Aging tea in NYC

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May 17th, '14, 14:58
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Re: Aging tea in NYC

by Exempt » May 17th, '14, 14:58

AllanK wrote:
Exempt wrote:65% is on the low end of the spectrum, also I'm assuming that was the humidity outside but if you ran ac or heat than it was probably much lower. You also have to take temperature into account, what was the average temp?
No, that was the humidity where my tea is. I have not yet turned on the AC, which only reaches 1/2 my puerh anyway.
That's good, what was the temperature? If the temperature is above 70 degrees Fahrenheit then I would say, while on the very bottom end of the spectrum, that you don't need to artificially boost temp or add humidification. If the temperature is below 70 Fahrenheit than I would consider adding either a cigar humidifier (the cadillac of cigar humidifiers can be purchased here http://www.aristocrathumidors.com/electronic.htm) or some kind of passive humidification such as the medusa method that I posted a link to in the agin thread.

May 17th, '14, 18:20
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Re: Aging tea in NYC

by AllanK » May 17th, '14, 18:20

Exempt wrote:
AllanK wrote:
Exempt wrote:65% is on the low end of the spectrum, also I'm assuming that was the humidity outside but if you ran ac or heat than it was probably much lower. You also have to take temperature into account, what was the average temp?
No, that was the humidity where my tea is. I have not yet turned on the AC, which only reaches 1/2 my puerh anyway.
That's good, what was the temperature? If the temperature is above 70 degrees Fahrenheit then I would say, while on the very bottom end of the spectrum, that you don't need to artificially boost temp or add humidification. If the temperature is below 70 Fahrenheit than I would consider adding either a cigar humidifier (the cadillac of cigar humidifiers can be purchased here http://www.aristocrathumidors.com/electronic.htm) or some kind of passive humidification such as the medusa method that I posted a link to in the agin thread.
The current temp is about 77. The temperature stays fairly warm for 1/2 my puerh collection because it is in a room with no AC. The other half gets some AC in the summer but I try to minimize it and stick to fans as much as possible both because of the Puerh collection and AC is expensive to run all the time. It gets a little colder in winter but I try to keep the team up then anyway. I would say the average humidity is even higher once you hit July and August. It is then that the other half of my collection takes something of a hit from the AC. I make a habit of not running the AC if I am not home.

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May 18th, '14, 00:33
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Re: Aging tea in NYC

by BioHorn » May 18th, '14, 00:33

AllanK wrote:
Exempt wrote:65% is on the low end of the spectrum, also I'm assuming that was the humidity outside but if you ran ac or heat than it was probably much lower. You also have to take temperature into account, what was the average temp?
No, that was the humidity where my tea is. I have not yet turned on the AC, which only reaches 1/2 my puerh anyway.
My tea smells really good when the humidity get 72-74% with about a 60-65 degree temperature. It is to the point where a couple of degree change RH can make a big change in aroma. Northeast Ohio gets pretty cold, so temps are lower than ideal.

May 28th, '14, 11:13
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Re: Aging tea in NYC

by AllanK » May 28th, '14, 11:13

I have another sign that you can age tea in the NYC region. A tea I bought on Amazon about 9 months age, a 1996 Keyixing Brick was so overpowering in its taste of camphor to be undrinkable. I tried it again after 8 months of storage, it was much tastier. So much so that I will go for a second steeping later. The overpowering camphor taste had turned into something more subtle. It still has a camphor aftertaste but is no longer overpowering. Before all I could taste was camphor.

May 28th, '14, 11:41
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Re: Aging tea in NYC

by shah82 » May 28th, '14, 11:41

That's not aging.

You woke the tea before drinking again.

May 28th, '14, 12:44
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Re: Aging tea in NYC

by Exempt » May 28th, '14, 12:44

shah82 wrote:That's not aging.

You woke the tea before drinking again.
Shah is correct
You will not be able to accurately judge how well tea ages in your environment in NY until you have various different cakes/bricks/tuos that have aged from relative youth in your storage for around 5 to 10 years. After this amount of time you can compare your 5-10 year old tea with kunming or HK stored 5-10 year old tea and see how it compares.

