Good tea comes with an ironic dilemma.
The better the tea grade, the more of it’s natural qualities it retains.
And that results in it going stale easier… which presents a storage challenge for people at home.
Green tea for example has the shortest shelf life of around 8 months at most. While some types of black tea can be kept for over 2 years when stored properly.
Flavored tea, especially those with added spices or fruits, will have an even shorter lifespan.
Tea leaves that have been processed properly retain a moisture level of approximately 3% with volatile oils.
Which further complicates storing these things.
Here are some key factors in the proper storing of tea at home or in the office.
1) Year of harvest
If given a choice, I would prefer to buy tea leaves that have been harvested last week.
But that is next to impossible unless I own my own tea processing plant.
But what tea lovers often do when buying tea is to look at the expiry date. This indicates how long the consumer can expect the product to retain it’s freshness and flavor.
What people should also pay more attention to is the harvest date.
This is the date in which the tea has been harvested and processed.
In terms of storing tea, surely you know that the later the harvest date, the longer they will last?
2) Seal it
Households who keep tea leaves in a box or bad that don’t have an air-tight seal are just asking for trouble.
A cafe might be able to get away with it due to the high turnover.
But when there is no seal, a household that consumes maybe one or two pots of tea a day can easily find a whole chunk of it going bad by the end of month.
If using a bag, make sure it’s a zip lock. And when using a container box, ensure that there it can be sealed air-tight.
3) Transparent container
Some homemakers like to keep their tea in a see-through transparent container. This is so that they can see the beauty of the leaves anytime.
This is a no-no.
The more light tea leaves are exposed to, the faster they oxidize and degrade.
They should ever be left exposed to light. Let alone sunlight.
4) Small quantities
You might get a discount for buying them in bulk, but what’s the use of all that rebates when you won’t be able to drink them all.
I’ve seen retailers promote loose leaf on sale to encourage shoppers to buy them in kilogram units.
That’s a lot of tea!
Even an average drinker probably wouldn’t be able to finish that in 1 year. And the odds are that they would go bad before the consumer gets to finishing half of 1 kilogram.
Tea leaves are one of those products that consumers should put quality ahead of quantity.
The smaller your stash, the faster you finish them, and the sooner you can get a new fresh harvest to enjoy in the tea pot.
5) Don’t put them in the fridge
We tend to keep a lot of stuff in the fridge assuming that chilling them would be good for longevity.
This is not the case for tea leaves.
Even though they should be stored in a cool and dry place, a refrigerator is too cold and moist to keep tea leaves in optimal condition.
Condensation will destroy them like a flood.
They should also be kept away from sources of heat like near an oven or microwave.
Putting them together with other spices is also a quick way to kill the tea leaves.