A personal discovery about the meaning of storage...

[shah82]

Last week, I received a bunch of tea...

Among them were two teas I already owned, the 2002 Tai Lian and the 2009 Dayi Ziyun.

Both had spent time in Kunming, South China, and Beijing for the last three or so years.

In a sense, I was expecting at least something different, and perhaps better tea, since at least the Tai Lian saw much humidity than my tea, if the staining of the neifei is anything to go by.

Also, aside from a couple of XZH samples, this was the first time I ever got to try a different storage of any of my teas.

What surprised me, though was just how much better my storage was, since I was a casual home storage with no pumidor and no professionalism. What surprised me even more was that there was a material difference in how much qi there was. I've never thought qi to be that responsive to how well it was stored.

The Tai Lian did have its superior points. In the two tries I've had so far, it had a stronger taste and aroma. While this was smokier than my tea, the taste did have a broader sweet profile of puerh almond and honey. Some Mengku style plumminess. What it wasn't, however, was fun to drink. It didn't have much in the way of aftertaste or feeling in the throat, and the qi was somewhat muted. I just examined four grams of the tea I've kept for five years, and while the aroma/taste was thinner, the smoky quality leaves the aroma and taste much quicker, and these lighter tastes had some pleasant conifer, fruit, and honey in it. Much less bitter/astringent despite being stored drier. It also was an aggressive mouth-coater, and sinks into the throat, oftentimes provoking a rising floral huigan out of it. I felt very relaxed during one phase of the session, and even when the qi was lifting, the late session was all sugar-fruity a number of cups. I really like this tea because in the end, it's very much a poor man's expensive Mengku/Bangdong. All of that wasn't present in the China stored Tai Lian, and it was more pedestrian. Some qualifiers. My tea was serialed in the 16000 range, while this tea was in the 45000 range. Maybe Tai Lian ran out of the good stuff they were supposed to spike with. This tea is also fairly variable, so I may well find that the Chinese version can indeed be all Bingdaoish in some future session.

The Ziyun is much more of a straight up inferior tea. My tea had a very dark and deep chocolate taste in the earliest going and gets more shallow and sweet root herb-like in flavor as the session goes on. All the while, maintaining complexity like a paperish wood note, fruit notes, and some cream notes. Ziyun is not a hugely durable shu. The China stored one doesn't have as deep a taste, has less/less complex aroma, qi, thickness of soup. There is definitely a faded quality sense. It would be harder to see how it would be clearly superior to other good Menghai shu.

My tea still does seem to be a touch harder on the throat in both cases though, but I'm still not sure whether that's the defect of too dry tea storage or me. On the other hand, it does seem like Atlanta natural storage is pretty good dry storage.

This does makes me more sure that storage is enough to make a tea be of relatively different grades. I already knew this, but there's nothing like first-hand knowledge.

[AT333]

Thanks for sharing shah82. I always enjoy reading your write up. Just curious if the tea leaves is the same eg structure and size of the tea leaves. I have seen a lot of same package/ same year tea with totally different tea leaves. Thank you Sir

[shah82]

Ziyun is the same.

Tai Lian, the home-stored sample I used is from the center of the bing, while the one from China is stuff that was loose in the bag and probably from the rims. In previous experience, this does tend to offer different experiences. However, if it had gone to norms, the stuff from the rims should be *more* interesting than the center of the cake, which tends to have a more solid and dull taste (extra coherent blend).

[nada]

I haven't tried either of these teas, but I'm wondering if the travel could also be to blame for the differences you're finding. I often taste samples of teas that have just arrived and am disappointed, only to have them bounce back again after a few weeks.

The difference can often be huge, enough for me to completely write off teas that I know and love. It can be quite a nervous time, especially when they're teas that I've put a lot of time and energy into finding and can be sometimes quite financially invested in!

[mr mopu]

I think the acclimation will alter the taste. I almost never try a tea just in from shipping as they are quite flat most of the time. After some time to re-hydrate I find the tea much better.

[Tead Off]

I haven't tried either of these teas, but I'm wondering if the travel could also be to blame for the differences you're finding. I often taste samples of teas that have just arrived and am disappointed, only to have them bounce back again after a few weeks.

The difference can often be huge, enough for me to completely write off teas that I know and love. It can be quite a nervous time, especially when they're teas that I've put a lot of time and energy into finding and can be sometimes quite financially invested in!

+1!!

