Growing more fragrant with age is the result; storage is the process. There are many schools of thought on tea storage, and I will only share my own understanding.
Let's Start with Kunming Storage
Is Kunming Storage Mainly Oxidation?
I have recently watched quite a few videos arguing this view, and I don't think it is. The appeal of compressed tea lies in the fact that its aging is driven by anaerobic post-fermentation, which is also why I prefer to press tea a bit tighter.
Since it is compressed tea, how can oxidation even come into play? Do compressed teas stored in Kunming somehow fall apart in a way we cannot see? Utterly absurd. I believe Kunming storage is not oxidation-dominated either — it, too, is anaerobic post-fermentation.
Does Kunming Storage Really Transform Slowly?
I have done side-by-side tastings of teas from Kunming, Guangdong, and Menghai storage. In my view, as long as it is dry storage, all of them are quite good. But if I had to pick a single best one, I would say Kunming storage. Judging by the changes in liquor color and infused leaves, Kunming-stored teas do transform slowly. Yet here comes the phrase I love to say the most:
Slow is fast!
Kunming-stored teas have true fragrance.
1. Kunming-stored teas show the most distinct mountain characteristics.
Among the aged teas over twenty years old that I have drunk, those from traditional Guangzhou storage do not show very distinct mountain characteristics — Yiwu tea and Bulang Mountain tea feel barely different, all red liquor and aged aroma. I think for this kind of storage there is really no need to go for famous-mountain ancient-tree teas: they are expensive, yet after aging they taste about the same as cheap teas.
But over the last decade or so, much of Guangdong storage has also turned to dry storage with humidity management, and teas released from such storage come out just fine.
Aged teas from Menghai storage, when tasted, also have something of a Guangdong-storage character, though somewhat better. Aged teas from Kunming storage are the ones with the most distinct mountain characteristics — an aged Yiwu tea still shows its Yiwu character very clearly. It is fair to say that Kunming storage single-handedly saved the high-end aged tea market. By high-end I mean genuinely high-end, not the kind where certain “masters” from Hong Kong and Taiwan equate mere old age with high-end.
2. Kunming-stored teas have the best freshness.
Taking raw tea as an example, the greatest trait of a new tea is its freshness and briskness. Traditional Guangzhou-stored aged tea is sweet, but that freshness is gone. Yet Kunming-stored aged tea still retains freshness and briskness even after more than twenty years — a wonderful mouthfeel in which new and old mingle. I love it.
3. Kunming storage's drawbacks are acceptable; the flaws do not outweigh the virtues.
Of course, Kunming storage has quite a few drawbacks, mainly these: transformations such as “reddening” are slow, the aged flavor is insufficient, and a “green” note still lingers. But the flaws do not outweigh the virtues — Kunming storage best reveals the beauty of high-end aged tea.
4. Why is Kunming storage good?
The main reason is that Kunming has a dry climate, where natural storage is enough. My recommendation for storing tea is to consciously simulate Kunming storage.
Control humidity, not temperature.
How Should Tea Be Stored?
How Should Merchants Store Tea?
A standalone warehouse or a relatively airtight room will both do. If there are windows, keep them sealed as a rule, and open the warehouse when needed (for example, during the daytime in fine weather). Use floor pallets — place the cartons on floor pallets, ideally not against the walls, and leave aisles. Use a dehumidifier with continuous drainage that dehumidifies automatically once the humidity exceeds 65%. Large warehouses need industrial-grade dehumidifiers, one or more; if you don't have much tea and it is kept in a room, a household dehumidifier is enough.
Some say you need to regularly rotate the tea's positions — swapping the tea on high shelves with the tea at the bottom, and the tea near the windows or the walls with tea in other spots. I don't think it is necessary; it only wears people out to little effect. Others talk about switching warehouses — a pattern of storing tea in Guangzhou for a few years and then in Kunming for a few years. I don't see much need for that either. But I don't have enough samples on this point, so those who enjoy the trouble are welcome to try.
How Should Tea Lovers Store Tea at Home?
If you have a lot of tea and the conditions allow it, follow the above. If you don't have much tea, focus on airtight storage: keep it away from any odor and check on it regularly. For example, loose cakes, whole tongs, and whole cases of tea can be sealed in multiple layers and placed where there is no odor. Loose tea is the same — seal it in multiple layers. On fine days, say once the rainy season is over, you can open them up and inspect: if anything is damp, sun it a bit, then reseal.
Behaviors to Avoid When Storing Tea
1. Putting tea in the freezer.
The tea does stay fresh, but how cold and raw it becomes! At Meijiawu I have told of how an old Longjing master stores tea: he finds a large jar with a tightly sealing lid, divides the Longjing tea into several small portions (say, 500 grams each), wraps each portion in multiple sealed layers, puts them in the jar, and adds some lime inside. At home, you can buy a lens cabinet to store green tea — a lens cabinet is a moisture-proof cabinet, and other cabinets with a similar function will do; you can store other teas in it as well.
2. Poking holes in sealed bags.
This is very common — I myself was once taught to store tea this way for better transformation. There are now many products of one-brew-per-bag, individually packed teas, and people poke a hole in the foil bag. Completely unnecessary. Poking holes makes oxidation the dominant process; what such bagged teas really need is flushing with an inert gas.
3. Exposure to light.
Transparent sealed bags, bare cakes left directly exposed, and loose tea in transparent bags not placed inside a carton — none of these are right. Direct sunlight is even worse.
4. Not resealing after use.
Opening the carton to take tea out and then not resealing it; breaking off tea for a tasting and then not resealing — none of these are acceptable.
Summary
Take a careful look at the back of a pu-erh cake: there is always a line like this:
It can be stored for a long time in a clean, ventilated, dark, dry environment free of odors.
Once you truly understand this line, you basically know how to store tea.
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