Airtight Canisters! Help!

[PuerhlyAwesome]

Dearest citizens of Teachat,

I-- I mean, we, my husband and I, we are in dire need of your assistance, for we have stumbled upon a most unfortunate dilemma!

You see, we, my husband and I, live in Norway, far from the most civilized cities, where it is cold and dark and immersed in endless mountainous terrains. These mountains, unfortunately, do not grow the tea that we require!!

We resort to ordering the freshest teas from the ancient lands of China.

Our issue is not the lack of tea, for we have been fortunate to find an abundance of them, but rather, the speed in which they grow stale.

You see, my friends, we have been wandering and skulking these many forums in search of the perfect airtight canisters that might ensure air tightness and prolong freshness in our teas. We have found that ''Upton Tea Imports'' are quite popular amongst the common folk of this forum. How sad that they have not met our demands!

We spent quite an amount on several of the black tins, not to be confused with the sample tins. They had seams on them that still allowed quite a significant amount of air to leak through.

There have been many hours and sleepless nights spent skulking through various tea websites for good wares, that also ship internationally and encourage the use of paypal. We would not ask for help if it were not the very last resort, for we have been growing desperate.

So, we need this equation solved:

International Shipping + Paypal + Airtight Canisters + Double lids = ?????????

Let us know anything you can think of, pretty please! It will help us very much. All assistance is greatly appreciated!

Can you save us!?

[Chip]

Lots of Japanese made tins are quite excellent for storing tea due to the double lids. The ones that have ALL rounded edges also have NO seems. You can find these on O-Cha and Yuuki-Cha. Plus they are quite lovely! The more cylindrical ones do have seems, but they are often then covered in Washi Paper which would be an added measure of protection.

One more step I use. The sample tins from Upton (though you can find them elsewhere as well) ... I will put up to 50 grams in these, and then place them in the Japanese double lid tins. I follow this procedure for my beloved Japanese greens that are most sensitive to the passage of time.

If I have leftover, I place this in reserve where it will not be opened again til the sample tin is empty.

However still, I try not to open too many teas at one time, especially greens and whites.

I hope this aids in your salvation!

[PuerhlyAwesome]

Many thanks to you, sir, our saviour, for your quick and detailed reply!

We just placed an order for the small ones from Yuuki-Cha and are hoping for the best!

[kymidwife]

Just wanted to add... Welcome to TeaChat and I love your avatar.

[Chip]

... you are welcome. The rounded ones are really great. I am always looking for new designs ...

The O-Cha ones are more airtight, it requires more effort to undo the outer lid, you can feel the air resistance.

[MarshalN]

I think things like this

http://www.samadhicushions.com/product_ ... Click=3468

are very good for storing tea.

Cost is an issue, of course, but if you want air tight, it's pretty good.

[wyardley]

I think things like this

http://www.samadhicushions.com/product_ ... Click=3468

are very good for storing tea.

Cost is an issue, of course, but if you want air tight, it's pretty good.

Yeah - the Beehouse ones especially are good. Over there, your options may be more limited, but in the US, you can buy imported knockoffs in assorted sizes for surprisingly cheap at places like Target, though the quality isn't quite as good.

[Oni]

