Storing tea could be quite simple. When you preserve your tea in an hermetic container after which retailer your container in a darkish, cool, dry place free from robust odors, you’ll doubtless eat it earlier than any degradation in aroma or style happens. However, tea is consistently deteriorating, very slowly, as quickly because the leaves are picked off the plant.
Once we discuss a tea deteriorating, we’re largely speaking about oxidation. Teas which can be prevented from oxidizing throughout manufacturing and teas that aren’t closely oxidized throughout processing will proceed to oxidize over time. As a result of these teas are sometimes prized for his or her vitality and lack of oxidation, this ongoing oxidation is taken into account a dangerous type of deterioration. That is the case for inexperienced teas, yellow teas and a few white teas.
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For teas which can be allowed to oxidize throughout manufacturing, particularly these which can be purposely closely oxidized, there’s a lot much less potential for oxidation to proceed. If it does, additional oxidation of those teas is far more durable to note within the cup. That is the case for black teas and closely oxidized wulongs.
What about aged teas? Isn’t {that a} particular case for tea storage? In brief, sure. The objective of getting old a tea is to permit the tea to alter over time in an effort to improve its palatability. The best way by which these teas are aged is determined by how we retailer them; getting old tea is synonymous with storing tea.
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Airtight Seal Storage
When teas are saved in an hermetic vessel, the ambient oxygen left within the container permits the tea to slowly oxidize over time. Wulong teas are sometimes sealed in a container with an hermetic seal, and they’re usually left to age for a few years.
Non-Airtight Seal Ageing
Puer (and different fermented teas) aren’t sometimes shielded from moisture. As a substitute, a managed stage of moisture is employed to affect the getting old throughout storage. On this case, over time, the tea leaves bear a mixture of fermentation and oxidation. In truth, the uncooked leaves that grow to be Puer are sometimes fastened at a decrease temperature in order that the oxidative enzymes throughout the leaves aren’t totally denatured. This methodology of fixing permits for additional oxidation at a later stage.
So if we’re not actively attempting to age our tea and we simply need to protect the recent nature of it, what should we do? There are six legal guidelines of tea storage that may enable you:
1. Tea should be saved free from oxygen
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Tea leaves proceed to oxidize over time with publicity to oxygen. Even when saved in an hermetic vessel, some air stays in between the leaves and on the high of the vessel; hermetic doesn’t imply air-free.
Some teas come prepackaged in vacuum sealed baggage; it’s typical for ball-style wulongs to be packaged on this method. Vacuum sealing is an effective way to make sure that the tea leaves are secure for a very long time. However, this methodology can solely be used for robust leaves. Vacuum sealing a fragile leaf will crush it! For this reason ball-style wulongs are an ideal candidate for vacuum sealing.
For teas which can be extra delicate, the packages could also be flushed with nitrogen whereas they’re sealed. This manner, the leaves aren’t uncovered to oxygen and don’t degrade over time.
Another choice is to make use of oxygen-absorbing packets that normally comprise iron and salt. When positioned in an hermetic vessel, the remaining oxygen oxidizes the iron, creating rust. As soon as the entire iron has oxidized, the oxygen absorbing packet can not take in oxygen. These packets are actually solely good for long run storage; opening and shutting the container will preserve letting oxygen in, rendering the packet ineffective after a short while.
2. Tea should be saved free from warmth
Low-level warmth quickens oxidation, whereas excessive ranges of warmth stop oxidation. Some delicate inexperienced and yellow teas are finest if saved within the freezer or fridge; the chilly temperatures dramatically decelerate oxidation reactions. However, this should be carried out correctly to keep away from condensation on the leaves.
It’s advisable to re-package the tea into small packets in order that your provide general will keep brisker for longer. Every packet ought to be used inside every week after opening. Earlier than you place the packages within the freezer, squeeze as a lot air out as attainable; any remaining air will condense and trigger moisture to develop on the leaf floor. Crucial factor to recollect when utilizing chilly storage for teas is that while you take away a packet from the freezer or fridge, don’t open it till it has reached room temperature. It will stop any condensation from occurring because the leaves come as much as room temperature.
3. Tea should be refrained from gentle
A lot of what’s written on the results that gentle has on dry tea leaves relies on anecdotal proof; this matter hasn’t been studied in depth. We do know that light-induced harm offers tea a metallic taste. Nigel Melican believes that “light-induced changes in dry teas can occur through photodegradation” which is a blanket time period for any light-induced response that degrades the standard of tea. Nigel suspects a mixture of theaflavin polymerization, chlorophyll conversion to pheophytins and photo-oxidative adjustments to theaflavins and residual catechins are at play right here. Whereas tea aficionados are nonetheless determining precisely what chemical adjustments are occurring within the leaves, it’s smart to maintain your tea free from gentle.
4. Tea should be refrained from robust odors
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Tea leaves will take in the scents of their environment. That is helpful within the manufacturing of scented teas, comparable to jasmine; the leaves are saved in shut proximity to jasmine blossoms, leading to a jasmine scented tea. However, this identical high quality of tea could be detrimental ought to your tea leaves are available contact with disagreeable odors. This not solely implies that you need to retailer your tea storage vessels in a spot free from robust smells, it additionally implies that no matter you’re storing your tea in should not have a robust odor itself. Sure picket containers, hermetic tins with strong-smelling rubber seals, and plastic containers can all go away your tea with a unpleasant aroma and style.
5. Tea should be refrained from moisture
It’s no secret that tea leaves launch their taste when uncovered to moisture. Due to this, you actually don’t need your tea to “steep” till you steep it for consuming. Protecting your tea storage freed from moisture isn’t so simple as maintaining the leaves away from seen liquids. Tea is hygroscopic, which means that it’s going to take in moisture from the air. An hermetic storage container is the only strategy to block out moisture.
6. Tea is finest when saved in bulk
That is principally a mixture of the primary and fourth guidelines above, however it’s price mentioning. A close to empty hermetic vessel with a tiny little bit of tea within the backside will deteriorate quicker than an hermetic vessel fully filled with tea. To maintain your tea the freshest, fill your storage vessel as a lot as attainable, shake it to let the tea settle, after which fill it some extra. The extra tea you possibly can preserve in an enclosed house, the much less oxygen there might be in that house. Much less air will make it more durable for the tea to soak up the smells of its environment. This idea is of utmost significance when getting old Puer and different fermented teas; you desire a closet that smells like tea, not just a few teas that odor like your closet.
Teas which can be much less oxidized (greens, yellows and whites) degrade extra rapidly than teas which can be extra oxidized (wulongs and blacks).
The extra damaged the leaves are, the upper the floor space in touch with air. Extra damaged leaves will deteriorate quicker.
When taking tea from its unique package deal and placing it into your personal container, at all times label it clearly with the kind of tea, type of tea, the place you bought it and when. I can’t rely what number of instances I’ve found a random tin of “miscellaneous tea” round the home. That is additionally useful for going again by way of your assortment and seeing how your tastes change over time.
When you purchase tea in bulk for private consumption, think about repackaging it into small quantities that may be unsealed as you go. Many tea retailers promote their tea in foil-lined zip seal baggage; these can turn out to be useful as a result of they’re accessible in lots of sizes and are straightforward to label.
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A Few Good Choices for Storing Tea
- Evak Airless Storage Containers have a plunger that removes airspace on high of the tea
- Ankomn Flip-N-Seal Vacuum Storage Containers have a knob on high that when turned, produces an hermetic seal
- Airscape Lite Containers have a plunger that removes the airspace on high of the tea
