Aging Non-Pu Erh Tea

[ZeroC]

Can anyone point me to info on aging non-pu erh tea? I have a 2011 Bai Mu Dan tea cake and I'm not sure how I'm supposed to store it. Do I store it like Pu-Erh at 70% RH or some other way?

Also, I do like a lot of fresh teas and tend to buy more than I can consume during the time one might consider them "fresh" still. Are there some teas that will age and some that you shouldn't bother with? I have some silver needles that is 6 years old now and I tasted it just for kicks and it actually had taken on a pu-erh like flavor. I have what is now one year old Dragon Well and just received a shipment from this spring's picking so I'm wondering if I should toss last year's or leave it in the canning jar it's in and let it sit for a few years.

Thanks,
Eric

[jayinhk]

Can anyone point me to info on aging non-pu erh tea? I have a 2011 Bai Mu Dan tea cake and I'm not sure how I'm supposed to store it. Do I store it like Pu-Erh at 70% RH or some other way?

Also, I do like a lot of fresh teas and tend to buy more than I can consume during the time one might consider them "fresh" still. Are there some teas that will age and some that you shouldn't bother with? I have some silver needles that is 6 years old now and I tasted it just for kicks and it actually had taken on a pu-erh like flavor. I have what is now one year old Dragon Well and just received a shipment from this spring's picking so I'm wondering if I should toss last year's or leave it in the canning jar it's in and let it sit for a few years.

Thanks,
Eric

People do age whites and oolongs, but greens and fresh green gaoshan? Nope. They just go crappy. I age baimudan in an airtight glass jar.

[debunix]

People do age whites and oolongs, but greens and fresh green gaoshan? Nope. They just go crappy. I age baimudan in an airtight glass jar.

The only green I've found to keep really well is An Ji Bai Cha, which is actually labelled as a white tea by my local brick & mortar shop. It's still better fresh, but finding a last bit in the back of the tea box is never a sad thing.

[.m.]

I've read a few accounts on "aged" green tea, and in particular about long jing (dragon well), but i dont remember where to give you references. The general message was the while the tea doesn't improve through long-term aging, in some cases it can stay good much longer than one would expect (that is, if the quality of the leaf is good and the processing of the tea and storage condition are right).

But as Jay said above, the general scenario is that they'll go crappy, sooner or later.

[ZeroC]

Guess I'll do some experimentation. I'll take the Bai Mu Dan and store some with pu erh, some in an air tight jar after being held a pu erh humidity for awhile and then some in an air tight jar dried out and see what happens. I'll keep last year's Longjing in an air tight and revisit in a few years to see how it goes. What's the worse that can happen? I toss out old tea that would get tossed anyways?

[jayinhk]

Guess I'll do some experimentation. I'll take the Bai Mu Dan and store some with pu erh, some in an air tight jar after being held a pu erh humidity for awhile and then some in an air tight jar dried out and see what happens. I'll keep last year's Longjing in an air tight and revisit in a few years to see how it goes. What's the worse that can happen? I toss out old tea that would get tossed anyways?

I'd store the baimudan dry. Storing it like pu erh doesn't sound appropriate to me, but I could be wrong. Same deal with oolong cakes.

[Drax]

I've unintentionally aged green teas....

Usually they are "ok" -- not as good as fresh, but I can't say that they've gained anything extra, unlike an aged puerh. Then again, the most I've 'aged' a green tea is 2 or 3 years.

I have also noticed the tendency of ... bumps ... to develop on some older green tea leaves. Usually tan or beige mounds that appear on the leaves. Not sure what they are.

[jayinhk]

I had a bag of Musashi sencha kicking around for three years--bag taped closed. The bag popped open a few times and was left that way for months. It tasted pretty good, but the last two or three times I brewed it, I felt a little nauseous after. I tossed the rest a few weeks ago.

Also if you've ever held onto green gaoshan or baozhong too long...it just goes bland, and is a shadow of what it was when fresh. I'll pass on aging greens. Whites, maybe. I'll stick to medium-to-high roast oolongs and heicha (including pu erh) for aging.

[.m.]

http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?p=102749

[BioHorn]

I had a bag of Musashi sencha kicking around for three years--bag taped closed. The bag popped open a few times and was left that way for months. It tasted pretty good, but the last two or three times I brewed it, I felt a little nauseous after. I tossed the rest a few weeks ago.

Also if you've ever held onto green gaoshan or baozhong too long...it just goes bland, and is a shadow of what it was when fresh. I'll pass on aging greens. Whites, maybe. I'll stick to medium-to-high roast oolongs and heicha (including pu erh) for aging.

Ditto on old sencha. Have some around for about 3-4 years. Not pleasant.

I have had good luck keeping sencha/gyokuro/matcha in the freezer. I had some +- 15 year old gyokuro from the freezer and it was fine. If you live in a high humidity area, you have to be careful with condensation while removing and replacing. That has not been an issue here. Cleveland is pretty low avg humidity.

When I remove Matcha, I usually put it from freezer to fridge to outside. So far, so good.

Some old Long Jing I have is interesting. Pics are on my InstaGram feed (TeaZap).

I have bought some white tea both loose and cakes to age. Am keeping them out of the basement for now. I do not imagine higher humidity would do them much good!