Welcome to the forum Puerhlya..., try o pay attention to the sensitivity of teas > ALL teas are sensitive to light, moisture and sudden changes of temperature that can result in condensation, so again it is a problem of weting the tea <
Some teas like oolongs (generally taiwanese) can be simply tested for their dryness, just try to crush one tea ball between your fingers, if it crushes to a powder easely it is ok (my DTA Da Yu ling does that every time I tried).
Green teas, specially japanese green teas are more sensitive that other teas that are oxidized or/and fermented, many high quality japanese greens come in nitrogen flushed bags, or vacuum sealed bags, or bags with those little oxigen absorbing packs that has the writing "do not eat" on it; they should be consumed within a month max 2 after opening, for chinese greens 2 to 3 month after opening is ok too, they seem to resist longer.
Oolong teas, specially Dancongs resist a long time in an airtight canister. And if you`d like to have tea all of the time and in great variety, you should get into collecting puerh, I cannot give you any advice abouot puerh, I am very new to it too, I read that they are in constant change, and they rather than loosing taste, they are in continuos transformation, BUT I also read about a so called "silent" period of puerh, that is a time during its transformation from yuong to aged in which they tend to loose taste, but infact they do not loose taste, you should store it longer until it transforms into a better tea, the aged puerh, that has all the raw astringent and bitter elements transformed into sweet full bodied tea (try Yunnan Sourcing for puerh).
As a last thought I will try to categorize the tea storing teaware (canisters, jars) > There are double lided modern japanese inoxidable metal canisters, one lid made of soft plastic, the other from metal, I own a few with chiyogami paper decoration (look at the vendor guide for online shops that sell japanese tea, most of them also sell such canisters); other similar canisters are made from japanese sakura (flowering cherry tree) bark, those are expenceive and beautiful, I do not yet own one; for chinese greens there are porcelain tea jars, they come in many sizes, and shapes, usually with a plastic wrapped around the lid, as I read they are not perfectly airtight, but my sources can be wrong, so try it (Dragon teahouse on ebay sells a lot of these jars, and they are handpainted and very aestethic); a new and popular teaware for heavily oxidized tea and fermened tea, dark oolongs, aged oolongs, shu puer, aged puerh is Lin`s Ceramic studios Purion series (made from ground special volcanic rock) ceramic tea canisters, you can find these at http://www.aurlia.com.tw/index.php?opti ... 83&lang=en (they accept paypal).
Another interesting tea storing device is this airtight plastic jars with a pump that creates vacuum in the jar (too bad it is plastic, I don`t like plastic) http://www.imperialtea.com/AIRsep-Magic-Lid-P643.aspx (maybe you can find it cheaper on ebay).

[Tead Off]

I think things like this

http://www.samadhicushions.com/product_ ... Click=3468

are very good for storing tea.

Cost is an issue, of course, but if you want air tight, it's pretty good.

This type of container costs less than $2 here. For me, they are quite unappealing, aesthetically. I was shocked at the price that this 'spiritual' store is marking them up to.

[MarshalN]

I think things like this

http://www.samadhicushions.com/product_ ... Click=3468

are very good for storing tea.

Cost is an issue, of course, but if you want air tight, it's pretty good.

This type of container costs less than $2 here. For me, they are quite unappealing, aesthetically. I was shocked at the price that this 'spiritual' store is marking them up to.

Oh, the price is ridiculous. I was just citing this as an example of the type of canister. I'd never pay $20 for this thing.

It's not pretty, but the OP didn't say he wants pretty -- he just wants functional, air tight.

[Tead Off]

I think things like this

http://www.samadhicushions.com/product_ ... Click=3468

are very good for storing tea.

Cost is an issue, of course, but if you want air tight, it's pretty good.

This type of container costs less than $2 here. For me, they are quite unappealing, aesthetically. I was shocked at the price that this 'spiritual' store is marking them up to.

Oh, the price is ridiculous. I was just citing this as an example of the type of canister. I'd never pay $20 for this thing.

It's not pretty, but the OP didn't say he wants pretty -- he just wants functional, air tight.

My wife brought home 3 of these one day from the local Japanese five and dime store. I looked at her, I looked at the cannisters, and, then I looked at our teaware. We both burst out laughing and then I beat her with my favorite bamboo paddle.

[Dresden]

+1 on the O-Cha containers

[Seeker]

I find that double lidded canisters are not effective for any kind of longer term tea storage. If you need longer term, you need either air removal or inert gas.
I use a foodsaver system and their air tight vacuum canisters in combination with tea canisters.
Here's a pic of one holding my matcha - btw, my open matcha goes a couple of months with very little to no flavor degradation using these to vacuum out the air and store daily:


ps - I usually have 3 or 4 open matchas for variety day-to-day, thus the need for them to last a couple of months.

[IPT]

What I do with some of my tins is run a piece of tape around the lid. It seals it up beautifully and best of all it is cheap.