May 28th, '14, 12:46
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Re: Aging tea in NYC

by Exempt » May 28th, '14, 12:46

I have teas that I purchased before they were 1-2 years old that have all now aged for around 2-2.5 years, and while they have changed I can certainly not compare them to kunming or HK storage as the change is so minimal and not nearly complete. Just a personal anecdote of storage at 75% rh 70 F

May 28th, '14, 12:54
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Re: Aging tea in NYC

by AllanK » May 28th, '14, 12:54

Exempt wrote:
shah82 wrote:That's not aging.

You woke the tea before drinking again.
Shah is correct
You will not be able to accurately judge how well tea ages in your environment in NY until you have various different cakes/bricks/tuos that have aged from relative youth in your storage for around 5 to 10 years. After this amount of time you can compare your 5-10 year old tea with kunming or HK stored 5-10 year old tea and see how it compares.
I was not implying that long term aging was taking place, not yet. The tea had improved. I could have gotten worse. I was answering the original proposition of the posting, can teas improve in the environment around the New York City region. Mine have. Aside from one cake that was purchased 6 or 7 years ago, none of my cakes were purchased more than 1 and 1/2 years ago. Some of them have begun to show signs of improvement. If this thread is reactivated in 5 years we shall know if teas can age in NYC.

May 28th, '14, 15:54
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Re: Aging tea in NYC

by bonescwa » May 28th, '14, 15:54

BioHorn wrote:
AllanK wrote:
Exempt wrote:65% is on the low end of the spectrum, also I'm assuming that was the humidity outside but if you ran ac or heat than it was probably much lower. You also have to take temperature into account, what was the average temp?
No, that was the humidity where my tea is. I have not yet turned on the AC, which only reaches 1/2 my puerh anyway.
My tea smells really good when the humidity get 72-74% with about a 60-65 degree temperature. It is to the point where a couple of degree change RH can make a big change in aroma. Northeast Ohio gets pretty cold, so temps are lower than ideal.
Hi Biohorn, you mentioned the bonaveda packs for the humidity, what kind of storage container do you use?

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May 29th, '14, 00:10
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Re: Aging tea in NYC

by BioHorn » May 29th, '14, 00:10

bonescwa wrote:
BioHorn wrote:
AllanK wrote:
Exempt wrote:65% is on the low end of the spectrum, also I'm assuming that was the humidity outside but if you ran ac or heat than it was probably much lower. You also have to take temperature into account, what was the average temp?
No, that was the humidity where my tea is. I have not yet turned on the AC, which only reaches 1/2 my puerh anyway.
My tea smells really good when the humidity get 72-74% with about a 60-65 degree temperature. It is to the point where a couple of degree change RH can make a big change in aroma. Northeast Ohio gets pretty cold, so temps are lower than ideal.
Hi Biohorn, you mentioned the bonaveda packs for the humidity, what kind of storage container do you use?
It is a plastic bin. 90 quart Sterilite (1865) bursting at the seams. And now 10 bings overflowing!

May 29th, '14, 01:06
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Aging tea in NYC

by Exempt » May 29th, '14, 01:06

BioHorn wrote:
bonescwa wrote:
BioHorn wrote:
AllanK wrote:
Exempt wrote:65% is on the low end of the spectrum, also I'm assuming that was the humidity outside but if you ran ac or heat than it was probably much lower. You also have to take temperature into account, what was the average temp?
No, that was the humidity where my tea is. I have not yet turned on the AC, which only reaches 1/2 my puerh anyway.
My tea smells really good when the humidity get 72-74% with about a 60-65 degree temperature. It is to the point where a couple of degree change RH can make a big change in aroma. Northeast Ohio gets pretty cold, so temps are lower than ideal.
Hi Biohorn, you mentioned the bonaveda packs for the humidity, what kind of storage container do you use?
It is a plastic bin. 90 quart Sterilite (1865) bursting at the seams. And now 10 bings overflowing!
Did you do anything to the bin before adding the tea to remove the plastic smell?

