Lastea - Know more about tea

Sunday, November 28, 2021

3 Reasons Why People Rinse The Tea Leaves Before Brewing

I often suggest pouring away the first brewed when making tea in some of my guides; Wash Tea, Rinse Tea, Pre brew, whatever you call it. You might think, what a waste it is! Why should you rinse the tea leaves, and how to do it properly? Now follow me and keep reading, and left a comment telling me your idea.

Why People Rinse The Tea Leaves Before Brewing?

What is rinsing tea for? Even you ask some Chinese friends, they may not give a positive answer, and just tell you that’s for the cleaning. Of course, that makes some sense, and it’s also the original purpose. But in fact, there is more behind rinsing tea.

Cleaning

Near 90% of Chinese will rinse the leaves before brewing. Most of them thought, except for some teas like Dongfang Meiren, which is cultivating uniquely, the others all will use the pesticide inevitably. And the pesticide may residual on the leaves and harmful to the health. Actually, you really do not need to worry about this problem.

First, nowadays, almost all the tea-producing countries have a strict standard to manage tea products. If the residue pesticide amount over the standard, the tea will not be allowed to sell on the market. So even few pesticides residual on the leaves, they have less effect on the health, just like the vegetables we eat daily.

A reason that makes you more feel relieved. Most high-quality loose leaf tea, especially green tea and yellow tea, are all made from the tenderest buds harvested in spring. Bugs haven’t yet begun to breed at that time, and farmers had no reason to use pesticides. In other words, high-quality teas have no pesticide retained, and only the leaves harvested in summer and autumn may get some with. Besides, suppose you are unfortunately bought the tea with pesticide residues, several seconds of rinsing is not able to clean them up.

Compared with the pesticide problem, people rinsing tea more is for dust removal. Some loose-leaf tea without a sealed individual package is easy to get some dust on during storage. Like dark tea and white peony tea, which are need to aging, the dust problem will be more serious. For these teas, many tea brewing guides are also recommended for rinsing twice.

Besides, most dark tea, white tea, and Pu-erh green tea are in a tea-cake style, and you have to pry the leaves you need with a knife before brewing. Unless you are very good at this, or the leaves will be broke a little inevitably. The splinters are hard to filter out ever with an infuser, affecting the mouthfeel a lot. So to pour away the first brew of these teas is unblamable.

Preheat And Wake The Leaves Up

Some tea lovers may know that rinsing the leaves can not only clean the dust and splinters up, and it helps to preheat the leaves, waking them and make them better at releasing the flavor.

Most loose-leaf teas had been through rolling, and their leaves are tight and curly. Some Oolong teas like Tieguanyin, leaves will be rolled into small balls; and the compressed tea-cakes are much tighter. Once the dried leaves meet the hot water, they will absorb and unfold their bodies. A larger surface area means it can be heating better, the nutrients and flavor substances contained in tea, like tea polyphenols, amino acid, and caffeine, can release faster.

Then you may have a question. In this case, doesn’t it means some nutrients and flavors will lost? Indeed, even though the rinsing just lasts several seconds, it still leads to some waste. Still, the influences can be said it’s negligible. Some people may think they can get the decaffeinate effect through rinsing the leaves before brewing, and it also affects less.

Traditional Etiquette

As a Cantonese, in my opinion, most of the time, rinse tea is a habit based on traditional etiquette. It is said that people started rinse tea in Ming Dynasty, the government abolished producing block tea and promoted loose-leaf tea. At that time, the production environment and transportation were less developed. Even the tea for the noble served was full of dust; to rinse the leaves before brewing was necessary.

One more thing, the wash tea habit may have a little relationship with the traditional Chinese filial piety culture.

Everyone knows that the Chinese are very respectful and believe in their elders. Even though in the material scarcity ancient time, once people got some nice food, they will worship it to their ancestors first before feeding themselves. For wine, they will pour the first cup on the ground as sacrificing. And for tea, the first brew was regarded as the best; it must let the ancestors take the first taste.

Chaoshan region is the origin of the Gongfu tea ceremony, and the worship ancestors’ culture is the deepest there. Taking rinsing tea as one important step in the Gongfu tea ceremony may be respected for the traditional culture.

Combine all the above reasons, even though the teas now cannot be too dirty to must be washed, rinsing the tea before brewing has become a tea-drinking habit. And this habit is also get popularized along with the tea culture promotion. So many people do not know why but still will do this.

