Has anyone's '09 tea's come in? how do they look compared to last year. II usually wait until june to order from the bigger houses, as I think that the old tea stock will be gone. Is this necessary? I'm not sure how tea is rotated in the wharehouses
Well made and well stored teas keep for many years - I have drunk 12 year old teas that I manufactured in Pakistan and stored in the UK - and they still had the freshness and fragrance of newly made tea. Green teas and China greens in particular used not to be well dried and lost their quality quickly. I suspect this reputation remains even if not supported by current fact. Freshness is certainly hyped up to convince gullible purchasers to shell out extra cash for new season teas. And faddy consumers play the game by falling for it. Back to the days when buyers waited for the tea clippers to race new stock from Shanghai to London - first ship in got the sky high prices. As Jim say's in this thread - he will trust his palate and clean up on the discounted 08 stock. Personally I am happy that my current stock of Georgian handmade tea was grown in 2006 and 2007 - and all the better for being kept awhile.
Nigel at Teacraft
I have teas from the mid seventies I still enjoy mostly Indian and Ceylon. One of my favorites mid eighties Darjeeling still in original clay jars. I have Chinese teas from the mid nineties still good to drink. I describe my environment as a tea sarcophagus good to preserve the oxidized teas and dry out the puer shu. Not so good for the sheng. I prefer the discount I get at the English tea shoppe when the Chinese teas dont sell.
Jim
PS My current tea blossom called Rare Tw> >
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