How do you store/age pu-erh

Hi,

to pu-erh lovers/collectors I have a question

How do you store your pu-erh ? Where ? I live in a block of flats, so I'm somehow limited in getting the right place to store my tea...

thanks

Tomas

Reply to
Balt
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Tomas, I store them in their orginal bamboo leaf bound tongs (sets of seven cakes) and in their orignal paper wrappers stacked in proper wooden drawers and in archival boxes, away from strange aromas as far as is possible in a NYC apartment. I've got fragmented older cakes that are now stored in transparent bags, but will be transferred to small ceramic canisters before long. Issues of humidity abound. I try to keep them out of the heaviest humidity, but this is hard. Some say that the varied humidities of NYC are actually beneficial to the Pu'erh aging process. Where are you located?

In short, the trick is to keep your cakes away from odors, dampness, and the hands of craving craven people who recognize the value of your sacred Pu'erh cakes! What sorts of Pu'erh are you storing?

Michael

Reply to
Michael Plant

Message to Michael: Over the past couple of years I could get Xiaguan

2.5kg beeng tongs from Chinatown. I haven't seen them in my last couple of trips. When I order from China I usually get the smaller bricks and tuos in the tongs which is some multiple of 1kg. I'm curious if you find your tongs in Chinatown or basically order like me.

Jim

Michael Plant wrote:

Reply to
Space Cowboy

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I suspect I'd find them here in NYC if I looked hard enough, but I've never come across leaf bound tongs of pu'erh cakes in Chinatown other than at the oft' mentioned Tea Gallery, which is off-Chinatown. I order by mail or buy from The Tea Gallery. I suspect that the leaf binding will go the way of the reed weaving around Chianti bottles. Soon it will all be plastic and we'll pay a premium for natural leaf. Already, lots of "tongs" come in cardboard round boxes. What's the world coming to? Michael

Reply to
Michael Plant

I have seen, and/or use myself, several methods that lend themselves to Flats or Apartments. Natrual Reed clothes hampers, wooden file cabinets, wooden chests similar to a foot locker, and I use a wooden bread box for smaller amounts. Be cautious of any inherent odors in your storage container, and it should NOT be airtight.

The oxidation process requires oxygen so you want adequete air flow but not a breeze. In other words don't seal it up in a plastic bag. It is absolutely imperative to keep the storage space free from odors. A shelf in a nice dry, odor free, closet will do nicely. Don't keep it in the same room as the cat litter box, or in your Living Room if you smoke a lot of cigars etc.

How much puerh are planning on storing? If you are space challenged you probably dont want to store too much.

Mike

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Reply to
Mike Petro

If you store your stuff in a closet/cupboard away from sunlight, the temperature in the storage unit shouldn't reach that high.

Tea has been stored for years in Hong Kong where temperature reaches the mid 30s in the summer with high humidity to boot. They age just fine. You have to be careful though about mould, that's the only concern. If your area's not too damp, then it's probably ok. Moisture is a bigger enemy than heat (although you need moisture for the tea to age).

MarshalN

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Reply to
MarshalN

I'm about to rent a storage space at an offsite wine storage facilty where the temperature is kept between 55- 58F and humidity kept at about 65%. I'm just going to keep at home what I want to consume for the short term. It's going to cost me about $10/month for the rent of a wooden box that can fit 12 cases of wines (that would probably fit 50 or more tongs of pu'er). The wooden box closes properly with small crevices along the edges to allow minimal air flow and humidity control within the box itself. Cheap and worry free.

The only problem is the non-existent temperature and humidity variations througout the year, which I've been told might not be optimum for aging pu'ers (variation is better and more natural). I've never gotten any concrete information on this, however. It's all speculation.

Phyll

MarshalN wrote:

Reply to
Phyll

Correction on the above, the rental box can contain 24 Californian wine cases, which is slighly smaller than the standard Bordeaux case size. This can fit probably 50 tongs of pu'er or even more if jam packed.