Should I Rinse The Leaves? How?

Actually, unless you take part in a match, whether to rinse the tea before brewing depends on you. You can wash the leaves once or twice until you think it is OK to drink. Or you can direct drink the first brew, making no waste. Be rest assured, as long as the tea is safe, and either decision would not cause any harm to your health.

Suppose you prefer to rinse the tea, that there are some things you still need to pay attention to. Besides, it’s really not all the teas need to wash.

Rough Tea

In the Chinese tea industry, tea masters own their plantations. They harvest the leaves and primary-process them into rough tea, then sold to the factories for further processing or for tea lovers drinking. Typically, these leaves don’t have a good package. The safety is without a guarantee because they are all processed in individual small workshops. So suppose you got some rough tea from friends, and that will be better rinsing it for 3-5 seconds before brewing.

Green Tea, Yellow Tea, and White Tea

Most green tea, yellow tea, and white tea are made from the tenderest buds and leaves harvested in spring. Theoretically, it’s no need to worry about the pesticide residue problem. For these teas, it is not suggested to rinse. Because the leaves are tender, they contain relatively fewer components than the older ones, and they are also not resistant to brew. So to wash them before brewing may make to a large loss.

Worth knowing that sometimes you may see much tiny white fuzz on the leaves’ surface and look moldy. When brewing, they make the infusion seems muddy. Don’t worry, these white fuzzes are called “Hao” They symbolize high-quality tea, rich in amino acid, and bring a brisk mouthfeel. They are treasures, and you should never pour away the first brew which is full of them.

Black Tea

There are two common black tea styles: CTC and Loose-leaf. CTC black tea is popular in South Asia and the West; most of the time, they are used to make milk tea. Its flavor releases very fast, and if you rinse before brewing, it will be tasteless in the next brew. And for the loose-leaf black tea, like Yinghong No.9, its flavor releases slower. Having a rinse before brewing can help wake the leaves up, making them better release flavor.

Dark Tea

Almost all the dark teas are in a compressed tea style, and you need a knife to help take the leaves before brewing. Just like we said before, it would bring many splinters and affect the mouthfeel. And dark tea has been long-time aging, with much dust on the surface inevitably. If you are not rinsing them before brewing, the first brew will tastes strange, stuffy like the earth. Thus, many people will wash the leaves at least twice before making dark tea.

Suppose you are going to make Tibetan butter tea or Mongolian milk tea. After you put the leaves in the pot, and if you see any dust floating on the water, just remove them with a spoon.

Worth knowing, some dark teas, especially the Fuzhuan tea, have many “golden flowers” breeding inside. They are not bad things but beneficial fungus and great for health. No need to wash them away when brewing.

Oolong Tea

Oolong tea is the most favorite of Chaoshan people. Most Oolong teas have been through baking and got a roasted flavor. But due to this, a little charcoal ash is residual on the leaves. So when making Oolong tea, people typically do once leaves-rinsing first, for cleaning and preheating. Besides, the roasted leaves are regarded to have much “heat” in traditional Chinese medicine, which will easily lead to inflammation; a rinsing also helps reduce this “heat.”

Saturday, October 2, 2021

What Is A Tea Pet? 17 Styles’ Symbolizes, Not Only For Good Luck

If you got a friend who loves deeply Chinese tea culture, you might see there is a little doll on his tea tray. He may say it is called Tea Pet, a mate he is drinking tea with. Take good care of it, and it may bring good luck. Actually, a tea pet is not a simple decoration. If you also want to buy one for fun, you must keep reading this article; a wrong selection may influence your fortune badly.

What It A Tea Pet?

A tea pet is usually seen in the traditional Chinese tea ceremony. It’s a small decoration on the tea tray, typically made from clay. To describe as a playmate may be more exact because it is not a usual teaware and not a necessary of the tea ceremony. There common tea pets style are:

Animals, primary are the twelve Chinese zodiac signs;
Monsters in the ancient Chinese myth;
Buddhist roles like Maitreya or little monks;
Some modern cartoon figures;

Common Tea Pets Materials

People typically shower the tea pet with the wastewater of washing the tea and teaware or the cooldown tea infusion in the fair cup. Then wiping it gently when chatting over cups of tea with friends. As the days pass, the tea pet’s color will change into the same as the tea; people called it “raising.”

