How do I use a tea-tin correctly?

[fire_snake]

I've got a number of tea tins, some quite nice. All have a plastic inner seal that is removable.

Should I store my bag (of Sencha, for example) in the tin and perhaps scrunch up the opening of the bag to make it fit nice and snug, or do I empty the bag into the tin?

In some videos I have seen the opened bag placed inside the tin and the top of the bag folded down before the tin is sealed.

Thanks,

Christian

[Chasm]

This is where we get into the realm of "it depends". The ultimate goal is to minimize the air in the container. I prefer small tea tins and dividing larger packages among them for this reason, using up first one tin and then another.

If your tin is substantially bigger than the amount of tea, I'd go with the bag-in-tin method. Or if it will take you a long time to drink the tea and it's on the greener end of the spectrum, keep the bag so you can re-seal it after squeezing the air out.

My own method is to put the tea directly in the containers, making sure they all have a good inner seal, and then keep the tins inside another box, since I have a few porcelain ones that are not perfectly lightproof.

[Chasm]

I forgot to mention: Choosing a place to keep the tea that is away from heat sources and food smells probably matters more than keeping the bag in the tin or not.

[olivierco]

I always empty the bag into the cannister. The bag would not fit in most of my cannisters anyway.

I buy my teas in 50g bags when it is possible so the bag doesn't last more than two weeks for the green teas for which freshness is a more crucial issue than with other teas. With 100g packages I usually pour half of it in the cannister, keeping the rest in the resealed bag until the cannister is empty.

[fire_snake]

Thanks for the clarification.

I emptied out the tea into the tins and put them away in my tea storage unit.

[wyardley]

A lot of the cheap tins are not that heavy and / or not completely airtight, and some have a kind of off smell. And, as someone else said, one downside of a tin is that as you take out tea, there is more air in the container, unless you keep adding tea to it.

So it's not a bad idea to use a bag inside the tin, assuming the bag itself doesn't have off-odors. Depends also how green the tea is, and how fast you drink it.

[Chasm]

I've gotten a couple of tins with an off smell, but it disappeared on wiping them out with a damp cloth, which I would do anyway with new tins.

For the sake of being airtight and lightproof, I double-layer all tea containers in some way. Some are stored in small chests, while the current can of matcha in use sits sealed inside another tin in the fridge.

[fire_snake]

Most of the tins I see have the inner plastic seal plus the outer lid, the latter of which seems to fit very well to begin with. I usually don't leave green tea lying around for very long. I tend to go through it as I get it.

I've got a few links for "higher-end" tins and I might pick up one or two to compare.

Any recommendations for tins that *you* would use?

Christian

[Xell]

I'm using a really well made wood canister, made from sacred sakura tree, it's not mine though And several 100g tins with plastic seal and outer lid.

For sencha i would use small tins that fit not more than 100g of tea, also i'm usually keeping 1-2 bags of oxygen absorbent together with tea. This probably can help only if you don't use tea longer than one day.

[fire_snake]

I've noticed that the tea from on particular set of canisters has taken on a particularly bitter/metallic taste. Any way to get rid of this? Do I have to wash the canister in a special way? I don't even know what sort of metal it's made out of.

I'm tempted to toss these two out and get new, higher quality ones.

Anyone have a link to a nice Paulownia/Kiriwood canister set?

[Chip]

You could try wiping it out and filling it for a short period with a dry tea you are not likely to be drinking.

[Chip]

I have always been of the schoool of thought that thinks the canisters usually allow too much air into the tin as the level goes down. Lower and lower equals more air.

Yet I do store virtually all tea in canisters. But I do also take added precautions.

[chamomileteaguy]

I like keeping all of my loose teas in canisters that have a tight rubber seal to keep in their smells and out other smells. Also, I have a cupboard specifically for my tea that I don't put anything else in. I have heard putting tea in the freezer is a good way to extend it's shelf live. Although I have never tried it, I wonder if the freezing process could ruin the tea or make the flavors change. Does anyone have any experience with that?

[Rayuela]

@Chip

I'm no expert, but it seems to me that the problem is less how much air there is in the tin, than how much surface area of tealeaf is exposed to the air and whether that air circulates. Maybe quantity of air is a problem, but I expect it's more that by the time the level of tea goes down a much higher proportion of it is exposed, so it loses taste.

Just a thought...

[AdamMY]

@Chip

I'm no expert, but it seems to me that the problem is less how much air there is in the tin, than how much surface area of tealeaf is exposed to the air and whether that air circulates. Maybe quantity of air is a problem, but I expect it's more that by the time the level of tea goes down a much higher proportion of it is exposed, so it loses taste.

Just a thought...

I am more in Chips School of thought, as surely you aren't supposing that tea leaves behave like a liquid and will completely fill the volume of a canister. But since tea leaves always leave many air gaps between them there will always be air circulation due to temp variations throughout the entire canister.