as in Asia. Cotton is, after all, a rather inexpensive commodity. Short fiber byproducts, like cotton paper, are abundant and easy to find.

I'm sure there are dozens of online tea web retailers who would absolutely love to gouge new customers for these wrappers, citing 'overseas shipping cost'.

Thanks anyway.

[Tea and coffee]

Yes, I did notice that some of decomposing cardboard odors were also commonly noted flavors in aged pu.

I've commented elsewhere that camphor would be an unexpected flavor/odor to find in pu. It's not made by fungi or bacteria. Since then, I've found references to camphor for pest/odor control in pu'erh storage.

I'm willing to bet the supply of cotton or bamboo fiber paper is cheap and plentiful - if you know where to find it.

I actually bought some papers from Southworth.com
but they sell all kinds of cotton papers,
mainly for writing,but they have all kinds of fancy plain papers on their website.

The unmistakable quality of Southworth 100% cotton paper is a foundation that can get your big ideas built.

Staples sells some of that brand but not really sure what items.
I remember buying a huge sampler box of papers directly from the company online a few years ago.
Their papers and cards are very nice,but have never tried them for food storage.

Intuit,
I saw on your earlier post you said some stores could gauge for "overseas shipping costs".
I guess they could, but i just mentioned the seller I bought from was in China because he actually lives there.
I have bought tea there 3 times and all packages say "Kunming post" on them and his address is as such.
Now I'm sure that does not apply to all the US websites though.
For a 750 gram package my shipping was $12 and was packed in sealed bags and put in a cardboard box.

I can also say I bought some tea from a website that had a US phone number and my package shipped from Malaysia.
And was extremely slooow to come to Canada.