So, during the whole tea-drinking, tea pets will not affect the tea in your cup. Thus, compare with teawares, it has more choices on the materials. But for matching the tea sets style, tea pets typically made from the following:

Clay

Most tea pets are made from clay; among them, Zisha(purple sand) is the most welcome, and they all got an original earth color. Most common Gongfu teawares include teapot, tea tray, teacup, and the fair cup are made from clay because of the excellent insulation performance. To unify the style, tea pets follow the same material. Besides, the many tiny pores on the clay wares’ surface help the “raising” job better and will not be a visual conflict of the clay and tea color.

Porcelain

The porcelain tea pets got many color glazes, look more elegant and beautiful than the clay ones with original earth color. But they are not much popular than the clay ones in the traditional tea lovers groups. Because the smooth surface makes it more difficult for the tea pet raising, and once it got the tea color, it will also look not such comfortable. Suppose you have no plan to raise a tea pet, the porcelain one also a nice choice.

Sand

It’s not the ordinary sand from the beach; it’s the silt from the Yellow River, which has been through processing and also called Chengni. The sand tea pet’s surface is rough but looks full east style.

Resin

Resin is a modern chemical material with great plasticity and low cost. In the beginning, people made tea pet with resin is because want to imitate the style and texture of jade; the real jade is too expensive and can not resist the high temperature. Later, people found that adding some other special chemical material in the resin can make it color-changing when heating by hot water, and back into the original color after cool down. It can not only make more fun during tea-drinking and can help judge the water temperature according to the color-changing.

Metal

Metal tea pets are hard to see because they are easy to be oxidized. Most of the time, metal tea pets are just taken as decorations on the tea tray, and you can not shower them.

What Is A Tea Pet Used For?

There aren’t any historical records that tell when did Chinese start to play with tea pets. Yixing is regarded as the tea pet’s birthplace because most of them are made from Zisha. The local craftsmen might make some small animals with the leftover material for fun, and some tea lovers buy them away when choosing teawares. Then tea pets got known more by people.

In the beginning, people set a tea pet on a tea tray is just for having more fun during tea drinking. When the chatting gets awkward silent, take a shower to the tea pet with tea may defuse embarrassment. Or just take it as a negotiation strategy, like Vito Corleone played with the cat when talking with Bonasera.

Later, along with tea pets get popular, there comes more and more style. Like every idolatry act of every religion on the earth, people shape the tea pet into what their believed symbolize. And hope to get what they want by praying in the “raising” way. Of course, the same as the teapot’s case, some tea lovers just raising a tea pet to prove how they love tea.

Common Tea Pet Styles & What Their Symbolisms – Not Only For Good Luck

In China, you can see how is one people’s character and what he desired from the tea pet he set on the tea tray. If you want to buy a tea pet, you’d better know what the style’s symbolism is, or your friends may misunderstand your character and desire.

Zodiac

Chinese use twelve animals to mark the years. It’s called twelve zodiacs, and people also use it to introduce when they were born. Most of the time, the animal tea pet on the tea tray is the same as the host’s zodiac. Each animal symbolizes:

Rat. Rat’s Chinese pronunciation is similar to count, which means the untold wealth;
Ox. Everybody might hear the word “Niubi“(ox), which shows admiration in Chinese. Now in the stock market, everyone loves the bull market;
Tiger. It is for showing stateliness, typically no one will take it as a tea pet;
Rabbit. Without any special meaning, it just looks cute;
Dragon. Dragon is the Chinese totem and means a lot. It brings hope, safety and can exorcise evil spirits. When you shower the hot tea on the dragon tea pet, it looks like floating on the cloud;
Snake. Both in the west and the east culture, snake all means cunning and evil. Except for the one who born in the snake year, no others will take a snake style tea pet;
Horse. The horse represents hardworking and strives in Chinese culture;
Sheep. Without any special meaning;
Monkey. In Chinese culture, monkey means dexterous and wisdom;
Rooster. Without any special meaning;
Dog. The dog represents loyal. But people choose a dog tea pet typically is because it is lovely;
Pig. The fatty and cutely little pig means rich and happy;

Maitreya

Buddhism has a big influence in China. If the tea pet is in the style of Bodhidharma, Buddha, Maitreya, or little monk, that may mean the host is a Buddhist; or perhaps he is a people like quiet and meditation. There is also a kind of tea pet is a Buddha’s foot, and what is praying for is rich.

