Pros & Cons of Using Ceramic Tea Caddies

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Ethan Kurland
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Mon Jun 28, 2021 11:56 am

When I opened packets of dark teas, I emptied tea into ceramic tea caddies. I believe some teas give more after they get to breath.

Now I am doubting the practice. For a couple of weeks, teas' flavors open up with the small amount of air that comes through their porous caddies. Great! Then there can be some negative changes. Perhaps some flavors take over. The taste of fruit may be lost to the taste of spices.

Sometimes changes are interesting & fun. I don't want to lose flavors though.

I have been using a fairly shallow porcelain bowl to prepare tea for the past few weeks. About 1 1/2 grams of leaves infuse about 75 ml of water to start. The wet, expanded leaves take up more space. The second rounds use significantly less water & after that often there is room for no more than 50 ml water to be added to leaves. Perceiving every second of each infusion with my eyes & nose of 2 dark teas once or twice everyday, I am learning how all draw out all of the flavors in those teas. Changing parameters or the amount of leaves used, are not the only options. One might combine all of the infusions before drinking (e.g., one round for the flavors of fruit & another for spices & yet another for depth & body) to get the ideal cup of tea.

In short, I don't need air coming into a tea caddy for positive effects & don't want that air's negative effects. However, I should note that opening anything holding tea once or twice a day, lets the leaves get a significant amount of air over time.

While I continue in my routine of drinking 3 teas daily, I will start to keep my teas tightly closed in their foil packets (as I have done with green oolong). We'll see how long it takes for a newly opened pack of leaves to deliver all of their flavors.

I hope to hear about the experience of other members with letting their teas breath.
Last edited by Ethan Kurland on Mon Jun 28, 2021 8:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
GaoShan
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Mon Jun 28, 2021 7:37 pm

Ethan Kurland wrote:
Mon Jun 28, 2021 11:56 am
When I opened packets of dark teas, I emptied tea into ceramic tea caddies. I believe some teas give more after they get to breath.

Now I am doubting the practice. For a couple of weeks, teas' flavors open up with the small amount of air that comes through their porous caddies. Great! Then some flavors take over. The taste of fruit may be lost to the taste of spices.

Sometimes changes are interesting & fun. I don't want to lose flavors though.

I have been using a fairly shallow porcelain bowl to prepare tea for the past few weeks. About 1 1/2 grams of leaves infuse about 75 ml of water to start. The wet, expanded leaves take up more space. The second rounds use significantly less water & after that no more than 50 ml water is added to leaves. Perceiving every second of each infusion with my eyes & nose of 2 dark teas everyday (at least once & often twice), I am learning how find all that those teas have to offer. Changing parameters or the amount of leaves used, are not the only options. One might combine all of the infusions before drinking (e.g., one round for the flavors of fruit & another for spices & yet another for depth & body) to get the ideal cup of tea.

In short, I don't need air coming into a tea caddy to take all of the flavors out of leaves that they harbor. However, I should note that opening anything holding tea once or twice a day, lets the leaves get a significant amount of air.

While I continue in my routine of drinking 3 teas daily, I will start to keep my teas tightly closed in their foil packets (as I have done with green oolong). We'll see how long it takes for a newly opened pack of leaves to deliver all of their flavors.

I hope to hear about the experience of other members with letting their teas breath.
I don't have any experience with ceramic tea caddies, but find that tea put into metal tins loses flavour quickly. I did this with a couple green oolongs but stopped because the flavour deteriorated so badly. I think the tins allow too much air to come in contact with the tea.
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Bok
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Mon Jun 28, 2021 8:26 pm

I used to think ceramic caddies are a good idea, mainly because mindlessly believing certain bloggers and authorities... I have since come to similar conclusions, most tea will loose in a matter of days, unless wax sealed. Which is what I am doing now, wax sealed porcelain for long term storage and a few clay jars with other sealing methods.

Even the often mentioned opening -up is mostly a myth according to my experience, a day at most is what I would leave tea in a seal-less jar. Other than that tightly closed pack is best.
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Balthazar
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Tue Jun 29, 2021 1:32 am

Interesting points.

