Storing tea properly
Tea is a dried leaf that wants to reabsorb the world around it. Four rules keep it tasting like itself.
Keep it dark, keep it airtight, keep it dry, and keep it away from anything with a smell. Tea absorbs aroma indiscriminately — a tin next to coffee, soap or spices will taste of them within weeks.
Green and lightly oxidised oolong teas are the most perishable: drink them within six to twelve months of harvest, and keep them sealed and cool. Do not refrigerate unless the tin is truly airtight, or condensation will ruin the leaf.
Dark oolong, black tea and white tea improve with a year or two of dry storage. Pu-erh is the exception to nearly every rule — it is alive, and it needs a little air. Keep cakes wrapped in paper in a cupboard away from light and odours, and let them breathe.
Pick a tea and brew it tonight
Every product page carries its own gaiwan and Western parameters, so you never have to guess.
Keep reading
How to brew gongfu style
More leaf, less water, shorter steeps, many infusions. The Chinese method that gets the most out of a tea — and is far more forgiving than it looks.
GreenWater and temperature
The single biggest reason people think they dislike green tea is water that is 20 degrees too hot.
WhiteWhat tea actually does
An honest summary: tea is a pleasant, low-calorie drink with mild effects. Most of the extraordinary claims are marketing.