The storage place mentioned here refers to the room where Pu’er tea is stored. As for storage places, it is divided into two categories: large-scale special warehouses and private small storage. I won’t talk about large-scale special warehouses here, after all, this is meaningless to ordinary Tibetan friends. The following mainly talks about the differences in some storage environments that I have seen.
Residential
Residence here refers to one’s own home. For the home storage of Pu-erh tea, no matter when the tea is taken care of by tea lovers, it should not be a big problem. But some friends will also ask if it is good to put it on the balcony? Can I put it in the kitchen? I don’t think it is an ideal storage place for such places where the environment changes greatly or has peculiar smell. There are still some neglected places to put Pu’er at home, for example, your pet’s urine will make the room smell bad. The other is that if there are elderly people living at home, wind-dispelling oil, traumatic oil, rheumatism ointment, etc. are must-haves for the elderly. This requires attention that when using these items with strong odors, tea is easy to absorb these odors.
private warehouse
Mostly refer to old houses that no one lives in. It is similar to home, except that no one lives in it, so ventilation and waterproofing need more attention. Need to visit often. Another place that many people use to store Pu-erh tea is the garage. Whether it is a car with or without a car, there are many problems that need to be paid attention to. First of all, the current garages are either very airtight (concrete castles, no air convection) or very airtight (iron sheet concentration camps, door to door). Not to mention the humidity, the exhaust gas alone is enough. I have seen a lot of “purgatory” like this, as a Pu’er tea lover, do you want your tea to be aged in such an environment?
office
The office is also a place where many friends like to store tea. Because both office workers and bosses will stay in the office for a long time, so it will be convenient to monitor their love tea at any time. But there are also many bad factors in the office, such as ventilation problems, and smoky offices are not uncommon. There is also the uncontrollable temperature difference. In many companies, the air conditioner is turned on during the day like a cold storage, and the air conditioner is turned off during off-duty time, and the temperature difference is particularly large. Another thing is the people around you, tea lovers love tea, but it is a public place after all, and there is no way to ask others to love tea as much as you do.
Artificial dehumidification (recommended to use with caution)
When it comes to moisture resistance, it should be a topic that many friends will be interested in. Here I will briefly talk about many years of actual combat experience. First of all, I will divide all kinds of artificial dehumidification into two categories: forced dehumidification and dynamic dehumidification.
Forced dehumidification is actually to forcibly absorb the moisture in the space and the moisture in the tea leaves. For forced dehumidification, a modern tool is needed: a dehumidifier. The working principle of the dehumidifier is to heat the air and objects through hot air to evaporate the moisture of the objects themselves, and then return them to the machine to condense the moisture. The dehumidifier can effectively control the moisture in a relatively low range. If the dehumidifier is turned on uninterruptedly, the humidity in a relatively closed room can be reduced to 5%. The impact of dehumidifiers on tea leaves generally lies in the heating effect during the dehumidification process, so care must be taken when using them. Personally, I do not recommend using dehumidifiers for forced dehumidification. So I won’t elaborate on the details of dehumidifier treatment here.
Dynamic dehumidification can be subdivided into air-conditioning dehumidification and dehumidifying agent dehumidification. Dynamic dehumidification has little effect on the humidity (moisture) of the tea itself, and mainly reduces the humidity of the space environment.
air conditioner dehumidification
The dehumidification of the air conditioner is to use the air conditioner to cool down the space, so as to condense the moisture in the space and reduce the humidity. The dehumidification of the air conditioner cannot reach the low humidity of the dehumidifier, and it does not have much dehumidification effect on the object itself. Basically every family has an air conditioner, but I don’t recommend using it. First of all, we must be very careful about the temperature difference of the air conditioner. The second is that the air conditioner changes the humidity of the storage space, so it needs to be used for a long time and consumes a lot of energy. I have tried 24-hour constant temperature room temperature for 4 months (across the entire rainy season) to test the changes of tea leaves, and the changes are slower than natural storage. And pay great attention to the buffer treatment after turning off the air conditioner.
Hygroscopic agent dehumidification
Generally, the hygroscopic agents we can find include charcoal, lime, and hygroscopic silica gel.
Charcoal is a naturally hygroscopic material that reduces humidity in small spaces. Charcoal is cheap and recyclable, as long as it is exposed to the sun regularly. However, the moisture absorption rate of charcoal is very low, and it has little effect on the environment with high humidity.
Lime is also a commonly used hygroscopic material. Many Hangzhou Longjing teas are preserved through lime to dehumidify. Lime has strong water absorption, but because lime (calcium oxide) is highly corrosive, and the process of moisture absorption (deliquescence) will release heat, it must be used with great care.
The above is my research on some artificial dehumidifiers. In fact, for the storage of Pu-erh tea, as long as the storage place can be kept clean, dry, free from peculiar smell and the temperature difference does not change too much, it can be stored naturally. I hope that every friend who likes Pu’er tea can store their favorite tea for good results.
