Unlike coffee beans, tea doesn't need grinding or special equipment — but it does need a little care. Stored badly, even a fine tea can turn flat, musty or stale.
This guide uses what Wikipedia's tea articles document, plus the storage directions printed on Ceylon spice and tea packs.
- Green tea: usually loses flavour within a year
- Black tea: retains flavour for several years
- Main risks: moisture, heat, light and strong odours
- Moisture: can allow fungi to grow
- "Caddy": from "catty", a Chinese unit of weight
How long does tea keep?
According to Wikipedia's article on black tea:
- Green tea usually loses its flavour within a year.
- Black tea retains its flavour for several years — one reason it became such an important trade good, even used as a form of currency in compressed bricks.
Always check the best-before date on your pack.
What spoils tea?
Wikipedia's tea processing article warns that without careful moisture and temperature control, fungi will grow on tea, which can render it unfit for consumption. That makes moisture the most important thing to avoid.
Common-sense storage follows from this:
- Keep it dry. Use an airtight container and always use a dry spoon.
- Keep it cool and dark. Store away from the stove, kettle steam and direct sunlight.
- Keep it away from strong smells. Dry tea leaves can pick up odours from spices, coffee and cleaning products.
- Reseal after use. Squeeze air out of resealable pouches before closing.
The tea caddy: a short history
Wikipedia's tea caddy article explains that when tea first reached Europe from Asia it was extremely expensive and kept under lock and key. The containers were often decorative pieces for the drawing room.
- The word "caddy" is believed to come from catty, a Chinese unit of weight equal to about a pound and a third.
- Early examples were Chinese porcelain, shaped like ginger jars; until about 1800 they were called tea canisters.
- Later caddies were made of wood, pewter, silver and other materials, often with a lock and separate compartments for green and black tea.
The tea caddy began as a locked treasure box — a reminder of how precious tea once was.
Tea bags
Tea bags usually contain small particles (fannings), which have more surface area exposed to air than whole leaves. Keeping them in a sealed container helps. See Tea Bags vs Loose Leaf.
