Is it good to store white tea for a long time? How to store white tea yourself

White tea is one of the five major types of tea in my country. It is a slightly fermented tea and is considered a treasure among teas. If white tea is stored properly, it will naturally become more delicious and more valuable as time goes by. So how should white tea be stored?

Is it good to store white tea for a long time?

Like raw Pu'er tea, the longer white tea is stored, the mellower and more fragrant it becomes. This is what the saying "one year for tea, three years for medicine, seven years for treasure" means.

Common white tea varieties on the market include Baihao Yinzhen, Bai Mudan, Gongmei, Shoumei, etc. There are both loose tea and tea cakes. The white tea usually refers to old white tea, which is tea that has been stored for many years. In the appropriate shelf life, such as 10 to 20 years, the ingredients in the white tea leaves will slowly change naturally over time, the aroma will gradually evaporate, the soup color will gradually turn red, the taste will gradually become mellow, and the tea nature will gradually change from cool to warm.

If stored properly, white tea that has been stored for five or six years can be considered old white tea. Old white tea that has been stored for more than ten years is even rarer. The longer the storage time, the higher the medicinal value of the old white tea.

How to store white tea

The general principles for storing white tea: keep it dry, away from light, and prevent odor

dry

The purpose of drying is to prevent the tea from getting damp, which will affect the taste of the tea in the short term and may make it moldy and undrinkable in the long term.

The first step is sealing, which mainly uses three layers of packaging (plastic bag, aluminum foil bag, and carton).

Note: Do not open the box frequently, and do not open the box when the air is very humid (such as on rainy days or south windy days).

If you drink less on a regular basis, and if the air humidity is not particularly high and you finish it in a short period of time, you can usually put it in a sealed jar.

The second step is to ensure the humidity of the air. This should be paid special attention to in the south, and a dehumidifier is generally used.

The humidity of the environment where tea is stored should not exceed 75%. In the spring and summer in the south and in the summer in the north, the humidity will exceed 75%. Sufficient dryness is always the most important thing.

Protect from light

White tea does not need to be exposed to air when stored. Put it in an aluminum foil bag and place it in a cabinet at a higher position in your home, and you can forget about it.

Pu'er tea needs to be exposed to air when stored. It is enough to open the bag occasionally, smell it, and let it be exposed to air.

When storing tea leaves, it is always more important to keep them away from moisture and light than to keep them from oxidizing and fermenting. It is better to have them oxidize slowly than to have them moldy.

Anti-odor

Tea has a characteristic that it has a strong adsorption capacity. If there are other strong flavors, it is easy to cause cross-flavor. Therefore, we must seal it for storage, and the storage environment should not have any odor, such as smoking or burning sandalwood.

What are the varieties of white tea?

Differentiate by level

There are three categories: Baihao Yinzhen, Bai Mudan, and Shoumei. Some people also add a higher level Gongmei to Shoumei, but it basically belongs to the same category as Shoumei.

Baihao Yinzhen is extremely fresh and tender, and the price is high, so you can try it fresh. Bai Mudan, like a peony flower, tastes more floral than Baihao Yinzhen, and the price is moderate, so it is the first choice for many people. Shoumei is mainly one bud and three or four leaves or leaves, and the output is also the largest category of white tea. Old Shoumei is more popular.

According to origin

The origin of the tea is Fuding, Fujian, and Fuding white tea has obtained origin brand protection. Zhenghe, Jianyang, and Songxi near Fuding also produce good quality white tea. In addition, Yunnan also has moonlight white tea made from Dabaihao and Pu'er, which tastes different from Fujian white tea and is slightly stronger.

According to freshness

It is divided into new tea and old tea. White tea is suitable for long-term storage, and its taste will change during the transformation process, from the initial freshness to the later mellowness, and after a long time, there will be a faint medicinal fragrance.