May 29th, '14, 06:26
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Re: Aging tea in NYC

by bonescwa » May 29th, '14, 06:26

BioHorn wrote:
bonescwa wrote:
BioHorn wrote:
AllanK wrote:
Exempt wrote:65% is on the low end of the spectrum, also I'm assuming that was the humidity outside but if you ran ac or heat than it was probably much lower. You also have to take temperature into account, what was the average temp?
No, that was the humidity where my tea is. I have not yet turned on the AC, which only reaches 1/2 my puerh anyway.
My tea smells really good when the humidity get 72-74% with about a 60-65 degree temperature. It is to the point where a couple of degree change RH can make a big change in aroma. Northeast Ohio gets pretty cold, so temps are lower than ideal.
Hi Biohorn, you mentioned the bonaveda packs for the humidity, what kind of storage container do you use?
It is a plastic bin. 90 quart Sterilite (1865) bursting at the seams. And now 10 bings overflowing!
Do you keep the lid snapped shut, poke holes in it? About how many of the boveda packs do you use at a time and how long do they last? Did you ever think about those generic water crystal products, they seem cheaper and are supposed to do the same thing, except you have to add water to them every couple of days, and it's not as controlled, etc. Thanks

May 29th, '14, 14:49
Posts: 402
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Aging tea in NYC

by Exempt » May 29th, '14, 14:49

bonescwa wrote:
BioHorn wrote:
bonescwa wrote:
BioHorn wrote:
AllanK wrote:
Exempt wrote:65% is on the low end of the spectrum, also I'm assuming that was the humidity outside but if you ran ac or heat than it was probably much lower. You also have to take temperature into account, what was the average temp?
No, that was the humidity where my tea is. I have not yet turned on the AC, which only reaches 1/2 my puerh anyway.
My tea smells really good when the humidity get 72-74% with about a 60-65 degree temperature. It is to the point where a couple of degree change RH can make a big change in aroma. Northeast Ohio gets pretty cold, so temps are lower than ideal.
Hi Biohorn, you mentioned the bonaveda packs for the humidity, what kind of storage container do you use?
It is a plastic bin. 90 quart Sterilite (1865) bursting at the seams. And now 10 bings overflowing!
Do you keep the lid snapped shut, poke holes in it? About how many of the boveda packs do you use at a time and how long do they last? Did you ever think about those generic water crystal products, they seem cheaper and are supposed to do the same thing, except you have to add water to them every couple of days, and it's not as controlled, etc. Thanks
There's a topic that I made a while ago about the water crystals. I had a problem where they would absorb the ammonia smell from the aging and decomp process which made the whole pumidor smell chemically and affected the taste of the tea. It made me decide to switch from passive to an active humidification system.

Also boveda packets and the other water crystals are the same thing the boveda packets are just a branded, much more expensive version

May 29th, '14, 20:29
Posts: 452
Joined: Feb 3rd, '14, 12:24

Re: Aging tea in NYC

by bonescwa » May 29th, '14, 20:29

Exempt wrote:
bonescwa wrote:
BioHorn wrote:
bonescwa wrote:
BioHorn wrote:
AllanK wrote:
Exempt wrote:65% is on the low end of the spectrum, also I'm assuming that was the humidity outside but if you ran ac or heat than it was probably much lower. You also have to take temperature into account, what was the average temp?
No, that was the humidity where my tea is. I have not yet turned on the AC, which only reaches 1/2 my puerh anyway.
My tea smells really good when the humidity get 72-74% with about a 60-65 degree temperature. It is to the point where a couple of degree change RH can make a big change in aroma. Northeast Ohio gets pretty cold, so temps are lower than ideal.
Hi Biohorn, you mentioned the bonaveda packs for the humidity, what kind of storage container do you use?
It is a plastic bin. 90 quart Sterilite (1865) bursting at the seams. And now 10 bings overflowing!
Do you keep the lid snapped shut, poke holes in it? About how many of the boveda packs do you use at a time and how long do they last? Did you ever think about those generic water crystal products, they seem cheaper and are supposed to do the same thing, except you have to add water to them every couple of days, and it's not as controlled, etc. Thanks
There's a topic that I made a while ago about the water crystals. I had a problem where they would absorb the ammonia smell from the aging and decomp process which made the whole pumidor smell chemically and affected the taste of the tea. It made me decide to switch from passive to an active humidification system.

Also boveda packets and the other water crystals are the same thing the boveda packets are just a branded, much more expensive version
Does it happen so quickly that you can't change out the crystals? I mean every few months or so? They're pretty cheap if you buy the Miracle Grow ones.

May 29th, '14, 20:32
Posts: 402
Joined: Dec 9th, '12, 14:02
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Aging tea in NYC

by Exempt » May 29th, '14, 20:32

I suppose if you change them every month or so it may be fine, but I just didn't want to take the risk.

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