TeaChat

I searched the threads but didn't quite find what I was looking for so I've started a new thread...

I mainly drink green (sencha) and oolong (wu yi, tgy). I buy 50-100g of a variety of each, and I drink them over 2-3 months. I usually have 5-8 different teas open at one time. Some of the teas come in re-sealable foil bags, and others (recent purchases from o-cha and dragon th) come in 100g bags that are not re-sealable...with these I've been rolling the bag down and pushing air out, and putting a clip on the bag. Is this enough to preserve the freshness (to a point, I'm not anal about this)?

Or, are their other storage ideas...like buying re-sealable foil bags, tins, etc.

Thanks.

I'm keeping my open bags from O-cha exactly the same as you. I keep them out of the kitchen away from any odors they could pick up and I try to drink them fairly quickly.
Oolongs I'll let sit around much longer.
I have a very small chest of draws I use for my teas. Each draw for a different type of tea.

I keep my tea like this (but with Sellotape) if it's non resealable! I have some tea in glass jars too... Basically I wash the jar with boiling water, then I brew a tiny amount of tea in it, rinse it, and dry it in an oven, then when it's cooled I pour the leaves in and cut the bag up so I can Sellotape it around the jar to keep UV light out

Edit: I brew tea in it to eliminate odours seeping into the tea, if the jar smells like the tea that's going in, it's all good

For tea such as sencha that can have flavor degradation pretty quickly, I split the bag in half or even quarters. Then I use one divided bag at a time. This prevents the constant opening of the 100 grammer.

Chip wrote:For tea such as sencha that can have flavor degradation pretty quickly, I split the bag in half or even quarters. Then I use one divided bag at a time. This prevents the constant opening of the 100 grammer.

I had two smaller re-sealable bags and did this with my sencha. I'll use those bags for sencha and leave the open/re-open for oolong.

Thanks.

I bought a batch of sample tins from Upton. Three fit in a washi canister and hold 100 grams of Japanese greens. That way, as with Chip's split bags, I'm only exposing a third of the bag to light and air at any one time.

JRS22 wrote:I bought a batch of sample tins from Upton. Three fit in a washi canister and hold 100 grams of Japanese greens. That way, as with Chip's split bags, I'm only exposing a third of the bag to light and air at any one time.

Exactly!

Chip wrote:

JRS22 wrote:I bought a batch of sample tins from Upton. Three fit in a washi canister and hold 100 grams of Japanese greens. That way, as with Chip's split bags, I'm only exposing a third of the bag to light and air at any one time.

Exactly!

Its entirely possible I got this idea from you!

JRS22 wrote:

Chip wrote:

JRS22 wrote:I bought a batch of sample tins from Upton. Three fit in a washi canister and hold 100 grams of Japanese greens. That way, as with Chip's split bags, I'm only exposing a third of the bag to light and air at any one time.

Exactly!

Its entirely possible I got this idea from you!

Yep, I believe you did.

I store small amounts of tea in the canisters that they come in, or if they're larger than a canister I put them into a Mason jar that I keep away from light and in a place that is not too hot or too cold.

This is my tea drawer. 1/2 pint jars tightly closed, labeled [OCD], and probably in alphabetical order. I usually order 2-3 oz at a time.

TimsMom, That's quite a collection for a "novice"! I see 17 ...

I've seen people write that partially full tins allow air inside the tin to effect the tea. Any opinions on how significant or insignificant this air is?

Are metalized, resealable zip bags better because one can squeeze the empty part of the bag flat to push most air out?

ethan wrote: Are metalized, resealable zip bags better because one can squeeze the empty part of the bag flat to push most air out?

In my opinion, yes. At first, I decided to store my tea in metal canisters that I had placed on the kitchen shelf. The tins weren't airtight and it soon started to show on tea (not to mention that after cooking one very onion - rich dinner it started to smell funny. I moved it away from kitchen immediately after that). Now I am storing my tea (mainly greens in smaller quantities) in resealable metal/plastic bags and it works really well. I have not seen any drop in quality since.

ethan wrote:TimsMom, That's quite a collection for a "novice"! I see 17 ...

I've seen people write that partially full tins allow air inside the tin to effect the tea. Any opinions on how significant or insignificant this air is?

Are metalized, resealable zip bags better because one can squeeze the empty part of the bag flat to push most air out?

I would say that the effects of oxidation on the tea is determined by the actual amount of oxygen available in the tin to oxidate the tea. In large containers, I can see this being significant. But you always see people storing tea in large containers, and taking a bit out at a time. For roasted or already oxidized tea, I don't see this as being a problem really. I put a tiny bit of yancha in a 500 gram capacity container for about half a year just as an experiment and the fragrance actually got a lot stronger, both in the tin and when brewing, and I couldn't notice a negative change in the tea. For greener teas, this obviously doesn't apply.

TimsMom wrote:This is my tea drawer. 1/2 pint jars tightly closed, labeled [OCD], and probably in alphabetical order. I usually order 2-3 oz at a time.

Great idea! Im going to pick some of these up soon!