Celadon Caddy with cracks suitable for aging yancha or oolong?

[wei301]

such as this one :
http://cdn6.bigcommerce.com/s-qzq8dm5/p ... 80.jpg?c=2

I can see the cracks all over the inner wall as well.
Is it suitable for aging yancha or oolong?

[ethan]

wei, That's done on purpose. I don't think they are through the body but only in the glaze. I celadon is one version of porcelain, I have been told,; & I have 2 porcelain caddies w/ similar metal screw-lids. I am not 100% sure, but I think they let in too much air. I have not been using them lately.

[wei301]

wei, That's done on purpose. I don't think they are through the body but only in the glaze. I celadon is one version of porcelain, I have been told,; & I have 2 porcelain caddies w/ similar metal screw-lids. I am not 100% sure, but I think they let in too much air. I have not been using them lately.

Thank you ethan. Do you mean the air gets in from the metal screw-lids?

[ethan]

Yes, I think the metal lid does not go well w/ pottery. I like ceramic caddies because it seems the tea breathes in them to open up flavor, but too much air is bad, of course.

If one is using a tea almost everyday, I suppose opening its container so often lets that tea breath enough. (= tea tins are good)

[jayinhk]

That looks like a decent purpose-built tea caddy. You could try filling it with water and turning it over; if it doesn't leak much, it should be fairly airtight. I bet it will be airtight (won't leak at all) as it is from a decent China-based tea store and made specifically for storing Chinese teas. It should work fine for oolong and yancha as long as it doesn't have any funny odors.

[kuánglóng]

such as this one :
http://cdn6.bigcommerce.com/s-qzq8dm5/p ... 80.jpg?c=2

I can see the cracks all over the inner wall as well.
Is it suitable for aging yancha or oolong?

Basically yes. It all depends on your tea, atmospheric conditions (temperature, relative humidity, air pressure, ,,, ), how airtight your container is and the time you keep it in there. Since it probably isn't 100% airtight I wouldn't use it for long-term storage but that's a different story altogether. I've done a lot of experiments and blind tests over the years, starting with tobaccos decades ago. These days I deliberately age some of my teas in all sorts of different containers but most of them are 100% airtight to avoid those leaves to pick up any excessive! moisture, oxygen or other contents from the atmosphere.
Our eastern friends wouldn't need to re-roast their teas every now and then or have their oolongs turn sour or whatnot if their storage containers were 100% airtight but then depending on the mix of above factors it might take a number of years before your leaves go really downhill.

[jayinhk]

http://www.dragonteahouse.biz/air-tight ... er-700-ml/

Very nice caddy, and I'd put money on it being airtight!

[kuánglóng]

http://www.dragonteahouse.biz/air-tight ... er-700-ml/

Very nice caddy, and I'd put money on it being airtight!

Let's say airtight enough for the intended purpose
Maybe not quite what the OP is looking for but these beauties do the job flawlessly. I have dozens of these and similar containers :
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Black-Canister- ... SwPc9WwWfU

Depending on if I primarily want to age/mature the tea or keep it as stable as possible for a while I keep the teas in larger or smaller, sealed or clipped mylar bags with more or less air in them or vacuumed and store the jars in different parts of the house.
No regrets so far.

[ethan]

jay, thanks for the tip on testing caddies w/ water. I don't have caddies w/ cracks but certainly have concern for how tight the lids are. I will watching to see whether water escapes & how quickly. I am also going to fill some tins w/ water & then hold them upside down to see how tight the tins are.

et.al., Used mason jars etc. are often on sale at thrift stores & yard sales, usually w/ dried out rubber gaskets. If you are lucky enough to get a lot of the same size, you can purchase replacement gaskets by the dozen inexpensively. I use screw-top mason jars to store beans & grains. They work quite well.

[jayinhk]

jay, thanks for the tip on testing caddies w/ water. I don't have caddies w/ cracks but certainly have concern for how tight the lids are. I will watching to see whether water escapes & how quickly. I am also going to fill some tins w/ water & then hold them upside down to see how tight the tins are.

et.al., Used mason jars etc. are often on sale at thrift stores & yard sales, usually w/ dried out rubber gaskets. If you are lucky enough to get a lot of the same size, you can purchase replacement gaskets by the dozen inexpensively. I use screw-top mason jars to store beans & grains. They work quite well.

Ethan, the crackle is just a glaze over the porcelain and won't affect permeability at all. porcelain is still porcelain. The water test will indeed work for your caddies. Mason jars work well, too, but don't come in sizes as large as the Italian jars (not in Hong Kong, they don't). Also the fliptop jars are less to fidget with as the top pops right off and snaps right back in place--no screwing two-part lids back on, and the lids are glass too (blue glass, with my jars).