Keeping White Tea Fresh?

[kikkuman]

I've tried many samples of white tea from different vendors and the result is the same. First time (right after opening the package), it's fantastic, then subsequent sessions, it's not so good anymore. Still drinkable, just not great. I have no problems with green tea and oolong. Does white tea simply lose freshness faster? Is there a way to solve this?

(I keep it cool, dry, airtight, away from light and all that)

[olivierco]

Does white tea simply lose freshness faster?

I didn't notice it. Matcha and sencha seems to me to loose freshness faster than white tea.

[TaiPing Hou Kui]

Well, my thought would be that the greens and oolongs have a more robust flavor, in that order, and white is very subtle therefore you could notice a difference. My question to you would be how you are storing your tea in the first place. Teas main enemies are light, air, moisture, and time (generally speaking....not for Pu-Erh, etc.) I keep all of my teas in ceramic o-ring sealed containers in a special cabinet that does not let in any light. I have been doing this for a while now and can keep a fair amount of tea fresh for a long time.......including whites (even silver needle). I hope this helps some!

-Nick (TaiPing)

[Pentox]

Hm, can't say that I have seen this problem myself, but I could see white teas turning a bit faster from a logical point of view. They are very delicate from the get go, and tend to be very loosely packed, therefore more oxidation going on every time you open the container because there's more air to swap out.

[fbones24]

Is there any problem with keeping tea stored in the refrigerator? I was doing this for a while with some of my greens and they seemed to stay fine. Those teas were relatively inexpensive though. I wouldn't want to ruin a batch of silver needle. Any ideas on the refrigerator?

[Pentox]

Chip will attest to a fridge being a good place to store tea if the conditions are right. There are a few things to be careful of though.

- Tea is a magnet for odors, if there are a lot of odors in your fridge your tea will soak them right up.
- Tea is sensitive to condensation. So if you open your fridge a lot and the temp swings then it might be bad for the tea.

I think there are other things to worry about but I can't think of them at the moment.

[fbones24]

Great. My tea contains nothing but water, milk and beer. I don't think that will harm my tea at all. I also open my fridge about once per day so I don't see the condensation being a problem. I think I'm going to try that then. Thanks!

[Pentox]

My tea contains nothing but water, milk and beer.

Wow that's some crazy tea!

[Wesli]

I store my whites in a double-lidded tin and they keep wonderfully. How airtight is the thing you're keeping it in? I wouldn't go any lower than a double-lidded tin. If you're currently storing in zip-bags, or single-lid tins that don't close tight enough, then you may be letting too much air get to them. Also, whenever you open any container, you let an amount of air into the container that is harmful to the tea. Your tea could go stale quickly if you find yourself smelling your tea a little too often... (we're all guilty of it )

Fbones, moisture is harmful to tea. Moisture in the air condenses onto cold surfaces. It's OK to store your teas in the fridge, but you have to make sure whatever they're in is airtight, or else when you take it out, the moisture from the air around will condense onto the leaves. After taking a tea out of the fridge, you have to allow a fair few hours for the temperature of the tea to equilibrate with the temperature of the air around. It's really only recommended to store unopened teas in the fridge.

[olivierco]

Storing opened packages in the fridge is risky.
No problem for unopened packages.

[TimeforTea]

I have just experienced the same problem.

The first few times I brewed white blueberry and white peach from the sample tins, I was blown away. I went back to white blueberry yesterday, and I was extremely disappointed with the lack of taste. The tins are not more than 1-2 months old.

I also found this happened with my green vanilla.

I am at a loss now, because I was planning to enjoy white peach and white blueberry throughout the summer...

Are adagio's sample sized tins air tight? Does anyone have the larger sized tins and not experience this problem? I know I've read here that green teas should be kept for 3 months...how about whites?

[TimeforTea]

I store my whites in a double-lidded tin and they keep wonderfully. How airtight is the thing you're keeping it in?

Wesli, where did you buy the double-lidded tins? I recall someone mentioning The Container Store, but I do not think those tins are double-lidded.

[Wesli]

I have a few good ones from O-cha, but they're for Japanese greens, and too small for white. For my white I have a large double-lidded black-finished tin from Rishi.

[olivierco]

I store my whites in a double-lidded tin and they keep wonderfully. How airtight is the thing you're keeping it in?

Wesli, where did you buy the double-lidded tins? I recall someone mentioning The Container Store, but I do not think those tins are double-lidded.

This canisteris twice as big as those sold by o-cha

[Cinnamon Kitty]

Enjoying Tea has a good collection of canisters. The onethat they sent me with my over $20 order is double lidded and seems to work pretty well. It is only $1.98 too.