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Someone posted in a Facebook group about finding a number of packs of Japanese green tea from occupied Japan, so presumably produced around the 1950 time-frame, or maybe a few years earlier. It's interesting just to consider what 70+ year old green tea would be like. There's not a lot more detail here, but some, and photos of the pack and dry leaf:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1647370 ... 176477580/

Apparently he has more to sell as well. I'm not saying this is definitely "real," although it sounds like it to me. His review doesn't sound exactly like tea blogger content, but then those sources are all over the map when it comes to that too:

Tobin Harding:
So, just following up on what I have said here ..
Here is a pic of the leaf itself... obviously dark and dry.
I brewed a pot out of the small amount here, I estimate about a common tea bag worth.
I boiled the water and let it sit for a few mins, then poured it over the leaf (in a bag)
Then let a few mins go by to seep...
After about 3-4 mins I tried the first small cup.
The flavor was very light and delicate, only a hint of aroma and color.
After a few more mins the next cup had a bit more flavor, light with a hint of wood, I recognized it as a green tea.
I compared it a modern green tea bag from Costco.
The modern stuff had a lot stronger and different flavor.
I know it's not scientific and I'm not really the right person for such things.
I am comfortable in feeling that it's drinkable and good.

I dropped by a local Chinatown shop where they were just finishing up drinking a 40+ year old version of Longjing once, but I missed the part about tasting it. Aged green tea isn't a common subject but also not unheard of.

Eventually I might merge this new topic with an existing one Japanese Green Tea: Aged, Roasted, Fermented. A few members like @Bok and @pedant have posted about aged Japanese green teas, some fermented, others intentionally aged in sealed dry containers. It is possible Tobin Harding’s decades old tea needs to awaken before tasting, since it has been sealed for a very long time. Some ambient humidity might perk it up

Interesting! The one I had been stored in probably a lot higher humidity and in a simple tin in Taiwan. The flavour were definitely not light, quite intense. But we brewed them also in gongfu style with more leaf and shorter infusions.

@Bok can you provide details regarding the aged Japanese tea you had? I can’t seem to find the post (s) maybe you can link. I remember something like 1940s and you enjoyed it.

Found the post

Thanks @LeoFox can you include link to that post? Would be nice if @Bok could ask his generous friend to share images of tea leaves and additional info like tea provenance and how it was identified and stored etc. Reading through Japanese Green Tea: Aged, Roasted, Fermented topic I found @luchayi post about a hundred year old bancha that was stored in ceramic jars, it had mellowed out nicely and was better than fresh new harvest version viewtopic.php?p=17199#p17199. It is easier to imagine smoked bancha aging, in a slightly porous ceramic jar, with just enough moisture to very slowly ferment over a very long period of time.

I had a Shizu-7132 sencha that had been aged 21 years. It was terrible. It still had rancid notes and none of the characteristics of the cultivar.

It was well intentioned gift. I have no idea how it had been stored previously. Roasting it at this point wouldn’t have improved it. After that, I pass on aged greens unless I do them myself with a gas cloak. Even then they aren’t as good as when fresh. I’ve aged Taiwanese BLC for 5 years on gas and it was tasty but still not as good as when fresh.

@Victoria I’ll try and ask. Most of these really old teas are almost impossible to verify in terms of how they were stored, at least for a big portion of their shelf life... it was the last portion of it, so not sure if images exist.

I had a longjing of unknown age a while ago which has been very similar in taste(or what I think I remember of it).

That one a well we brewed with a high leaf water ratio. It was also quite memorable as a tea.

What is everyone's general definition of "aged"

What is the difference between aged tea and tea that has been sitting in a closet for a number of years

Sweetestdew wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 23, 2020 8:02 pm

What is everyone's general definition of "aged"

What is the difference between aged tea and tea that has been sitting in a closet for a number of years

No difference, practically speaking. There’s no way to reliably know how the tea was stored when buying. At home, I don’t age in a closet but with amber glass and inert gasses. I doubt what’s sold on the market is well cared for. Maybe some are vacuum sealed but these are getting hard to find.

Sweetestdew wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 23, 2020 8:02 pm

What is everyone's general definition of "aged"

What is the difference between aged tea and tea that has been sitting in a closet for a number of years

At least five years, before the change is usually for the worse - before it gets better.

Realistically 10y is starting to be properly aged.

And yes I agree, most of what is older than 20y is highly likely not intentionally aged and so storage is a gamble as is the result. Aged does not automatically equal better. I’ve had atrocious teas which were stored for a very long time. If it’s good it can be very good. Mostly it’s not.