Is an unglazed ceramic jar with a lid made of cork a good container to store Pu-erh in?
I searched online for the best places to store pu-erh, and I believe I have the basics down: a dry, dark, area without any odors, temp range between 65 – 85 F, ideally where it can get some fresh air from time to time.
And as far as the container goes, from what I’ve read, it sounds like having an unglazed clay jar is best, so that the tea can breathe (to allow micro-organisms to do their job in the aging process), while staying more-or-less protected from it’s environment.
So, I found an unglazed Terra Cotta wine brique (it looks like this, but taller: http://www.wineenthusiast.com/personalized-terra-cotta-wine-chiller.asp) at a Goodwill recently, with a cork ‘stopper’ that fits on top more-or-less snugly (the lid was actually for another jar). From what I read, this seems about as close to ideal as I can get without buying a jar made for storing pu-erh in.
Do you think that this is a good ‘container’ to store shou (cooked) pu-erh in?
(If I get the chance later, I may post some pictures of it.)
is that wide enough to fit cakes in?
Honestly the container you store it in doesn’t matter much, just leave it in its original paper wrapper and you can put it in a cardboard box or on a shelf or in a cabinet or anywhere convenient really, just so long as it’s not in sunlight and away from moisture or odors. For aging what matters is just the temperature and humidity in whatever environment you’re storing it in, the actual container isn’t important as long as it’s at least a little breathable. Something like that should be just fine, but puerh’s not too picky.
sansnipple: Thank you for your reply.
Unfortunately, no, it’s not wide enough to fit mini-cakes in. :(
I don’t know why I thought the storage container was a big deal, perhaps in part because of all the fuss over the advantages of brewing pu-erh in a Yixing vs brewing it in a gaiwan. And because, admittedly, I like to think I was doing something creative and resourceful by re-using a Terra Cotta wine brique to store pu-erh in. :p
I know what you mean, I feel weird about the cardboard box under my bed. But I just don’t tell anyone who visits, and hope for the best ;)
what about terracotta bulb planter?
http://www.arizonapottery.com/item.asp?iid=1587
i think its wide and deep enough to fit several cakes. just a thought
Interesting idea, boychik. Before I saw the Terra Cotta wine brique I was actually eying some terracotta planters at the Goodwill store; the beauty about my purchase is at least two-fold: it was only $1, and it came with a cork ‘lid’ (my thinking on the advantages of the cork lid is that, theoretically, it keeps out odors and yet still allows the tea to breathe).
Just for grins here is a picture of it:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/123980232@N04/14218924276/
Does anyone know if the cork would, theoretically, allow the tea to ‘breathe’?
Thanks sansnipple. That’s what I am counting on, that the clay pot will allow it to breathe, and as the cork doesn’t fit perfectly, I imagine some tiny little gaps between the cork and the jar will let in enough air as well (hopefully, not too much).
I think this would be fine for loose puerh or if you want to break up a big cake into chunks.
Thank you, Cwyn, for your reply.
As of yet, I don’t have any big cakes, but even the 100 gram cakes I have don’t ‘fit’. I have a few 50 gram touchas that will fit, along with a number of samples. I am not sure if this is the best way to phrase it, but from what I read, breaking up the cakes ‘ages them faster’ (I am assuming due to greater surface area exposure); and as I don’t plan on holding onto to the mini-cakes I currently have for decades, I don’t mind if they ‘peak’ in flavor sooner.
This link does a great job of showing how the quality of the flavor of broken cakes increases faster in dry storage (the graphs are toward the end of the article).
http://www.thechineseteashop.com/how-to-store-pu-erh-tea.html
Breaking it up to age is usually not a great idea in my opinion, especially if you were to go throwing a bunch of different ones in together. Being compressed is generally thought of as fairly important to aging, both for environmental stability and protection, ensuring evenness in aging, and because of the increased contact between leaves. Usually people only break up a whole cake/brick for purposes of resale or blending, or if planning to drink it all right away. Plus, then you loose all the pretty wrappers. I say just use it for whatever fits, your tuos and samples etc and put the rest in a box or a drawer.
That makes sense. I was thinking I could somehow keep all the broken pieces of the cake together in some kind of wrapping, but that probably wouldn’t work very well, as I don’t want to put the pieces in a plastic bag, and so that would mean re-wrapping the broken pieces in the original wrapper. Awk WarD !
sansnipple is right in all points. I should have said that a broken up cake is one you would consider a daily drinker.
How about using it for samples? A place to put small sample bags. Ordering a lot of tea results in too many samples…for which topics like the Saturday drink up around here are a good idea.
Well I could use a jar just like that right now for my puerh samples. They are piling up because I am ordering and drinking early spring teas now. Puerhs can wait, but some of the samples I am getting with spring tea orders are excellent, and I care as much about them as regular cakes. :)
Cwyn: Glad to hear you are enjoying the 2014 spring teas; I am enjoying them as well (mostly tea I got from Taobao sellers). One of these days I hope to try some teas from Camellia Sinensis!
Here’s another question I have, and I think I know the best approach, but just wanted to see what you all think.
I recently bought this pu-erh:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/390778785741?var=660213326134&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649
and, the small medallion-like shape of the pu-erh would allow me to fit them in my clay jar. However, although the tea tasted OK to me, the dry tea has a kind of musty scent (like from an old basement) to it in a way the other ripe pu-erh tea I have does not. I am new to pu-erh, but my understanding is that ripe pu-erh tea should not have a musty scent like this.
So, I am hesitant to put this in with my other ripe pu-erh teas in the event the other teas will pick up the musty scent. Is that possible? If so, I will store it separately, in a container all its own (or just keep it in the original wrapper, open enough so that it can breathe a little).
Keep it separate from the others as this is wrapped in bamboo. They will pick up the scent to a degree if put in with the other puerh.
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