keeping tea fresh

With a few special exceptions, tea should be kept away from oxygen as much as possible to keep it fresh.

Some tea vendors help delay oxidation by displacing oxygen in tea containers with nitrogen for shipping, which is a fine idea that I think should spread far and wide.

But once you open the container, oxidation begins anew. What should you do?

One common option is to order in smaller quantities so you will finish off the tea before it becomes meaningfully stale. But this is far from ideal.

For one thing, shipping costs can be proportionally larger for smaller quantities, particularly if your vendor eats the shipping cost on purchases over a certain amount. Over the course of several months, it is possible to spend as much on avoidable shipping charges as one might on a month's worth of quality tea.

Beyond this, though, is the fact that almost every tea lover I know, myself included, has thrown out tea due to having simply stocked too much for too long, despite best efforts.

One suggestion I have seen is to install your own nitrogen flush system. I dismiss this idea due to expense and safety issues. But if you plan on redistributing teas and/or dealing with positively massive quantities over long periods of time, you may want to look into it. Your local welding supply shop can probably point you in the right direction.

Personally, I favor vacuum packing for daily home use. It's essentially free and presents no meaningful safety issues with which I'm familiar.

Commercial vacuum packing solutions are available, ranging in price from inexpensive to only moderately expensive.

The simplest inexpensive commercial offering I can think of is the use of a wine bottle vacuum sealer. If you are handy with tools, you can mount one of the gaskets on the resealable container of your choosing. But you can also simply use an empty bottle of the type used for holding vinegar or olive oil, which I demonstrate here:



But what if you are disinclined to spend even this much on a vacuum containment solution? You want to spend that money on tea!

I don't have video for this one, but you won't need it.

Grab a big plastic jug, at least a few liters or a gallon if possible. Now poke a hole in the bottom of the jug. Place your tea in a plastic bag. Fill the jug with water. Run a plastic tube from the top of the jug to the bag of tea.

When everything is in order, unplug the hole in the bottom of the jug. The water rushing out will rapidly suck the air from the tea bag, which can then be sealed shut.

The actual sealing can be done in a variety of ways, but the simplest is probably to clamp it. A rubber band should do nicely with a bit of practice.

Looking for a less involved approach? Put the tea in a plastic bag, insert a drinking straw into a narrow opening, suck out the air, and close the bag. It is actually quite a bit better than nothing.

What are your ideas?