brewing sencha

[Xell]

is it still advisable to buy 2010 teas this time?

i have the assumption that japanese green teas (senchas and gyokuros) are best fresh. so is it safe to say that its not advisable to buy 2010 teas already as these are not as fresh as they are expected to be?

thanks in advanced!

Not at all, they are still fine and new season sencha won't be available until early may anyway. I was told by tea shop man that most japanese green teas easy can be stored for close to 2 years without any noticeable drop in quality if you don't open package of course. Change in taste will be mostly due to difference in growing conditions, each year has something different. I'm quite new to green teas, so can't tell from my personal experience yet.

[Stentor]

Yeah, don't worry about it, 2010 teas are still perfectly fresh.
I just opened a bag of sencha 3 days ago and was greeted by a very fresh, fragrant aroma that can hardly have been more intense 9 months ago.
The Japanese have such meticulous methods of storing and packaging their tea that 1 year is no problem at all. Just make sure to buy from a good vendor.

[Chip]

It is fine to buy sencha from a reputable seller of Japanese greens, especially if they sell in the foil pouch and the teas are nitro flushed.

I would just not over buy at this time of year.

[odarwin]

thanks for the replies guys!

[Oni]

I think more vendors should sell their old tea before the new harvest for a lower price, like Maiko does, it is a great way to get rid of old stock before new arrives, and I would like to buy great japanese tea for half the price.

[Chip]

I think more vendors should sell their old tea before the new harvest for a lower price, like Maiko does, it is a great way to get rid of old stock before new arrives, and I would like to buy great japanese tea for half the price.

This works for vendors who stock large amounts of tea or have large commitments to buy.

Many online vendors order in smaller quantities in order to assure max freshness ... keeping tea as aracha in bales that are nitro flushed is better then packaging excessive amounts of tea and having it sit.

[IPT]

I think more vendors should sell their old tea before the new harvest for a lower price, like Maiko does, it is a great way to get rid of old stock before new arrives, and I would like to buy great japanese tea for half the price.

This works for vendors who stock large amounts of tea or have large commitments to buy.

Many online vendors order in smaller quantities in order to assure max freshness ... keeping tea as aracha in bales that are nitro flushed is better then packaging excessive amounts of tea and having it sit.

Another problem is that if you are selling tea that is fading, people might think that your tea is not very good.

[Oni]

Hibiki makes hojicha of their old stock, and Maiko and horaido, buy tea in Aracha form from japanese markets, and they keep it in cold storage, they often make their own blends, and package it for sale, so does Ippodo, Marukyu-Koyamaen, and all the Japanese tea sellers, this is what makes their tea good, but what happens with the old tea, some, the highest grade gets to be sold next year as kuradashi cha, low grade gets sold for the industry that makes bottled teas, but what happens with the middle - high grade teas, those could be sold at a lower price, it is still good by the end of the year, it is a pity to waste them once the new crop is bought up by the merchant.

[odarwin]

can anyone elaborate more on the nitro flush thing?

can this be used at home? and is it expensive? its a wild idea and it might be good for people who are really very meticulous about their tea

[Oni]

It really should be done by the company who sells the tea, and I know that it is possible to do it at home, but to be worth the investment, you should buy the tea as fresh as possible and flush it with Nitro at home.

[David R.]

Vacuum sealing may be cheaper. Some of these machines are made for a domestic use.

[Oni]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vacuum-Packaging-Ma ... 118wt_1139

[Chip]

Wine and liquor shops sell cans for nitro flushing open bottles of wine ... not really very easy to adapt to tea, but I guess you could nitro flush tea you already opened but want to store for a period of time instead of using immediately.

[brlarson]

I use vacuum sealing for teas that won't be opened right away.

Ippodo and a few other tea companies place oxygen absorbers in their cans of loose tea and they work very nicely at extending their freshness. Here is a URL for oxygen absorbers that I bookmarked that was mentioned somewhere here on TeaChat: http://www.sorbentsystems.com/order_O2.html. Again, I haven't tried them yet but I probably will for the 2011 harvest.

[Chip]

I use vacuum sealing for teas that won't be opened right away.

Ippodo and a few other tea companies place oxygen absorbers in their cans of loose tea and they work very nicely at extending their freshness. Here is a URL for oxygen absorbers that I bookmarked that was mentioned somewhere here on TeaChat: http://www.sorbentsystems.com/order_O2.html. Again, I haven't tried them yet but I probably will for the 2011 harvest.

As tempted as I was to try these O2 absorbers on numerous occasions in the past, I always hesitated since once the big bag of packets is open, then you have to keep them fresh too. I have not looked lately, but you used to have to buy in really large quantities from them.