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It is frequent to buy large quantity of a certain tea, maybe your preferred one, once the new year’s harvest arrives to your reference market, with the idea to store it as best you can, enjoying it all over the year. I personally do it with my favourite green teas, as example. Anyway, even following all conservations recommendations (cool and dry place, etc.), a certain degree of decay occurs, and it cannot be prevented much.In another case, I may get a tea that was not stored very well…Just to my question: how can I vary brewing parameters according to tea aging?Beside prevention, is there a way to “save” an old tea at the time of infusion?
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Olden green tea is a difficult tea to re-render well. The most it lost is not only the floral aroma but also the freshness in taste. If the condition is not so bad, most amino acids, the substance that give it the “umami” character, should still be there. To maximize what is left of the green tea, I increase the tea to water ratio and raise a very tiny bit the infusion temperature but reduce infuse time. The Yixing tea pot helps to reduce the bitterness of doing this and to give you a smoother texture. I also find that every single selection can be quite different in the degree of this modification and the condition of deterioration is also a variable factor.
As you have said, prevention of oldening is the best way to enjoy green tea. One way to do that is to store your finds well in a fridge in small batches, say 60~80 gram small packs, so you can always have a fresh batch at room temperature continuously throughout the year.Hope this help, and pls let me know how you have experiment with your stock. -
I usually pack green tea (especially long jing) into small plastic bags covered by a sheet of paper inside to better buffer residual humidity left in. Than, I put the bags into small metal airtight cans with a label. The avarage temperature of the room is about 19°C during winter, but can raise up to 35°C during summer. There’s very low humidity.Last year I tried to put a can in my fridge to make the tea better survive the hot summer, but I found a changed texture in my LJ a week later that I didn’t find in the tea left at room temperature.I think putting tea in a fridge slightly modifies it immediately, but allows a better storage over time.What do you think about it?
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Putting a piece of paper between the tea and the container is a very traditional way to deal with the problem and is still practiced by many older respectful retailers. I am so delighted to read that you are doing the same.
Immediately after production, a green tea should be about 5~6% water. However, improper subsequent handling often cause higher moisture content at retail. Protecting your buy is a smart thing to do.In old style packing for Longjing, two layers of paper wrap each 0.6 kg of tea before putting in a tin lined crate. A same size pack of dehydrated gypsum is put in the centre of the crate.You are right that after refridgeration the tea changes a bit. One way I always do to minimize that and quite successfully is never to open even the first layer of protection after the tea is taken out from the fridge. I let it stand for one day or so to make sure the whole mass is return to room temperature to avoid moisture condensation on the surface of the leaves.Unless the tea is purchased immediately after production, almost all green tea producers, including tiny family operated ones, put their stock in the fridge before the ambient temperature turns 30. That is why some green tea in the market has been subjected to refrigeration without even the retailers themselves knowing it. Lower price green tea, such as meicha or gunpowder are exceptions.
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