drying a cake that is too damp
Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2022 11:46 pm
This is definitely an unusual context, since I first tried sheng and shu a decade ago, and bought cakes of both back then, and never encountered it before. I recently tried a Thai wild origin cake version that seemed too damp to me, not dried properly. It was a very newly produced version, almost certainly made within a month of me getting it. I mentioned this online elsewhere but didn't write about the part about trying out drying it in a blog post (I write a blog), so there's really no connection to that writing context, beyond describing its initial character there, which I just did. I did describe taste aspects and such there, which isn't completely relevant anyway. It was really good, unusually pleasant and distinctive, but I suspect inconsistent processing by small batches could have added complexity at the cost of perhaps offsetting long term aging potential.
The tea was pliable, tightly pressed (not a concern), but not the same leaf texture as any of the range of other sheng I ever tried, apparently a bit damp. I tried drying it out, concerned that it might not age properly, that it might go sour or mold. How would you go about that? I dried some salt, about an eighth of a cup of it maybe, not much, but vastly more than would be held in a desiccant packet. My thinking was that salt conditioned to be as damp as normal local humidity level would hold no more water, so I needed to use a dried version. Then I put the two small cakes, 400 grams in total, with that into a food grade Lock and Lock container, with the salt in a small steel bowl, covered with a tissue, held by a rubber band. I checked it after a day, then went out of town for awhile, 5 days, and left it there over that time. Two air exposure instances from the humid room air would buffer the effect of drying, since the salt would end up holding that humidity first.
Of course it seemed drier later, but not necessarily bone dry (not that I could probably judge that, relative humidity level). I brewed some again, trying it for the third or fourth time, and it didn't seem much different, but leaf texture wasn't as pliable. Being stored now with the rest of my tea, in ziplock bags to limit air contact some, but allowing for plenty of exposure, will let it equalize with other tea level and normal local humidity. Which is high; I live in Bangkok, and I'm being heated and steamed here every day of the year, as that tea is.
At a guess the risk of that cake going off or growing mold was low anyway; it was probably extra damp but that would've evened back out soon enough. I'll never know, unless I hear of someone else's experiences with the same tea, or from that vendor. I wouldn't have considered it as much of a risk except that I've heard of another Thai producer ruining a batch of tea for not drying it sufficiently, made into tuochas instead, which I never heard clear details about.
I guess the point here is sharing an unusual experience, which may or may not lead to further interesting discussion.
The tea was pliable, tightly pressed (not a concern), but not the same leaf texture as any of the range of other sheng I ever tried, apparently a bit damp. I tried drying it out, concerned that it might not age properly, that it might go sour or mold. How would you go about that? I dried some salt, about an eighth of a cup of it maybe, not much, but vastly more than would be held in a desiccant packet. My thinking was that salt conditioned to be as damp as normal local humidity level would hold no more water, so I needed to use a dried version. Then I put the two small cakes, 400 grams in total, with that into a food grade Lock and Lock container, with the salt in a small steel bowl, covered with a tissue, held by a rubber band. I checked it after a day, then went out of town for awhile, 5 days, and left it there over that time. Two air exposure instances from the humid room air would buffer the effect of drying, since the salt would end up holding that humidity first.
Of course it seemed drier later, but not necessarily bone dry (not that I could probably judge that, relative humidity level). I brewed some again, trying it for the third or fourth time, and it didn't seem much different, but leaf texture wasn't as pliable. Being stored now with the rest of my tea, in ziplock bags to limit air contact some, but allowing for plenty of exposure, will let it equalize with other tea level and normal local humidity. Which is high; I live in Bangkok, and I'm being heated and steamed here every day of the year, as that tea is.
At a guess the risk of that cake going off or growing mold was low anyway; it was probably extra damp but that would've evened back out soon enough. I'll never know, unless I hear of someone else's experiences with the same tea, or from that vendor. I wouldn't have considered it as much of a risk except that I've heard of another Thai producer ruining a batch of tea for not drying it sufficiently, made into tuochas instead, which I never heard clear details about.
I guess the point here is sharing an unusual experience, which may or may not lead to further interesting discussion.