Puer Tea Storage: The 6 Most Important Things to Know

Puer tea is different than most other teas, in that you can drink it now, or store it for years to allow it to develop. Assuming that you've found a tea that you like, then it could be worth ageing. This can be a long process, but keeping a few things in mind will help you achieve the results you’re after.
There are a few things that you should consider when storing any tea, not just puer:
#1) Avoid sunlight. The easiest way to ruin any tea is by leaving it exposed to sun. If you follow anything from this list, make it this one. And maybe the next one, which is to...
#2) Avoid letting your tea come into contact with strong smells or fragrances. This could be perfume or cologne, scented bathroom products, cleaners or cooking smells from your home. Basically, if you can smell it, it's probably not a good spot for your tea.
#3) Separate your teas. It's generally best to keep teas separate. This will prevent flavours from crossing over to each other. With puer it’s especially important to keep your raw and ripe teas separate, as it’s very easy for the fermented qualities of ripe to transfer to raw. Furthermore, separating older and newer raw puer, as well as wet stored and dry stored teas is also recommended.
Puer has a few of its own specific recommendations that can differ from other teas though.
#4) The first of those specific recommendations is humidity. Unlike other teas with shorter shelf lives, like green, black or to an extent wulongs, puer undergoes bacterial fermentation. Bacterial growth requires humidity in order to thrive, so you want to give it an environment with enough, but not too much, humidity.
Relative humidity readings do depend on temperature. Without getting too complicated here, hot air is capable of holding more water than cold air can. This is what that “relative” part refers to - how much water is in the air relative to what can be held at its given temperature. We recommend researching further into dew points and humidity charts if you can.
But to keep it simple for now, we recommend trying to keep RH over 50% if you’re in a warm climate, and over 60% if temperatures are a bit cooler. Lower than this, and it may dry out your tea.
On the other side, too much humidity can ruin a tea if you’re not careful. Since we’re dealing with bacteria, excessive moisture can make a friendly environment for mold. Our recommendation is not to exceed 70-75% RH, again, depending on the temperature of your storage.
Keep in mind that there are no hard and fast rules to storing your tea. These are simply our recommendations in terms of a safe humidity range.
#5) It’s best to keep your puer safe from extreme temperatures and fluctuations as well. This means keeping your tea off the ground and away from exterior facing walls to avoid sudden changes in temperature. As we mentioned, temperature and humidity work together, so you’ll also want to make sure the temperature isn’t too hot or too cold to ensure there’s enough or not too much moisture in the air. Temperature also directly affects the microbes and enzyme activity. Higher temperatures will produce more enzyme activity (aka aging of your puer), while lower temperatures will produce less.
Anywhere between 15-25 Celsius should be a good temperature. Again, these are just our recommendations.
#6) The last major consideration when storing puer is the airflow. While most other 26 teas should restrict their exposure to oxygen so that they don’t go stale or lose fragrance, oxidization is actually one of the key aspects of ageing puer. While the bacteria like humidity and higher temperatures for fermentation, the leaves age through a slow oxidization process.
This doesn’t mean you need to leave your puer by an open window, but we also don’t recommend sealing it off to lock out oxygen. Ideally, puer cakes should be stored together, in a relatively close space. They don’t need all that much much air. Too much airflow or open air dries out your puer. All you need to do is check on it once in a while and perhaps rotate your teas, if you have a lot of tea stacked up somewhere.
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[@stephenpepper1790]

I’ve learned airflow is one of the most important things if you have higher humidity. Some good and dry airflow has brought some really damp cakes back in a brilliant way.

[@BitterleafTeas]

absolutely. You have to be even more vigilant to keep mold at bay in a high humidity environment.

[@vncv3]

Enjoyed the video - the artistic quality of your work is really at the highest end in the tea world.

[@BitterleafTeas]

Thank yo so much! We're fairly passionate about all things creative, as well as tea, so this gives us an opportunity to combine those a bit :)

[@MarvJo]

Amazing!!! You guys really put effort into your videos.. It is an art piece... Very much appreciated! Cheers

[@BitterleafTeas]

It's our pleasure! 😊

[@mariannefleur6671]

Great video! Nice to hear your voice & super creative video!!! (Ok, I expected it to be creative and fun, but you topped it). 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻❤️❤️❤️🙏🙏🙏 Thanks & looking forward to part II. The cats are not just great models for photos, they’re great motion picture stars! 🎬🏆🐈

[@BitterleafTeas]

🙏 Thanks! It's an enjoyable way to share info and answer some commonly asked questions. And it's about time the cats put in some work to earn their expensive imported food 😹

[@reedshandmadeincense]

Great video. Thanks for sharing.

[@BitterleafTeas]

Our pleasure!

[@giangiair]

love this video style :)

[@BitterleafTeas]

🙏 We will be sure to make more then!

[@kapirk2244]

Great tips and adorable kittys!!

[@BitterleafTeas]

Thank you! 😊

[@vleeism]

Thank you. Cute video ☺️

[@BitterleafTeas]

You’re welcome 😊

[@SodyPopInSpace]

Good video except for one detail. The “special sauce” of puerh is described as bacteria, and mold (fungi) is described as undesirable. In reality, the right fungi (mold) plays a far more significant role in creating the complexity of puerh, and bacteria plays a small role or no role.

[@BitterleafTeas]

That's a great distinction. I admit my biology background is quite limited, so thank you for the correction!

[@Nearest_Neighbor]

Great video! I don't find the second part, is there non?

[@BitterleafTeas]

Not yet - I think we were in an enthusiastic video making phase when we made this, but it's been difficult to keep up as these require a lot of time. Still, the intention is there, so we'll have the follow up video at some point!

[@Nearest_Neighbor]

@@BitterleafTeas I totally get that! Just don't put yourself under pressure. 👍

[@dennisjohansson5716]

Could i have different cakes in ziplocks, with a small opening, together in a box?

[@BitterleafTeas]

Yeah, this would be just fine. We do something similar, but using similar puer cake bags inside Jianshui jars. This keeps things a little bit tidier once the cake is more broken into and there's lots of small bits everywhere. Just make sure the box is free of any noticeable scent. Some people might also recommend avoiding cardboard as it can absorb moisture reduce humidity around your tea.

[@JackPorter]

Damn, this sounds like a very difficult thing to manage. Is there no like ventilated storage box with temp and humidity control? I can't control how humid it is in my apartment

[@BitterleafTeas]

It definitely takes some attention and effort. Some people will make their own tea-humidor/pumidor out of an old mini-fridge. This keeps it sealed (air exchange happens when you open and close it, which is plenty) and you can include boveda packs or some water to control humidity. An easier option is just to purchase some simple plastic bins and use those for storage. As long as they don't have a strong plastic-y smell, they'll be fine. Again, boveda packs can help control the humidity.

[@knyghtryder3599]

It is not something that normal people used to do on their own, normally tea vendors bought large quantities and stored in a specific ritual of seasonal /yearly moves and the customers bought from the vendors after some decades I think the push for home storage is due to tea-flation and boutique sales Here is my thought , if your home is warm and humid enough for microbial activity to age your tea , what will happen to your clothes and home upholstery?

[@PlantDaddyGaming]

What are the cute cats in the thumbnail?

[@BitterleafTeas]

those are some of our Tea Meowster tea pets 😸 www.bitterleafteas.com/?s=tea+meowster&post_type=product

[@PlantDaddyGaming]

@@BitterleafTeas thank you!

[@davidvillaescribano5178]

Lol!

[@BitterleafTeas]

😸