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I recently acquired some Sheng and shou puers cakes. I would like to store them together in a wicker basket in their original paper. Do you think this is a good idea?

Depends on the temp and humidity of the room you store your tea in. I find that leaving my tea out tends to make it lose its aroma. My solution is to put them in plastic bags (garbage bags will do) with a couple Boveda packs. They tend to both smell and taste better when I store them this way.

@swordofmytriumph Do you find that storing sheng and shou together causes the flavors to mix? I have been religiously keeping mine separated but I would like to build a pumidor since the temp and humidity in our house is..... not great. It fluctuates wildly and I'd like something more consistent for the teas I wish to age. I just worry about storing the two together long term.

Seconding the above poster, certainly where it can get cold and dry in the US that might be recommended.

I'll also add that I wouldn't store sheng and shou together. Unless you've got some really old mature sheng, once their profiles have sort of started to converge...even then I'd rather keep them apart.

teabooksart wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 19, 2020 9:14 am

Do you find that storing sheng and shou together causes the flavors to mix? I have been religiously keeping mine separated but I would like to build a pumidor since the temp and humidity in our house is..... not great. It fluctuates wildly and I'd like something more consistent for the teas I wish to age. I just worry about storing the two together long term.

Well I actually don’t like shou puerh, so I don’t have any. Probably should’ve mentioned that to start.

That is why I keep my pressed white tea and my puerh separate though. Definitely don’t recommend storing your shou and sheng together.

Thanks @brutusK and @swordofmytriumph! I had a secondary plan to do pumidor totes as well and, while less pretty, sounds like it will be more ideal to keep them separate.

Take a look at Sistema plastic tubs. I use their 7 liter size but they have larger and smaller tubs depending on your needs. Here is the link https://sistemaplastics.com/products/kl ... ectangular. You should separate sheng from shou.

gregcss wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 20, 2020 8:00 pm

Take a look at Sistema plastic tubs. I use their 7 liter size but they have larger and smaller tubs depending on your needs. Here is the link https://sistemaplastics.com/products/kl ... ectangular. You should separate sheng from shou.

Thank you! I have some tubs I had already planned on using - I think the shipping cost from New Zealand might be a bit overkill

teabooksart wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 21, 2020 11:19 am

gregcss wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 20, 2020 8:00 pm

Take a look at Sistema plastic tubs. I use their 7 liter size but they have larger and smaller tubs depending on your needs. Here is the link https://sistemaplastics.com/products/kl ... ectangular. You should separate sheng from shou.

Thank you! I have some tubs I had already planned on using - I think the shipping cost from New Zealand might be a bit overkill

Yeah it would be. The Container Store carries them in the US online and stores.

gregcss wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 20, 2020 8:00 pm

Take a look at Sistema plastic tubs. I use their 7 liter size but they have larger and smaller tubs depending on your needs. Here is the link https://sistemaplastics.com/products/kl ... ectangular. You should separate sheng from shou.

How are sistema tubs different from other plastic tubs?

Janice wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 21, 2020 8:13 pm

gregcss wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 20, 2020 8:00 pm

Take a look at Sistema plastic tubs. I use their 7 liter size but they have larger and smaller tubs depending on your needs. Here is the link https://sistemaplastics.com/products/kl ... ectangular. You should separate sheng from shou.

How are sistema tubs different from other plastic tubs?

Over the years I've been reducing usage of plastic products that store food or beverage in favor of glass or ceramic. When I first started buying tea cakes I didnt have anywhere to store them so I used large zip lock bags. Basically 1 cake per bag. Depending on the weather and especially if I had the window open (who knew), the small bedroom/office where I story them smelled of plastic quite strongly. I didnt want that getting into the tea.

I looked at clay and stone wares made for tea storage, glass containers, and steel containers. The clay and stone are nice but not really meant for a sealed environment to keep in ~70& humidity. Glass was too bulky and hard to get cakes out if they were at the bottom, and steel was too expensive.

I came to the conclusion that plastic tubs were really the best option. So looked for "safe" or "safer" plastic tubs and found Sistema and went with it. Bought locally at The Container Store. It's not 100% airtight but enough to keep the humidity steady at 70%.

should you wish to keep their original aroma I would suggest to have 2 baskets then. 1 shu, and 1 sheng. I haven't done mixed storage my self , so can not confirm how it influence the aroma and taste, so I'm just repeating something what is said by others ( who probably haven't tried either
anyway, the shu gets really strong in smell and tea leafs tend to absorb the outer environment. So technically speaking there should be an influence. In what extend , depends on conditions of storing ( humidity, temperature, breath-ability , time ) .