Ancient Monsters

The monsters in the ancient Chinese myth are most popular in the tea pet designer. Except for their symbolism, in another traditional Chinese culture – Feng Shui, they also mean a lot.

The myth monster tea pets must be set at the right place and angle according to Feng Shui. Like the host’s birthday, property, name, the direction of windows and door, etc., it’s very complicated. If setting a tea pet in the wrong place, it is said will counter-productive to what you pray for.

Pi Xiu. In the myth, Pi Xiu is the ninth son of Dragon. It doesn’t have an anus and loves to eat jewelry, only intake but not excrete. So people regarded it as the symbol of accumulated wealth. Many businessmen set a Pi Xiu tea pet on their tea tray and pray that it will make them rich. Besides, Pi Xiu is believed it can protect the house too.

Golden Toad. It is a golden toad with a coin in its mouth, has only three legs, and is also for pray wealth. The coin in most golden toad tea pet’s mouth is rotatable. It will make more fun, and in Chinese, it also means earning money.

Kylin. Kylin is a kind monster; its style combines the dragon head, deer body, bull tail, and horse hoof. Kylin is as important as Dragon in Chinese culture. It can also bring people good luck, fertility blessing, and exorcise evil spirits.

Ordinary Animals

Some ordinary animals like elephants, lions, and cats, even though they don’t belong to the twelve zodiacs and myth monsters, tea pets in their style also popular. Elephants symbolize rich, and lions help exorcise evil spirits. Although cats can also bring fortune, the most reason people love them is the cute look.

Little Kids

Some tea pets are also in the adorable kid’s style; they are for good luck. The most famous one is the pee-pee boy, which with a marvelous design. Its body is empty inside. Suppose you add water in before drinking tea and shower it with the hot infusion. In that case, the water will jet out through the little boy’s wiener because of the pressure differential, like peeing.

There still many tea pets in various styles, like the peach, a symbol of long-living. Some of them even combine the function of other teawares like tea tools six gentlemen and got some practicality.

Maintain, How To Raise A Tea Pet

Raising a tea pet doesn’t mean feeding it with food. Except for showering it when drinking tea, it must be maintained well as the other teawares at the ordinary times, make it become more unique. Tea lovers summed up 4 tips from their years’ tea pet raising experiences:

Typically after we buy a Zisha teapot home, we may put it in a pot cooking with water for a while to remove the earthy smell. But tea pet will not touch the tea we drink directly; it does not need to do this. And the boiling water may make the tea pet roll in the pot and break its delicate carving;
We need to shower the tea pet with tea infusion for raising, but it doesn’t mean doing it like washing a car. The shower action must be gentle. Remember to scrub it with a brush or towel and let the infusion cover the tea pet’s surface equally. Imagine that you are massaging it;
The deep-fermented tea with a darker color like black tea and dark tea can make the tea pet get the tea color faster than other teas. If it is possible, it will be better just to shower a tea pet with one type of tea. Showering a tea pet with different teas often may make it a disunity color and looks ugly;
Never steep the tea pet in the infusion for a long time attempt to let it get the color soon. Doing this way, all you will get is just a thick and ugly tea stain and a bad smell;

Huangshan Maofeng – One Of The 10 Famous Chinese Teas

High-quality tea always comes from a good natural environment. Huangshan, one of 10 famous Chinese mountains, fog covers all around, and strange pine trees grow alone on the steep hills. Poets and tourists praised this unique scenery since the old time. Villages under the mountain, folks running small and big tea plantations. A tea regarded as “the fairy of the tea” – Huangshan Maofeng is from here.

Huangshan Maofeng tea is one of the 10 famous Chinese tea

About Huangshan Maofeng

What Is Maofeng Tea

All among various Chinese famous teas, many are called Maofeng, such as Emei Maofeng, Meng Ding Maofeng, and Huangguoshu Maofeng. Mao is to describe the tiny white fuzz on the leaves, and Feng means Mountain, which refers to the tea that comes from the Mountains at a high altitude. So some tea shops also call Huangshan Maofeng as Huangshan Fur Peak Tea.

Huangshan Maofeng is the most famous one. It belongs to the non-fermented green tea, originated in Huangshan Mountain, Anhui. Its leaves show a jade green, little curly like the bird’s tongue. A small yellow leaf which too late to bloom is beside the bud and called “Golden Piece.” A delicate plant’s scent given from the dried leaves smells like the orchid.

