Some of my teas acquire a sour soybean taste and smell

[26uk]

Especially whites, but have had it for a few oolongs and blacks too. Wondering if it's a storage issue.

It's just been at most a few months.

[LeoFox]

Could be too humid?

[Victoria]

Yes, excess humidity will leave a sour taste. What kind of teas is this happening with? If it’s a previously roasted oolong, you could try re-roasting for 15 minutes and then letting tea rest a week or so before trying.

[26uk]

Thanks it just happened today when I re-tasted an oriental beauty. I gave it really high marks originally, now two months later it's sour. Can't imagine it being high humidity indoors but maybe some condensation occurred. A month ago I kept doors and windows open for a week to air out some paint smells.

It wasn't stored with any boveda packs, just in a zip lock bag with a sealing pin (not 100% airtight)

It happened to a few whites I had too, recently re-tasted. Maybe a black but not obvious.

[26uk]

I could put the oriental beauty in the oven and see how it goes Let me try that for experimentation.

[26uk]

Another question, some aged whites Ive tried have been sour, but after a rinse or two, the sour is gone. Happened to a few of them to be a one off. Just typical aged white funkiness?

[DailyTX]

I do noticed a source note in aged white tea when I over steep it. Maybe you can try less leaves, faster steep, and a slight lower temperature to see if it helps.

[26uk]

I do noticed a source note in aged white tea when I over steep it. Maybe you can try less leaves, faster steep, and a slight lower temperature to see if it helps.

I did note that a lower temperature makes the sour note disappear.

[LeoFox]

I do noticed a source note in aged white tea when I over steep it. Maybe you can try less leaves, faster steep, and a slight lower temperature to see if it helps.

I did note that a lower temperature makes the sour note disappear.

Same with chinese hong cha of lower quality

[Baisao]

Good whites get better with age but all aged teas that taste good will go through a phase where they aren’t so good, though not necessarily a rancid smell.

I believe what you are smelling are oils in the leaves going rancid. I can only speculate whether this odor will pass with time. My hunch is that it does.

[26uk]

Good whites get better with age but all aged teas that taste good will go through a phase where they aren’t so good, though not necessarily a rancid smell.

I believe what you are smelling are oils in the leaves going rancid. I can only speculate whether this odor will pass with time. My hunch is that it does.

Very interesting. Will keep this in mind.

[aet]

I also only add my guess on that. If your tea came from higher humidity place like GZ , SH, HK or even Fujian , there is a fairly amount of moisture in leaf which needs to be maintained in ventilated condition. If you keep sealed , high possibility of “fast fermenting” process which is sort of composting ( burning ) the leaves and that stage acidity is common ( happens with bad fermented batch of shu or very wet stored shu ...aka alcohol / bourbon notes )
Id suggest to keep it open , but of course issue later might be that your tea will dry out / fade out the taste.
This is also a common issue with puerh from hot & humid places being transferred to relatively dry place. For that there is also a solution ...search for Puerh storage issues and solutions.