Short-Term Puerh Storage
I’m loving all these links! Currently my puerh is stored in several ways, mostly in my attic bedroom. I have a few cardboard boxes that I’ve set up dividers in, with one cake or brick per ‘file’, one type per box. I would like to have canisters for all the loose ones, but that’s not my currently reality. Samples are stored in a series of boxes, which get shifted around & rotated downstairs to actually be drank. Anything I haven’t sampled yet is in my office, & as I try them the remainder goes into either a shu or sheng box, & eventually moved to my room. I keep getting more samples, so I haven’t brought anything down from my room lately…LOL.
I’ve also been contemplating completely reorganizing the entire collection. Maybe after the HoliDaze…
Sars – this probably isn’t what you are looking for, but I think it’s an interesting way to store/show off your cakes….
http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/PP-Pu-er-Tea-Shelf-Chinese-Kungfu-Puer-Tea-Tools-Set-Service-7pcs-lot/819566_2052307377.html
I wrote in my blog about my storage using vintage fermentation stoneware farm crocks. Writing a follow up now on European crocks just for fun.
Interestingly, I saw your blog post after I had initiated this new topic. I have been behind on my tea blogs, but I did find the post to be very interesting. I don’t intend to break up the cakes, so it would take crocks of a pretty large size to hold them.
Yes, I get crock sizes to match the cakes. Looking for a big sauerkraut one now so I can move the remainder of my collection out of the mini fridge.
The topic was about short term storage, so if the teas are going to be drunk up then breaking up cakes is actually better to even out the aging. The exterior of a cake and the edges will have more age than deeper in. It is good to get the aroma from the younger tea distributed through the rest of the tea and try to loosen up the middle hold area a bit.
I love the ideas on this thread! Thanks to everyone who has posted!
I keep going back and forth now between something temporary, like the covered baskets, or just saving up for something pricey, like a wine cooler that has humidity control. Humidity controls seem less common, but they do exist.
No offense to anyone with a dorm fridge, but my house is very small and they’re not very attractive usually. I guess I am saying that I have no place that I can hide something like that in my current house (other than the guest room upstairs, and running up and down for tea ain’t gonna happen, y’all). But the wine coolers are pretty swank looking and I wouldn’t mind having one out in the open, filled with yummy tea. But would 65 degrees be too cold for pu storage, assuming that I could keep the humidity up in the desired range?
The only other option that I am considering right now are the giant yixing jars, or maybe giant stoneware jars (per cwyn’s blog). They would have to store multiple whole cakes. No idea where I would get giant yixings because they seem unlikely to ship well. But I suppose I could start hitting up antique stores to look for large stoneware crocks.
Tea is hard, yo.
Thinking about this as well. Where I live the Portuguese and Latin american grocers sometimes sell unglazed Terra cotta cookware. I’ve even seen tangines. Maybe something like that might be an affordable option if something like that is available near you.
I just did some googling and the terracotta cookware could be a start. I’ll do some research on places that may carry it locally. I also found some huge stoneware crocks, but I’d have to buy those locally, too… they are apparently insanely heavy.
I buy them locally too. Luckily there are lots to pick from in antique stores and Craigslist. Terra cotta would be too drying for my climate except in mid-summer. Also I would be careful of terra cotta, if unglazed it can have a dusty, sandy odor that ends up in the cakes. I found this to be true of other unglazed clay pots.
That’s good to know Cwyn. If you use terracotta for cooking you are supposed to season them first. I wonder if seasoning them would reduce/eliminate this problem? There’s tons of instructions on seasoning Terra cotta and stoneware for cooking online.
Season them, do you mean like a tagine? The terra cotta I’ve tried are storage only, not heavy duty enough for cooking.
I keep thinking and I like Allan’s storage. Ikea cube shelf with cardboard boxes. Or it could be bookshelf with glass doors. I’m afraid that those ceramic crocks are extremely heavy and no shelf can hold more than one unless its heavy duty metal . Sarsy, where are you planning to put those canisters?
I tried cardboard boxes and the cardboard taste went into my shou, took forever to get rid of it, and the tea went flat. The boxes just develop more cardboard odor and taste with added humidity.
boychik – I could put lighter ones on top of the buffet in my dining room. If they were very large and heavy, they could go on the floor of the dining room. I found some online that were 8-12 gallons! LOL. Those are huge and way to heavy for the buffet, I think.
The IKea storage cube and cardboard boxes have another use. I had to buy boxes so there is no writing on them I have simply listed the contents of each box on the outside. That is why I could find the contents of boxes for swaps. No other way I can think of when you have as many cakes as I do other than creating a spreadsheet that is.
For me, any short term stored cakes I would break them up because the outside of the cake will have more age and the interior will be much less so. I want to distribute the aroma from the younger tea and loosen that up and try and even out the aging. That won’t happen for a long time with an intact cake. If the tea is to be preserved whole, and not drunk up soon, then that is really long-term storage, not short term. In that case, the tea can probably be left dry or just in a cupboard with a bowl of water, if you don’t want to do a mini fridge or crocks.
Good advice. For true short-term storage there’s no need to leave the cake intact. For wetter stored teas this also helps to air it out.
I don’t pick 4-5 cakes and rotate them for drinking. I have somewhere around 70 cakes now and I want access to them all. So breaking them up is not an option. When I said short-term, I meant something interim that I would use until I could afford a more expensive “permanent” long-term system.
Sarsy, you’re gonna have to invent something. We all are gonna have to. There isn’t any system we can buy. In your case I think you’re gonna need a whole room. LOL
You could dedicate a bathroom and build an outhouse for people to use. That would be an inexpensive solution. :D
OMG Cwyn. You’re right! I wish I had a dry cellar, but sadly it’s unfinished and leaks. Lol. I can see now that the only solution is to buy a larger house and dedicate a room. I guess I should just give in and call the realtor :p
Lol Sars. Though I can’t say anything. Growing up I lived in a house with 4 full sized rooms dedicated to books. In some subjects we were better stocked than the local library.
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