Phyll

Phyll wrote:

Reply to
Phyll

Roy Fong claims high heat variations are good, the biggest danger is wind blowing over the puer and carrying away valuable microbes and spores. However based on the types of tea I have tasted and their varied storage conditions, I have come to believe that humidity is more important, and that periods of high humidity varied with dryness make for good aging circumstances. I would be concerned about the cakes getting too dry before I worry about too hot.

I have considered getting a humidity-controlled cabinet humidor that would ordinarily hold cigars. Any thoughts, experts?

Reply to
Danica

Hi Balt,

Check out this article on Pu'er tea at

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There are also other pu'er articles at this site.

Bill

Reply to
mr.bill.lee

Here is what I do:

I get as nice, new as possible - the red clay flower pots. I like the stubby ones, 31cm -- 12 something inches, I think. These fit pretty nice on a nice shelf somewhere. Select them carefully, to make sure they haven't been sitting in the greenhouse or storage area of the garden center you're buying them from and aren't moldy or what-not. Nice, new ones. It may be a seasonal thing - you may have to wait 'till spring when the new shipments arrive. I also purchase the clay saucer that comes with the pot - the right size, but it goes on top, not on the bottom. Check to make sure the saucer fits nice and snug on top of the pot.

Then, I purchase 100% cotton fabric, in a nice pattern, whatever looks nice or is interesting. For the 31cm pots, 2 yards is a good length for the stubby flower pots - the more tapered, taller ones you'd probably need

3 yards or more - the fabric stores usually have the fabric at 43-44 inches across in the rolls, and that fits the 31cm pots perfectly. Any larger pot, you'd probably need the fabric that comes on wider rolls, and you'll have less variety there.

So in any case, it's basically - 31cm stubby flower pot with corresponding clay saucer and 2 yards of 100% cotton fabric on a standard

43-44" roll. Easy enough.

What I do then, is to wash the flower pot by hand with natural, non-toxic dish soap (Dr. Bronner's Sal Suds, for instance, something of that caliber, or even better, something fragrance free) - fairly heavily diluted, because the clay pots, being porous, soak up the soap and its incredibly hard to wash them clean. In other words, dilute the soap first, then pour it on the flowerpot, then scrub it real good. I scrub it down pretty good for a while, rinse it numerous times, and then let it dry in the hot sun, turning it so that the sun gets all angles. I try to leave it out for the whole day, if possible. Obviously, this can't be done during the winter. You can probably skip the hot sun part, but that's just how I've always done it.

Then, I take the cotton cloth and wash it in the washing machine with a fragrance-free laundry detergent, then hang it outside to dry in the hot sun. You could even wash by hand to avoid the nasty smell of laundromat laundry machines, if necessary.

Then, once it's all clean, I line the bottom with a Chemex coffee filter or two opened up (they're pretty big) to catch any tea that crumbles off, and then wrap the flowerpot in the cloth.

Here's how I do that: Take the cloth, place it on a table or some other large enough clean surface area - good side down. Place the flower pot directly in the middle of the cloth. In my case, the cloth is a rectangle

- 2 yards long, 44 inches wide. Take the short length - the 44 inch length, and fold each side up to the top of the flower pot. Depending on that particular fabric roll, it may or may not reach all the way around - the sides may not touch - but that's not a problem - you stretch them up as far as they will go, and place the saucer on top. That holds them down. Then, you likewise, nicely fold up the remaining length of the cloth, essentially doubling it up, and then bring the long end of the rectangle up and over the top of the saucer.

This combination allows air circulation (although slowly) and also protects from cooking and other temporary odors - I don't smoke, and there's no smoking in my house, so I don't know if it's effective against those types of odors, but I doubt it.

As far as humidity and temperature, my understanding is that wherever your puerh is stored, it will reflect those storage conditions. I don't know that there's really any way around that. I'm fine with that, actually.

Reply to
Puerh Fan

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