[Psyck]

Everyone has a different opinion on storage. In this article by Hojo Tea (see section - Correct Technique for Aging pu-erh), they recommend vacuum sealing them.

http://hojotea.com/en/posts-38/

Maybe in a few millennia they will figure out what is best, but for now we should be happy if the teas at least get better & not worse with our storage methods.

[theredbaron]

Everyone has a different opinion on storage. In this article by Hojo Tea (see section - Correct Technique for Aging pu-erh), they recommend vacuum sealing them.

http://hojotea.com/en/posts-38/

Maybe in a few millennia they will figure out what is best, but for now we should be happy if the teas at least get better & not worse with our storage methods.

I have to say that i do disagree with Hojo there. He cites the example of Yunnan stored Pu Erh as the ideal storage climate. I find that Yunnan stored Pu Erh is transforming too slow, and not very nicely. Open home storage in a hotter and humid climate does not mean that tea will turn into the moldy/earthy taste.
I have stored my tea in hot and humid Bangkok (less so than in Malaysia or Singapore, we have some seasonal change), and only teas that i forgot in a stuffy cabinet turned bad, while my open stored teas aged much faster than Yunnan stored teas, have no moldy taste whatsoever, and are after 15 years or so quite mature.

[BW85]

Everyone has a different opinion on storage. In this article by Hojo Tea (see section - Correct Technique for Aging pu-erh), they recommend vacuum sealing them.

http://hojotea.com/en/posts-38/

Maybe in a few millennia they will figure out what is best, but for now we should be happy if the teas at least get better & not worse with our storage methods.

Maybe there will never be a "best" storage method, just personal preference

I imagine that Hojo, with his vacuum sealing, is going for very different results based on what he wants out of a puerh, where other people want their tea to get darker and matured in the more traditional fashion

[William]

Maybe there will never be a "best" storage method, just personal preference

I imagine that Hojo, with his vacuum sealing, is going for very different results based on what he wants out of a puerh, where other people want their tea to get darker and matured in the more traditional fashion

TOTALLY AGREE!

[Cwyn]

Mr. Mopar is in Virginia, and although he has a pumidor set up similar to many other people, his tea storage tastes so fine. TwoDog has a theory that there is more to good storage than just temp and humidity, that things like pollen and other things in the air play a role.

Nice read. Sigh. (Obligatory whining blogfaq request. As usual.)

[Tead Off]

Everyone has a different opinion on storage. In this article by Hojo Tea (see section - Correct Technique for Aging pu-erh), they recommend vacuum sealing them.

http://hojotea.com/en/posts-38/

Maybe in a few millennia they will figure out what is best, but for now we should be happy if the teas at least get better & not worse with our storage methods.

I have to say that i do disagree with Hojo there. He cites the example of Yunnan stored Pu Erh as the ideal storage climate. I find that Yunnan stored Pu Erh is transforming too slow, and not very nicely. Open home storage in a hotter and humid climate does not mean that tea will turn into the moldy/earthy taste.
I have stored my tea in hot and humid Bangkok (less so than in Malaysia or Singapore, we have some seasonal change), and only teas that i forgot in a stuffy cabinet turned bad, while my open stored teas aged much faster than Yunnan stored teas, have no moldy taste whatsoever, and are after 15 years or so quite mature.

Yunnan is a big place. There are many micro-climates there. I didn't read Hojo's article on Yunnan being the ideal storage climate, but it sounds like you are talking about Kunming where most people describe it as 'dry' and not subject to higher humidity and heat. If Hojo feels that Kunming is the ideal climate, I would also disagree.

[shah82]

Cwyn, I very much wonder if latitude is a background meta-factor behind how well puerh stores.

[Cwyn]

The only problem with factors in puerh aging is that for every good cake in a region we find bad cakes too. This makes it difficult to ever completely confirm or eliminate variables. The only thing I know is that one can only study one's own situation, as you are doing, and pay attention to the cakes. If we don't pay attention, good cakes are a fortunate unknown or an unfortunate failure.

I feel fairly certain that temp and humidity are the biggest factors. It is the subtle flavors or having any complexity that seem to be up for grabs. One good thing is that with so many people reporting in now on what is working, we are past the general notion that western puerh aging is a failure. If you have decent base material then it can be done.

[Jaymo]

Cwyn, I envy your porch that you've mentioned in your storage articles! We're in SE Wisconsin and I've got no good place outside the house to work with during our warm/humid summer months. It's definitely made me start paying more attention to details like airflow within the house though.