what do you store your loose tea in ?

[shogun89]

I use these tins from Rishi. My local Wegman's has them in the tea aisle. I use them to store my Janam teas since they come in foil bags that aren't really airtight. I use the same squarish tin that someone showed earlier in the thread to store my tea samples.

My Wegmans has those too! Haven t got any yet but I will soon. How are they?

[Michael_C]

Yup. I stored some fresh cut mint leaves in a single lid container in the frige, and after a few weeks there was no mintyness left, just a sweet aftertaste.

I actually get more into tea canisters than I do pots and cups, so I make everything match. Either colors or silver, and the odd containers I get from my travels to Japan. they must be double lidded, and made specifically for tea.

[Chip]

Another thing can be the tin's seams. The bottom &/or side. Many Japanese tins have NO seam ... AND double lids. Geez, I love my Japanese tins more and more each day.

I use a lot of the Upton Sample tins that have no seams and when pulling the lid off, the vacuum appears to be present, but they are single toppers. I use these for small amounts of tea that I will use quickly and keep the rest in reserve in a very airtight container/foil lined bag. But I am very curious how these tins would fair in the "pretzel test."

The polymer bead tins with the screw lids seem like a good idea, but I just wonder about the seams. But if you cannot smell EG through them, they must be ok.

I am way toooo anal/OCD about freshness and tea storage.

[Salsero]

after a few weeks there was no mintyness left, just a sweet aftertaste.

Have you had better experience with something else?

[heavydoom]

it this has not been said before, i will say it now.

ikea has some air tight jars and stuff that are just as good. take the kids and the wife and have fun while you're at it.

[Michael_C]

Yes - double lidded, made-for-tea containers. I had to use a big generic container since I bought the mint at a bulk herbs store, and the minimum order was one pound.

I will try the pretzel test on one of my japanese containers and get bask with the results.

As a side note, nerd that I am, I examined Yuki's mother's sencha canister, and was surprised that it was single lidded, and didn't seem airtight at all. Then again, they drink their sencha all day long and with every meal, so it doesn't last long enough to get stale.

[Smells_Familiar]

I believe the best tea storage option for teas other than puerh's, and besides glazed clay jars sealed with wax (freakin expensive!! sheesh!), is glass canning jars that have been vaccum sealed. Tape a little brown paper bag around the jar and slap a lable on it. Cheap and foolproof! I've said it before, and I'm stickin to it! Pics in a bit...

[soapy]

I have my tins from adagio, enjoying teas, and the purple ones SBS tea. Some teas in bags and zip lock then stored in a blue rubbermaid tote thing in the cabinet.. the ones in zip lock bags are in a counter top ceramic canister

[t4texas]

Has anyone used one of these small containers from enjoyingtea.com? The price is right, but does it seal air tight?

[Cinnamon Kitty]

Has anyone used one of these small containers from enjoyingtea.com? The price is right, but does it seal air tight?

I got a set of six of them for my loose herb collection. They only have a single lid, but it seems to have a decent fit to the container especially since it seals on the inside of the tin, similar to a cork in a wine bottle. The lid makes a nice popping sound when I pull it off, so it seems like it is pretty air tight. There is a seam down the side and along the bottom which might make it less than completely air tight, but on the same token, they are sealed enough that I can't smell my herbs outside of the containers. Size wise, as a warning, they are only slightly bigger than the Adagio sample tins.

Enjoying Tea also has some larger, double lidded tinsfor 50 cents more, but those also have side and bottom seams and are decorated with the Enjoying Tea logo.

[t4texas]

Thanks, CK. They may be okay if you can't smell herbs through them. I am looking for something small to hold tea samples that don't come in a good airtight, opaque, zip lock bag. So if it will hold about an ounce that should work, since they only need to protect a sample for a month at most.

[Cinnamon Kitty]

Thanks, CK. They may be okay if you can't smell herbs through them. I am looking for something small to hold tea samples that don't come in a good airtight, opaque, zip lock bag. So if it will hold about an ounce that should work, since they only need to protect a sample for a month at most.

They should work fine for that. I've had herbs in mine since mid August with no issues. I can't even smell the more pungent herbs, like lavender or peppermint, through the containers and all of them still taste pretty good.

[edkrueger]

Most of my tea resides in bags of some sort.

[t4texas]

Most of my tea resides in bags of some sort.

Of what sort?

[ABx]

A lot of the resealable bags are great. The only problem I have with them is that it can sometimes be easy to not seal them completely and not notice; there's little doubt with a lid. What I *like* to do, when I can, is to use a bag inside a tin. In addition to keeping it sealed it also makes it so the tin doesn't absorb any aroma. If I don't have any kind of bag to put in the tin then I've occassionally taken to using a ziplock, just for the sake of the tin.