Puerh storage - How dark is appropriate?

[betta]

I've read everywhere that tea should be kept away from direct sunlight, some say in darkness. But how dark is sufficient? pit dark?
What would be the outcome if it is not dark enough?

I raised this question because recently I made an experiment with two identical glass container filled with wetted clay pebbles. One of the container was put in "pit dark" carton and one other was put in food grade plastic container which I use to store puerh tea. The carton was layered at the inner-side with plastic, because I want to ensure minimum influence of airflow into the carton.
The food grade plastic wasn't completely dark so there's still indirect sunlight get in.

Both container were kept at similar humidity and after about one week mold started to grow on pebbles only in the carton.
A former colleague reminded me of the role of UV from sunlight to inhibit wild growth.
Is there anybody here storing their tea not in "pit dark" environment and willing to share your experience?
Thanks in advance

[beecrofter]

The problem with your container experiment is ventillation which light or lack thereof can not remedy.

[TomVerlain]

If you look at nature, you can find caves that might have never, ever, seen a ray of sunlight, have been damp for millennia, and yet are not "moldy".

With tea, there is good mold, which you want to encourage, and bad mold which you want to discourage. Using SWAG, I would say good airflow and moderate humidity would be better for tea that pitch black darkness.

I certainly agree that keeping tea in clear glass jars in the front window of a store is dumb. Keeping clothes or books for a long time in that environment is detrimental too. But you wouldn't only wear clothes or read books in pitch black just to protect them.

Like most food, keeping loose tea in a opaque container in a cupboard seems like it would protect the tea enough from UV to make any light effects negligible. With paper wrapped beengs, you might not want to even put them in a container.

[betta]

I certainly agree that keeping tea in clear glass jars in the front window of a store is dumb. Keeping clothes or books for a long time in that environment is detrimental too. But you wouldn't only wear clothes or read books in pitch black just to protect them.

Ah.. sorry I forget to mention that the place where I stored the plastic container is simply in a room, does not necessarily in front of a window of course. The fact that I can see in the room without turning on artificial light is due to sunlight reflection in the room. Thanks for sharing your opinion

[MarshalN]

If you want the answer, why don't you try putting two chunks of the same cake in these two containers, minus the wetted pebbles, and see what happens?

I've seen sun-exposed cakes before, and they're very red. Not pretty at all.

[betta]

The problem with your container experiment is ventillation which light or lack thereof can not remedy.

I tried to reduce the airflow because I don't want to get too many additional microorganism contamination from the air on the course. Maybe it really did backfire like you said

If you want the answer, why don't you try putting two chunks of the same cake in these two containers, minus the wetted pebbles, and see what happens?

I've seen sun-exposed cakes before, and they're very red. Not pretty at all.

That would be the last resort, which requires quite a lot of time until I can get the difference in the tea taste from both storage. I did have stored before puerh cakes in the carton storage before without any mold growth problem, but to be really able to identify any effect in the taste might need some time.
Did you get a chance to taste the sun-exposed cakes before? how's it?

[MarshalN]

It tasted dry and bland. Not good.

[betta]

It tasted dry and bland. Not good.

Wow, seems light has very detrimental effects to tea, then I should be more careful with the storage. Thanks!

[TIM]

It tasted dry and bland. Not good.

Wow, seems light has very detrimental effects to tea, then I should be more careful with the storage. Thanks!

Sun light is the main enemy

[MarshalN]

Yeah, non-sun light is not as bad. Sun is bad, bad, bad.

[betta]

Yeah, non-sun light is not as bad. Sun is bad, bad, bad.

Thanks for sharing me your experience here, MarshalN.
I've added a layer of aluminium foil in the storage as an attempt to avoid sunlight penetrates the storage. Hopefully it can also slightly reduce steep temperature change during day and night.
I've heard of teahouses storing cakes in a stable ambient temperature.
What would be the consequences of storing tea at unstable ambient temperature?

[TomVerlain]

I think stable might not be good. A dynamic cycle of temperature and humidity slowly rising and falling seems to be what nature does.

[TIM]

I think an old tea tree living in the wild already had enough rises and falls.... Perhaps we should give it's leaves a world which is more stable and peaceful? just my 2 cents

[Maitre_Tea]

I think the RH should try to "mimic" the seasonal changes. Greater humidity during the spring/summer, lower humidity during fall/winter. Remember Cloud's Intro to Puerh mentioning something like that...

[betta]

I think stable might not be good. A dynamic cycle of temperature and humidity slowly rising and falling seems to be what nature does.

Tom, it does make sense to me too. However I heard of teashops in Beijing storing it at a constant temperature as well as humidity. There should be some reasons behind it, especially since tribute teas had been sent continuously to Beijing and stored there hundreds of years ago.

I think an old tea tree living in the wild already had enough rises and falls.... Perhaps we should give it's leaves a world which is more stable and peaceful? just my 2 cents

Could be true

I think the RH should try to "mimic" the seasonal changes. Greater humidity during the spring/summer, lower humidity during fall/winter. Remember Cloud's Intro to Puerh mentioning something like that...

That's a good point. What I am afraid is the different perception of authors to the climate and seasonal changes in their region when they wrote their books. Winter in HK is for me mild but summer is very warm with high humidity. However winter in Beijing is harsh which turns to warm summer. The weather in Beijing is from my point of view closer to that of most European countries than Hongkong subtropical weather.
Thus letting the teas experience temperature changes naturally like in HK might yield different result from that done in other part of the world.