Pu-erh tea cakes should be stored in a dry, well-ventilated place free from odors. When inpiduals store tea cakes at home, they should pay attention to avoiding direct sunlight, being affected by strange smells and damp environments, so as not to affect the quality of the tea leaves.
The storage of Pu-erh tea cakes depends on personal circumstances. First of all, figure out whether you are storing the tea for drinking or for appreciation and profit-making. Are you storing a large quantity of tea? If you are just storing it for your own consumption, there's no need to store it. You can buy it when you want to drink it. It's not easy to store tea at home. If it's not stored properly, it will be wasted and cost you more! Especially when storing tea in coastal cities, if you're not professional, just one spell of damp weather in spring can ruin your tea.
If you want to store tea for appreciation and store a large quantity, either you are an expert yourself or you have friends who are professionals in the industry to give you guidance. Storing a large quantity of tea requires preparing a separate room or a warehouse for storage and being well-prepared for the long term. Without these conditions, it's not recommended for inpiduals to store a large amount of tea. In this era of consumption downgrade and inventory surplus, it's more reliable to keep your money in hand! Of course, this is just a personal opinion and not intended as guidance! Let's talk about storing Pu-erh tea cakes at home again.
Generally speaking, it's relatively easier to handle whole pieces or whole bundles of tea cakes. Just put them in waterproof bags, which can keep them away from moisture and odors. Usually, tea lovers like to buy tea for sampling, and there are quite a lot of unpacked tea cakes that can't be finished. For this situation, buy sealed bags to store them. Leave some space in the sealed bags so that the air inside is enough to support the transformation of Pu-erh tea. Put the tea cakes wrapped in sealed bags into carton boxes and place them away from the floor and walls. Pay attention to storing raw tea and ripe tea separately. Open them once a year or two for inspection and ventilation. When you are ready to drink, break off a piece and let the tea wake up for a while.
However, it's not recommended to store loose tea for a long time. Pu-erh loose tea needs to be stored in a sealed way and should be consumed as soon as possible to enjoy its freshness. Generally, the loose tea purchased by inpiduals is just a few kilograms. A small amount of loose tea is hard to accumulate its fragrance. If stored for a long time, it will be over-oxidized and lose its flavor instead. If the conditions are excellent, when storing Pu-erh tea cakes, purple clay pots and cigar cabinets are highly recommended.
During the process of storing Pu-erh tea cakes, if there is a slight problem of strange smells or moisture, first place the tea cakes in a dry and ventilated place for a few days until they are dry. If you're worried about moisture, you can also use bamboo charcoal to absorb moisture and odors. If you don't want to bother, you can directly buy food-grade desiccant packs. If the problem of strange smells or mold is serious, don't struggle and just throw it away.
Pu-erh tea cakes can generally be stored for about 15 to 20 years. However, it doesn't mean that the longer it's stored, the higher the quality will be. It's related to the raw materials, as well as processing, storage and even everyone's taste preferences. If you like drinking tea and store tea with the mentality of a tea enthusiast to experience the flavor changes of Pu-erh tea in different periods, it's also a great pleasure in life!