using a lidded tea cup for storage

[oedipa]

I have one porcelain tea caddy that I love (I just use it for the nicer oolongs that come into my possession) and I've been looking for other porcelain tea caddies. They are somewhat hard to find (at least, the aesthetically pleasing variety) and the nice ones are expensive. Given that the porcelain tea caddy I have now is not completely air-tight (which, acc. to Teamasters, is just fine for the sort of tea storage I'm doing), would it be ok to purchase a porcelain, lidded chawan for storage use? I have no experience with Japanese teaware, so perhaps the lid is much looser on a chawan than a lid fitted for a tea caddy.

Also, if anyone has any preferences on good, but economical, tea storage options (along with preferred online vendors), let me know! I've scrolled through previous topics on the subject but a lot of it is focused on fancy aged pu storage.

[Chip]

Welcome to the forum.

We were just discussing airtight storage here. Though you say airtight is not required.
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=12101

Lidded Chawan, can you please post a link for us to see what exactly you are looking for. I am guessing it is farrrr from airtight, and your porcelain canister is likely much more airtight, relatively speaking.

Plus the opening is large relative to the size/volume of the Chawan, likely, thus even more air would be allowed to enter.

[oedipa]

Here's an image of the sort of thing I have in mind (I realize, after doing a google-image search of "chawan with lid," that there are many variations, a lot of which look completely unsuitable for storage!)