Producing Regions

Many excellent teas are from Anhui, like Keemun Black Tea, Taiping Houkui, Huoshan Huangya, and Lu’an Gua Pian. As the most famous geographical indication of Anhui, the natural environment of Huangshan is no doubt the best. It is about 1800m altitude, “strange pine tree, weird stones, cloud sea, and hot spring” are the characteristic landscape here.

The hills here are high to the moon, with a thick fog; if you climb to the top, you may feel like standing on the cloud. Dangerous and steep hills like this can not impede the plants growing; pine trees clung tenaciously to lives on the rock, looks like the mythical immortals.

Of course, Huangshan Maofeng is not planted in such a high place; to harvest will be a problem. Tea plantations are located at the hillside at about 800m altitude, where the climate is more comfortable. Tangkou, Gangcun, Yangcun, Fangcun are the 4 main top-grade Huangshan Maofeng producing plantations, honored as “4 great families.”

The temperature still cold here, the annual average only 15-16℃, rainy and moist. There’s a local folk saying, “good tea comes from the high and foggy mountain.” The annual sunshine duration is very short because of the fog reason, tea trees would not be hurt from the fierce sun and can accumulate the nutrient better; thus, it can create an awesome flavor.

History

Huangshan has a long tea-producing history. The Chinese tea culture was most prosperous in the Tang Dynasty; the tea style was block tea. In Song Dynasty, the local tea masters added the rolling step in the green tea processing, shaping the leaves a beautiful appearance.

The plantations are covered by fog all year long. So the teas produced here are also called Huangshan Yun Wu Tea, which is regarded as the predecessor of Huangshan Maofeng.

According to the local chronicles, Huangshan Maofeng was invented by Mr. Xie Zhengan, the founder of Xie Yu Da Tea Shop in the Qing Dynasty (about 1875).

At that time, he wanted to satisfy the market requirement better. So he picking sources leaves from the Tangkou and Chongcun plantations, then processing in great green tea by the optimized methods, and name it Maofeng.

In the past, Maofeng tea ever spread worldwide through the Maritime Silk Road and got fame. Unfortunately, Xie Yu Da Tea Shop was a decline in the 1920s because of bad management. But that did not have any bad effect on the Maofeng tea; it developed into a public brand increasingly and renamed Huangshan Maofeng officially. In 1955, Huangshan Maofeng was rated as one of the ten Chinese famous teas.

Camellia Sinensis Varieties

Tianhu tea plantation, where was Mr. Xie Zhengan set up in Chongcun village at that time, was regarded as the birthplace of Huangshan Maofeng. All the tea trees planted here are the Huangshan native species – Huangshan species. It is a bush, big-leaf type Camellia Sinensis, with a long growth cycle and can accumulate more nutrients.

Over 100 years have passed, these tea trees are still living tenaciously. But due to their buds sprout late that can not catch up with the spring tea publish time. So, most of them have been forgotten in the deep forests, only a few tea masters picking leaves from them for the pre-order by the senior tea lovers.

In most tea lovers’ minds, the newborn bud tea in spring is always the best. I cannot say that is wrong. Chinese classified the teas according to the traditional solar term, like Mingqian Cha(harvest before 5th, April) and Yuqian Cha(harvest before 20th, April). The Huangshan type Camellia Sinensis is exactly sprouting during this time. Still, it is almost impossible to hit the market by these dates.

Thus, just like other famous green tea-producing regions, the Huangshan tea plantations also introduced Wuniu and Hongqi species tea trees, which are sprout earlier. Their leaves also taste fantastic, but they are not resistant to brew due to the small-leaf reason.

Processing

The processing of Huangshan Maofeng tea is not so difficult as other teas, but it is also quite characteristic. Just like traditional green tea processing, primarily been through picking, fixation, rolling, and drying.

Picking

Huangshan Maofeng’s primary harvest time is in April; some early sprout tea trees even can start picked in mid or late March. Harvest job end at Lixia(5th, May). According to the picking standards, Huangshan Maofeng is classified into the following grades:

Top Grade – One bud and the just bloom first-leaf;
First Grade – One bud and to the just bloom second-leaf;
Second Grade – One bud and to the second-leaf;
Third Grade – One bud and to the third-leaf;

The most significant feature of the Top Grade Huangshan Maofeng is the just-bloom first-leaf of it, which shows yellow and is called as “Golden Piece.”

