How to Keep Tea at Home?
Nowadays, ordinary families will not lack tea, not only can replace other beverages, but also good for your health. Therefore, most of our families will prepare some tea at home. However, if you prepare tea at home, it needs to be preserved so that the tea leaves will not deteriorate and taste. So, how to keep tea at home for a long time? Let's take a look below.
Long-term storage of tea utensils at home:
Hard containers include: purple sand pots, earthenware pots, porcelain pots, metal pots, plastic pots, etc.
Purple sand tank:
Advantages: high air permeability and beautiful appearance.
Disadvantages: fragile, space-consuming and relatively high price.
Treatment: Since the purple sand pot is produced by firing, it often has the smell after fire, so it is recommended to treat it. First, wash the newly-purchased purple sand pot with clean water inside and out, then let the water soak for a week (change the water). Then expose to dryness in the sun and let it cool for 2 days. After this treatment, there is basically no smell, and it can be used to store your love tea.
If you still smell something after the treatment, you have to consider whether there is a problem with the purple sand tank, such as chemical treatment, not the raw material of purple sand. If you find the above situation, consider whether to use it.
Metal cans:
Advantages: good sealing and easy to carry.
Disadvantages: It is greatly affected by the external environment and has poor thermal insulation.
Treatment: There are many choices of metal cans on the market, generally made of iron (easy to rust), alloy (high price), tin (easy to deform), etc. For metal cans, since they are stained during manufacturing, they should be thoroughly washed and dried.
Metal container is easy to carry, it is a good choice for families to store a small amount of drinking tea and go out to use. However, the heat insulation of metal products is poor, and it is easy to cause high temperature to damage the tea leaves without notice. Another point is that the seal is not conducive to the aging of Pu-erh tea.
Crock:
Advantages: Breathable and cheap.
Disadvantages: fragile and take up space.
Treatment: For the choice of crock, it is best not to choose the inner wall glazed, because the inner wall is glazed is not conducive to ventilation. The treatment is the same as the purple sand tank.
Porcelain jar:
Advantages: beautiful appearance, exquisite style and good sealing.
Disadvantages: fragile, high price, easy formation of condensate on the tank wall.
Handling: The porcelain jar is beautifully styled, and is a good choice for storing a small amount of drinking tea. For long-term storage, the seal is not suitable for the aging of Pu-erh tea, so it is rarely used. Porcelain cans on the market generally have rubber seals, so be careful not to expose them directly to the sun in order to avoid aging of the rubber ring.
Porcelain cans are generally cleaned with water. If there are oil stains, it can be cleaned with detergent, but remember to wash the detergent thoroughly. Then dry in a cool place.
Plastic tank:
Advantages: good sealing, easy to carry, and cheap.
Disadvantages: smell.
Handling: Plastic containers are easy to carry and cheap, and are an optional container for short-term storage of tea. However, because plastic containers often have a plastic smell, no matter how they are washed, they will produce an odor under the benefit of sealing and temperature. Therefore, if you want to choose plastic containers for tea, you have to think clearly.
Soft containers include: cartons, paper, cloth bags, plastic bags.
Carton:
Carton is the most commonly used packaging for storing Pu-erh. Due to the small space occupied by the carton, it is convenient and practical, dustproof, has certain breathability and moisture resistance, and is cheap and convenient. It is an ideal container for Pu-erh tea storage. Can be used in conjunction with other containers and packaging.
Paper:
Paper is also a very commonly used packaging. Because of its strong plasticity, it is easy to use, and it is easy to take materials and is popular with everyone. Generally, craft paper, rice paper, and newspaper can be used.
Please pay attention to some details when choosing a newspaper: Because the newspaper is printed with ink, there is ink smell and fade, it can be placed in the sun before use to fade the ink and eliminate odor. However, it is recommended not to wrap the tea directly in the newspaper, but wrap it with other paper before wrapping it in the newspaper.
Cloth bag:
Cloth bags are generally used to wrap loose tea, but due to the high air permeability of the bag, it basically has no benefit on moisture resistance. It is recommended to use it with a carton.
Food bag:
Plastic food bags are easy to obtain, and are mostly used to wrap tea for drinking. But because plastic bags are not breathable, they are rarely used to wrap long-term stored tea leaves.
In terms of selection, we can choose the preservation bag for microwave ovens, because most of this kind of preservation bags have tiny ventilation holes. Put the tea leaves in a plastic bag (without tying) and then put it in a paper bag. And convenient. Many friends choose to wrap long-term storage of tea leaves in plastic bags, which I don’t advocate. Because plastic bags are not good for ventilation and aging.
To keep tea at home for a long time, we need to classify the tea at home. If the amount of tea stored in our home is large and there are many varieties, this requires everyone to first classify the tea and store it according to the type of tea, so as to better preserve the tea. Therefore, everyone should pay more attention to distinguish them.
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