Metal canisters or clay jars

[alix]

unglazed: the tea breathes and it's good but there are risk of tea rotten
glazed: control of wet

[wyardley]

But for you: better clay jar glazed or unglazed?

I think it depends what you're using the jar for. For some teas, you might want some air exchange; for others, you don't.

[alix]

Pu-erh sheng 1995 and wild spring bud 2014 (hojotea)

[theroots]

I prefer metal canisters. Since I bought my first Kaikado Chazutsu I never looked for something else.. they are just perfect.

[demonyc]

I prefer metal canisters. Since I bought my first Kaikado Chazutsu I never looked for something else.. they are just perfect.

Those look awesome!

[theroots]

Thank you! They're really great. I love to see the time changing them over the years. The one on the right side (first picture) is over 60 years old, the one just next to it just about 10 months.

[TomVerlain]

ginger jars are glazed inside and out , loose tea. fake yixing (red / brown clay) have some outside glazing, no inside glazing, ahou and broken up sheng

[futurebird]

I prefer metal canisters. Since I bought my first Kaikado Chazutsu I never looked for something else.. they are just perfect.

Those are lovely. I may just invest in a few. What makes a good starter set?

[theroots]

If you'd like to store tea it depends on what kind of tea you prefer:

- the 100 or 120g version is good for 100g Sencha/Gyokuro
- the 200g version is perfect for about 100g Oolong
- the 40g version just makes sense if you'd like to store smaller amounts of japanese greetea
- the 400g version seems too big to me

So I guess 100/120g and/or 200g is a good size to start with. If you don't want to wait for too long to see a patina copper or brass is a good choice. They are completely handmade and (almost always) made to order which can take up to 3-6 months.

By the way: If you go for the 200 (or 400g) version there is the option to have these with an inner floating lid which is preventing from having too much air inside the canister. They uploaded a video a while ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1SlHPOzyhs

Since you're in New York you might want to check them out E.R. Butler & Co. (located in SoHo). They offered a really cool(!) special edition when I visited NYC last summer. Since the prices were insane I guess they still didn't sell them yet so they still are available to take a look at. http://www.erbutler.com/events/2014/kaikado