Recommend loose leaf raw puer storage

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26uk
Posts: 70
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Mon Dec 21, 2020 5:48 pm

I'm looking to store some loose leaf raw puer. Accidentally bought too much for current storage.

Need about 700g of storage, could be one big container or a few smaller ones. Something nondescript would be nice. Maybe a clay jar. Not too small that a boveda pack won't fit.

Thank you ahead of time :)
DailyTX
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Mon Dec 21, 2020 5:56 pm

Any glass container will work. If you plan to drink them, I may even consider a zip lock bag :lol:
26uk
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Mon Dec 21, 2020 5:59 pm

DailyTX wrote:
Mon Dec 21, 2020 5:56 pm
Any glass container will work. If you plan to drink them, I may even consider a zip lock bag :lol:
Because without something air tight like a zip lock bag, the tea will go "bad" with the dry conditions?
DailyTX
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Mon Dec 21, 2020 6:51 pm

26uk wrote:
Mon Dec 21, 2020 5:59 pm
DailyTX wrote:
Mon Dec 21, 2020 5:56 pm
Any glass container will work. If you plan to drink them, I may even consider a zip lock bag :lol:
Because without something air tight like a zip lock bag, the tea will go "bad" with the dry conditions?
Depended on your climate. Zip lock bag can help to keep moisture inside if you are in a dry climate. For 700grams of tea, that will last me about 100 sessions. That’s about 3-4 months of tea. Not worth the time and resource to invest in storage. If you are planning to collect more and age your tea, that’s a different case. Members have posted various tea aging method in this forum.
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OCTO
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Location: Penang, Malaysia

Mon Dec 21, 2020 10:36 pm

DailyTX wrote:
Mon Dec 21, 2020 6:51 pm
26uk wrote:
Mon Dec 21, 2020 5:59 pm
DailyTX wrote:
Mon Dec 21, 2020 5:56 pm
Any glass container will work. If you plan to drink them, I may even consider a zip lock bag :lol:
Because without something air tight like a zip lock bag, the tea will go "bad" with the dry conditions?
Depended on your climate. Zip lock bag can help to keep moisture inside if you are in a dry climate. For 700grams of tea, that will last me about 100 sessions. That’s about 3-4 months of tea. Not worth the time and resource to invest in storage. If you are planning to collect more and age your tea, that’s a different case. Members have posted various tea aging method in this forum.
Agree with @DailyTX. Depending on your local climate, I would usually keep my loose leaves in a porcelain or aluminium jar with a layer of calligraphy paper lining the insides of the jar. The paper acts as a filter to filter off unwanted smell and maintain humidity. Not sure if this would work under your local climate. I would avoid direct sunlight.... hence glass is a no go for me.

Cheers!
26uk
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Mon Dec 21, 2020 11:40 pm

Why the paper if it's already in a porcelain or metal jar?

And is it calligraphy rice paper? It looks porous compared to say wax paper?

Im in nor cal which is dry.
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wave_code
Posts: 575
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Tue Dec 22, 2020 2:54 pm

I'm looking to move a lot of teas right now to canisters from zip packs or and plastic bags, probably going with a bunch of the generic square-ish alu tins for bricks and loose or tuo type teas in round canisters with extra internal lids. everything will be lined with paper though too.

For paper lining I can think of a few reasons... for one while jars will be tins are folded metal, so they still aren't totally air tight and how much or little exchange or moisture loss there is will depend on the tin's construction- this can be good because you want some air exchange so the tea can breathe, but you don't want things to get dried out - adding a layer of paper can slow this down- you are basically adding another membrane that can allow oxygen to exchange but at a slower rate and without too much moisture moving in or out. also when you move your tins and get tea out paper will keep leaves from getting into/stuck in corners meaning less broken leaf/dust over a long time. I don't know how much effect contact long term with alu or steel could have on tea, so a piece of paper for extra protection certainly can't hurt. I think the paper can basically act like a thermos or a sleeping bag liner- you create an extra layer which combined with the empty space between the two surfaces helps even further to create a more favorable micro-environment for your tea.

also as you point out not all paper is the same - some is more permeable than others and in different material- mulberry, cotton, cellulose pulp, so on, and can have different potential acidity and smells too. wax paper might not be the best idea though since its probably closer to having your tea in a plastic bag, which from what I understand long term can lead to a very sour character. not all calligraphy or similar paper is totally acid free, but if its intended for that use its probably going to be much lower than say a brown paper bio trash bag since people don't want their work yellowing or breaking down. even papers which aren't totally acid free like a lot of Japanese papers are can last hundreds of years regardless.
26uk
Posts: 70
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Tue Dec 22, 2020 3:06 pm

Thanks for the elaboration it really helps to understanding the intricacies of this.