My two cents: it depends. Through trial and error I've come to the conclusion that it can benefit some teas (certain - but not all - compressed ones, some roasted oolongs). But when they've actually "awakened/opened" (in lack of a better word), storing them in caddies may no longer be a good idea unless you're planning to consume the tea quite quickly (unless wax sealed or similar). The deterioration can set in quickly. Also, environment is an important factor imo. Things that worked for me when I was living in Hong Kong no longer do back here in Norway (biggest difference is the time it takes to awaken/open something with high roast).
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Bok
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Tue Jun 29, 2021 1:46 am

Balthazar wrote:
Tue Jun 29, 2021 1:32 am
storing them in caddies may no longer be a good idea unless you're planning to consume the tea quite quickly (unless wax sealed or similar). The deterioration can set in quickly.
Exactly that, it might be easy to be fooled by an initial improvement, with a rapid decline following up.
TeaZero
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Tue Jun 29, 2021 5:18 am

Storage in caddies doesn't work at all for most teas. It does work for both ripe and raw pu erh, especially older ones and darker oolongs. It doesn't work for light oolong, because the flavour is mainly the fragrance that's on the surface of the tea. For darker oolongs, the flavour is more inside the tea, and ceramic storage can work.
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debunix
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Tue Jun 29, 2021 11:58 am

It didn't take me long to realize that ugly mylar-lined packets of tea were something I'd just have to deal with, because they effectively preserve the delicate flavors and aromas of many teas so much better than anything else. But I like my sakura canister and find it seals well enough for the couple of weeks I am drinking through a pouch of sencha or gyokuro (my usual daily morning tea). And I have been happier with some deep roast oolongs after letting them sit in a dry, empty, closed teapot (obviously not 'sealed' but reasonably protected from dust and cat fur....) for a few weeks. Because I love their appearance and feel, I've been considering getting a few more Sakura canisters for darker roast oolongs, and I'd consider ceramic caddies for the same purpose, but I can't see that ever being more than a handful of containers for most-used teas and a prettier tea table.
Ethan Kurland
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Tue Jun 29, 2021 1:31 pm

debunix wrote:
Tue Jun 29, 2021 11:58 am
... a handful of containers for most-used teas and a prettier tea table.
Yes. Bright foil packets closed by rubber bands look too garish to me. I have put 3 mylar-lined packets inside of attractive tins & a ceramic caddy for a table that promotes serenity.
Andrew S
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Tue Jun 29, 2021 5:38 pm

As always, I think it depends on the tea and what you're trying to get out of it.

For my part, as I mentioned on the fermented tea page here, I always try to put old pu er and similar teas into earthenware or ceramic jars, because I feel that they do improve once they've had a chance to 'breathe' (storage aromas and flavours dissipate, roughness is reduced, they tend to feel 'broader' and less 'narrow' or 'sharp' in how they taste and feel).

That's mostly for the lower-quality old tea that I can drink on a daily basis (both wetter-stored, and younger and rougher teas; they both benefit from smoothing-out).

Higher-quality and better-stored old tea don't require that kind of 'aeration' quite as much, but I feel that they do still benefit from storage in smaller porcelain jars, and I don't find that they go 'off' with time.

On the other hand, I don't really store other teas (such as yancha) in jars in order for them to develop, but rather in order to free them from their 8.3g or whatever packets, let them acclimatise over a few days, and then drink them shortly thereafter. They don't tend to last all that long because I transfer them to jars in order to drink them, not in order to watch them develop.

And unless I only use an 80mL teapot, I just find it annoying to open up an 8g or 8.3g packet to take out only, say, 5g of tea. The rest has to go somewhere, so it goes into porcelain jars with another packet or two for consumption in the near future.

I could conduct an experiment, of course, as between porcelain-stored yancha and yancha fresh from its tiny packet...

Andrew
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Bok
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Tue Jun 29, 2021 7:48 pm

Andrew S wrote:
Tue Jun 29, 2021 5:38 pm
I could conduct an experiment, of course, as between porcelain-stored yancha and yancha fresh from its tiny packet...
Here comes another issue. Tea usually ages best in volume. A few gram in a tiny pack, won't age as well as a whole jin altogether.
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Baisao
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Wed Jun 30, 2021 12:36 pm

I settled on large, brown, glass jars that I flush with inert gasses. If they aren’t in those jars, they are in Mylar bags flushed with inert gasses.

I mostly drink darker Taiwanese oolongs and Japanese greens. The greens remain in their Mylar pouches.

I’ve also observed an immediate improvement with tea allowed to breathe, followed by a rapid deterioration. My method has been the best compromise for me.

Pu and white teas are simply stored (separately) in hat boxes.
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