Darjeeling storage

I recently bought a 2nd flush Darjeeling tea from a tea vendor in CH and found out that it was 3 years old (harvest 2008 bought Jul 2011). I complained this was too old and the vendor agreed & I got my money back. What do you suggest as reasonable shelf-life times for different teas (green presumablly shorter than black) and how much does this depend on storage conditions (eg under vacuum)?

The shelf life of tea is really a big topic and it cannot simply be answered like green tea for one year, black much longer etc, since various varieties have their own properties, some do not store well, some do, even within the same category of tea. Even under a generic label such as Darjeeling. Some black tea are better aged than fresh, some aren’t.

So how long can you store a tin of Darjeeling? I suppose it is very different from an Assam FOP?

You are right. Darjeeling goes stale pretty quickly. I think it has to do with its being quite green actually. Some people say it’s like oolong. I really cannot agree with that, coz as far as my own tea experience goes, the kind of taste in oolongs are very different. I have not stored oolong long enough yet, but I do have a few packs marked 2011 and still tasting like when I first opened them. I do still have a tin of Assam TGFOP from Fortnum that I bought maybe 3 years ago. It’s not as good as before but still smell okay. I think I am going to finish it by making some lemon tea for everyone.

darjeeling is not like other black tea or oolong tea. it more is like green style tieguanyin but taste not so good but same in storing. store better in refrigerator. good black tea you can age. darjeeling you cannot. 

This sounds like a brilliant solution at first. However, if you take a tin or a jar out from the fridge, there will be instant condensation on it, that will do great harm to the whole can of tealeaves. It is better to use up the whole tin of Darjeeling once you bought and opened it. 

When you take out a tin of tea from the fridge, you should rest it 2 hours before opening to avoid condensation, because water droplets form only on cold surface. This is the article I learned about this: https://www.teaguardian.com/how-to-make-tea/tea-storage-issue.html#.UYADKuBmn5g

Thank you for pointing it out. It really is common sense isn’t it? Sometimes I wonder how many other daily stupid things I must have done.

Yes a lot of things are really common sense, but you should read the article and see how much common sense it pointed out is not so common. 

To get the best out of Darjeeling it is best to buy the freshest.
Teas should not be older than a year from manufacture. No matter how well you preserve or store your Darjeelings, the flavour will change with time.