The only reason I want to age some loose leaf puer is purely because I have extra and some are really rough at this young age. So if I screw up some it's perfectly fine. But I definitely don't want to be too casual with it either.
wave_code wrote:
Tue Dec 22, 2020 2:54 pm
I'm looking to move a lot of teas right now to canisters from zip packs or and plastic bags, probably going with a bunch of the generic square-ish alu tins for bricks and loose or tuo type teas in round canisters with extra internal lids. everything will be lined with paper though too.

For paper lining I can think of a few reasons... for one while jars will be tins are folded metal, so they still aren't totally air tight and how much or little exchange or moisture loss there is will depend on the tin's construction- this can be good because you want some air exchange so the tea can breathe, but you don't want things to get dried out - adding a layer of paper can slow this down- you are basically adding another membrane that can allow oxygen to exchange but at a slower rate and without too much moisture moving in or out. also when you move your tins and get tea out paper will keep leaves from getting into/stuck in corners meaning less broken leaf/dust over a long time. I don't know how much effect contact long term with alu or steel could have on tea, so a piece of paper for extra protection certainly can't hurt. I think the paper can basically act like a thermos or a sleeping bag liner- you create an extra layer which combined with the empty space between the two surfaces helps even further to create a more favorable micro-environment for your tea.

also as you point out not all paper is the same - some is more permeable than others and in different material- mulberry, cotton, cellulose pulp, so on, and can have different potential acidity and smells too. wax paper might not be the best idea though since its probably closer to having your tea in a plastic bag, which from what I understand long term can lead to a very sour character. not all calligraphy or similar paper is totally acid free, but if its intended for that use its probably going to be much lower than say a brown paper bio trash bag since people don't want their work yellowing or breaking down. even papers which aren't totally acid free like a lot of Japanese papers are can last hundreds of years regardless.
greengaiwan
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Thu Mar 11, 2021 2:11 pm

I'm trying to store several different young sheng samples too. Before, I have stored them in the pouches that they came in but have found a small dab of mold on two different occasions after a couple months. The pouches were kept closed for the most part, with excess air folded out. I don't want this to happen to the 25-50gram samples I'll be getting, and want to have good storage that isn't over or underkill. After reading around a little I'm exploring cheap options since ceramic jars are a little pricey. I was thinking to get a 320 boveda, a 64 quart opaque sterilite bin, and a 12 pack of 8 oz ball mason jars. Also some mulberry paper from the art store. I was thinking of putting the samples in the ball jars with the tops covered in mulberry paper by itself or maybe with the flat metal tops over the paper too but with holes in metal tops. Then keep the jars in the sterilite bin with the boveda pack(s) outside the jars. And maybe some pieces of mulberry paper lining the sides of the bin to help regulate the environment. If I end up getting cakes I could store them in their wrappers in the sterilite bin just loose stacked or in an open pouch. Not sure how that will do. I guess keep the bin lid closed and then leave it slightly open sometimes?
Another simpler option I thought of was just to put a 1-2 inch square of clean paper towel in each sheng sample pouch and just leave it at that. I don't think that would be enough to dry out the tea but maybe would take on excess humidity? Or more fancy simple option, get a ten pack of size 4 or 8 bovedas and put one in each sheng pouch to keep good humidity. I think with the pouch storage option it requires more multiple opening and closing for air circulation? With a bin I can pop the top for a bit and that's it. And can store cakes, although to me cakes I want are expensive. I'm not trying to age my sheng long term over 5 years, just for it to keep well without losing too much of itself..
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wave_code
Posts: 575
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Sat Mar 13, 2021 11:02 am

is it super damp where you are or were the samples from wet storage? While if you want to have lots of samples around for a long time you might want to figure something out, I'd also think that if samples show up and develop mold that quickly... maybe thats just not good tea or storage. are you sure the mold was a new bloom, and not something like a bit of white frost from the initial storage?
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