Yixing Pu'er tea cake container

[Mare of Earth]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Chinese-Yixing-Zish ... dZViewItem

Would one of these be a good container for pu'er, or would it be overkill?

Anyone have experience with this seller?

*is drawn in by smooth lines and cute factor*

[bryan_drinks_tea]

while I agree it does have something along the lines of 'cute factor' I'm gonna have to say that pu-erh needs some air flow to age, and putting the bing in there might halt the aging. On the other hand, you could buy one of those bing containers and get two of the same bing. put one in the container, and the other just left in it's wrapper. wait a few years, and see what changes you get in each one. I'm personally skeptical of the container, but I will definitely defend (and support) your right to experiment with the aging of tea.

Good Luck!

-Bryan

[TomVerlain]

It would probably be nice to keep a tea cake you are actively drinking from, rather than long term storage.

[Tead Off]

It would probably be nice to keep a tea cake you are actively drinking from, rather than long term storage.

Wouldn't it be better to break up a tea cake you are actively drinking from and keep it in a different type of container? This has been the recommended way that many tea people have mentioned to me.

[tortoise]

I'm no puerh or clay expert, but doesn't the clay provide for a certain amount of air circulation, being porous?

[Tead Off]

Clay containers are usually not airtight. Maybe certain clays have a porosity that would let air in through the body but I think that is not significant. It would be more through the lid that air could and does get into the jar. But, I'm not sure that is a bad thing. Maybe it would depend on how much air, the type of tea, and, how long you were keeping a tea before drinking.

[Mare of Earth]

Taking the rope out of the lid would increase airflow, but since I don't actually own any pu'er tea worth having such a container for yet, I'll hold off for now.
Has good cute factor though!