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Storing different cakes

Posted: Nov 18th, '08, 13:44
by taitea
The "cakes in plastic" thread, along with some recent info posted by the infamous Cloud got me wondering how you guys deal with having many different cakes. It seems like most of us here are buying a variety of cakes, and not so much stocking up on one type of cake (although I'm sure there are exceptions).

So how do you store this large variety? Do you just pile them all together, or do you keep them separate somehow? The issue here is the possible mingling of the smells and flavors of the different cakes, which could result in one big pu mishmash many years down the line.

Personally, I'm considering getting some paper bags and dedicating a bag to each type of cake. Then putting all the bags together in a cardboard box. Another possibility would be to group the cakes by year.

Posted: Nov 18th, '08, 14:52
by Wesli
I just keep the shu and sheng seperate.

For shu, I keep the nasty fishy ones far away from my enjoyable ones.

For sheng, I store just about everything together, including the good aged stuff with the young stuff. I think you really want to store aged near young so that the young is introduced well to all the right bacteria and fungi.

However, there is one sheng I have that has an off-odor that's like zesty lemon (or urine). I keep that one in the stinky shu box.


I wouldn't wrap as much as you intend to, it sounds like that will cut air flow off by a lot. If you're concerned about odors mixing, I think the best plan is simply double wrapping each cake. But to have a cake in its wrapper, then inside a bag, then inside a box is more excessive than I would subject pu-erh to.

Posted: Nov 18th, '08, 17:17
by PolyhymnianMuse
Wesli wrote:
For sheng, I store just about everything together, including the good aged stuff with the young stuff. I think you really want to store aged near young so that the young is introduced well to all the right bacteria and fungi.
Wes has a very good point here. I would "rotate my stock" of sheng every so often and store older cakes with newer cakes to get them started on proper and good ageing. Of course store sheng and shu cakes seperate, and also of course be mindful of odd/strong smelling cakes and store them accordingly.

Posted: Nov 18th, '08, 17:18
by puerhking
my understanding is that you should separate sheng and shu. also if you have any aged sheng say 10+ years, you should separate those. I agree with Wesli that you are closing off beneficial air flow by putting them in bags and a box. I know this issue has been dealt in detail at cha dao blog. check the previous posts on the right side of the page.

http://chadao.blogspot.com/

Posted: Nov 18th, '08, 17:20
by thanks
I've been mixing shengs for a year now and I haven't noticed any ill effects. All of my cakes have kept their individual aromas. Me personally, I just say sheng and shu separate like the others have mentioned, and I also agree with Puerh King about older sheng.

If it doesn't affect the taste (so far it hasn't) then I don't care.

Posted: Nov 19th, '08, 01:37
by Trioxin
Same as everyone else with no ill effects that I can tell.