About this first-leaf, some people thought it is the resulting from the tea trees accumulating rich nutrients in winter. And some others thought that might because of the dehydration during processing and turn yellow. Undeniable, the Huangshan Maofeng with “Golden Piece” is indeed harvested before Qingming.

Fixation

Fresh leaves will be fixating immediately after picking to stop them from going on natural fermentation. The most traditional way is to put the leaves in a special iron bucket, with charcoal fire heating, and keep shaking it. Leaves rolling inside the bucket till they lost gloss. That’s got the same theory with the modern fixation machine, but the modern one is electric and automated. Some tea masters also take a more common method, such as pan-frying for fixation.

Rolling

Most green teas will be sent to a pan under low temperature for rolling after fixation. But in Huangshan Maofeng rolling processing, leaves after fixation will be placed on slate or a bamboo sieve, rolling slowly by tea masters. The operation should be gentle not to let the fuzz drop down and make the leaves lose their value.

Drying

Finally, leaves must be drying. Tea masters place the leaves on a special bamboo cage, with charcoal fire below, drying them slowly until the water content reduces to about 15%. Some traditional tea masters will use a wooden cabinet instead of a cage for the roasting job.

Further Processing

Leaves that have been through all the above 3 steps are called rough tea, which is done in tea masters’ families. But the water content and quality are still far away from the market standard. So the tea factories will purchase these rough teas for further processing – screen, reroast, and so on, then package for sale.

How Does Huangshan Maofeng Tea Taste Like

Huangshan Maofeng dried leaves’ appearance is not so attractive; they show jade green, curly into strips. Because of the just bloom first-leaf, they retain some tea stems inevitably. If brewing it with a glass cup, you can see the leaves bloom in water slowly, along with the rising steam, just like a beautiful fairy dancing.

The infusion of Huangshan Maofeng tea shows a light yellow, clean and bright. The fragrance is not obvious; it is a delicate orchid aroma, elegant and fresh. Because of the roasting drying, there also some fried beans aroma mixed in the floral.

Take a little sip, it’s a brisk and smooth mouthfeel, and the orchid scent becomes more obvious. It tastes a little bitter, astringency, and roasted chestnuts; about two seconds later, a slight sweetness aftertaste comes.

On the whole saying, Huangshan Maofeng tea has a very light and quiet flavor, so the ancient Chinese ever described it as “the fairy of the tea.” To the people who need a peace mind on meditating or studying, Huangshan Maofeng will be a nice tea.

How To Make Huangshan Maofeng Tea

Prepare and preheat a 300ml white ceramic Gaiwan;
Put 3-5g leaves in, then add 85℃ water in on a ratio of leaves to water 1:50;
Cover and steep for about 20 seconds;
Pour the infusion into a fair cup to equal the concentration;
Share to every cup and enjoy;

Most Huangshan Maofeng teas on the market are not from the native species tea trees, so that they typically not resistant to brew. After the first brew, every following round can extend about 20 seconds of steeping time. Still, it will lose all the flavor after the fifth brew.

Storage Way

Huangshan Maofeng is a non-fermented green tea; typically, it’s not suitable for long-time storage. The recommended expiration date is also 12-18 months. Even though it exceeds the date limit, the flavor will not have a significant change soon; but you still need to finish it ASAP. During the Huangshan Maofeng storage, the following points should be taking care of:

Airtightness. If the tea you bought is with an individually sealed package, you don’t need to worry about the airtightness problem. But if it is a big package, once you unwrap it and take the leaves out, you need to squeeze all the air out as you can then seal it OK again. Or choose a suitable container for storage.

Keep Dry. The dried leaves are easy to absorb the water in the air. After ensuring the airtightness of the package, you still need to take care of the ambient humidity, avoiding the leaves get damp and moldy.

Low Temperature. Huangshan Maofeng tea is suitable to store at a place under 5℃; a fridge looks a good choice. Suppose you are going to store the tea in the fridge. In that case, it will be better to do with a container, even though it had already had an individually sealed package. Besides, check the smell from other foods in the fridge, whether it is serious, avoiding the leaves’ flavor get polluted.

Keep Dark. To the non-fermented or light fermented tea, the sunshine is a risk which easy to be ignored. A long time of direct sunlight will make the leaves photochemical reactions, lead to loss the color and flavor. Besides, it also leads to a high-temperature problem.