I know, I know, I’ve been awfully quiet lately. But I’ve been busy working on some exciting stuff behind the scenes, which will hopefully be unravelled very soon…

Anyway, I’m very pleased today to share a wonderful post by Linda Louie, a pu-erh tea specialist who runs Bana Tea Company. Linda has sent me a sampling of some of her pu-erhs, which I will be writing about soon. You can also read an interview with her on Ajikas. But in the meantime, here is her advice on how to properly store pu-erh tea. Enjoy.

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A good Pu-erh tea for brewing and consumption requires a quality base tea, careful pre-processing and well-designed post-processing. Pre-processing refers to the preparatory steps to produce the ?raw materials? (green mao cha) and post-processing refers to the storage condition under which Pu-erh teas are aged to enhance proper fermentation. In other words, it is not necessarily true that the older the Pu-erh tea, the better. A superior Pu-erh tea for brewing requires that one start with a good quality ?raw tea? that is carefully and properly pre-processed, and then aged under optimum storage conditions.

Tea Master Vesper Chan, a pioneer in Pu-erh dry storage, states that the ideal conditions for storage are an environment with between 50%-60% humidity and a temperature range of between 60-70 degrees. As different parts of the world vary in their weather and humidity, Pu-erh teas stored in different environments yield different results. For example, Pu-erh teas stored in relatively dry places like Beijing or Los Angeles will age to become more aromatic, but they will take longer to achieve the smoothness that teas aged in more humid places like Hong Kong or Guangzhou will exhibit.

Pu-erh tea should not be exposed to excessive humidity for prolonged periods of time or it can become flat and dull. During the season when humidity is very high, opening the window to allow fresh air in the room is advisable. Pu-erh tea should be stored well above ground level and be given good ventilation. If you have a large amount of tea, it should be rotated once every six months to even out the tea?s exposure to fresh air. Extreme variations in temperature should be avoided.

Pu-erh tea has a tendency to absorb odors in the environment. Avoid storing your Pu-erh tea in kitchen cabinets or near moth balls or around other items that emit strong odors. With regard to the appropriateness of using a humidifier in places with low humidity, Master Chan opined that it would be fine to use one a few hours once a month to promote faster fermentation. Lastly, if you are storing a variety of Pu-erh, always store the raw Pu-erh and the ripe Pu-erh separately in order for the respective teas to retain their own aroma.

© eric for Tea Finely Brewed, 2009. | Proper Pu-erh Storage for Best Results | 2 comments |
Post categories: Pu-erh tea
Post tags: pu-erh storage, sheng pu-erh, shou pu-erh, tea storage