What You've Been Waiting For

Oct 05, 2006 47 Replies

This is a good topic. At above what % humidity level do you consider a puerh to be in "wet storage"?

Certain regions are naturally more humid than others. For example, if all other variables were identical, and you stored tea "without" any sort of climate control equipment in Kunming the result would be far different than if the same tea were stored in Guangzhou, with the more humid Guangzhou storage probably yielding a better end product.

In the above example would you call the Guangzhou storage "wet storage", or is "wet storage" more aptly where the humidity is maintained at artificially high levels through various manipulations of the climatic environment?

It is my understanding that changes in climate, much like the changes of the seasons, are very beneficial for the ultimate quality of a puerh. Alternating between humid and dry, etc. While I am certain that this could easily be simulated through mechanization, I deal with this type of equipment at work, to accurately control the environment (ie square footage) of a warehouse would be very costly. I am aware of special "climate control" chambers (much smaller than a warehouse) that are used to precisely control heat and humidity in order to "speed-age" green puerhs. Unfortunately I suspect these are most often used with intent to defraud.

Depending on your definition of "wet-storage" you may indeed be right that I have tasted it and not realized it. However, I have tasted many where I could tell that the tea had been stored in high humidity at some point. Whether or not it rose to level of being considered "wet-storage" is debatable.

You mentioned " Properly done wet storage" earlier, what exactly do you mean by that? What is the "Hong Kong" definition of "wet-storage"?

-- Mike Petro

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Just a suggestion. Could this topic be moved to a thread of its own? I am enjoying the recent conversation regarding 'wet storage", but I do not want to give the original topic more time.

-David Lesseps re humidity and storage: I recently recieved my sample of traditionally HK-stored 2001 MengKu Mengsa beeng to compare with the dry stored version. I look forward to the test.

Mike Petro wrote:

Wet store is not the sole problem, most people do wet store and it's difficult to get dry store pu these days unless you age it yourself. The problem is the people that do the wet store process with the intent to trick the consumer, which is what you usually meet. I'm not talking about putting the tea in place with high humidity (storage chamber, the like), I'm talking about people spraying the tea down with water and letting it dry in the sun...then doing it over and over again until you basically have nice tasting mud for upwards of 4 or 5 brewings.

Wet store 5 year and dry store 5 year have completely different tastes and the dry store won't make your throat so uncomfortable when you drink it.

Mike snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com/14/06

13: snipped-for-privacy@mikepetro.org

snip snip and snip again

Yes, good. I have in my possession two 1988 Meng Hai cakes, one that had been stored in New York City and one that had been stored in Hong Kong. there is a difference in the taste, as you'd expect. The tea is excellent from both. I'm going to do another side-by-side before commenting further, since which one I prefer seems to correlate more with my mood of the moment than with anything objective. But, that's me. Later.

Here's a communications test. It is only a test. If it holds no meaning for you, please ignore: How about Tuesday; that is, tomorrow?

I'm drinking Shui Xian this morning. It's wonderful. After 62 years of trial and error, I've uncovered the simple secret to SX success.

Michael

I suspect somebody asked this Mydnight, but would you kindly define the relative humidity and temperature of the storage conditions for both. Thanks. Michael

Everything that is old is new. It's the only model by definition that can supply any remaining quantities of 30+ chen puer to meet the current demand. There are no guarantees of any chronological age. The confidence game is the oldest one in the books. My only suggestion buy recent crops now and enjoy in the years to come which is the promise of puer supposedly.

Jim

Mydnight wrote:

Sorry, most people that carry out these procedures are hardly standardized using any kind of specific measurement for time or humidity. There is a city in Guangdong called Zhaoqing that is supposedly to be a famous place for pu'er storage because of it's fresh and humid air, though. Dunno what else to say about it.

snipped-for-privacy@m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com10/20/06

02: snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com

That's helpful. Thanks. It's the art behind the science. My faith is restored. Michael

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