Tea storage experiments with roasted Baozhong

Teaparker's latest book about tea storage has generated several questions about which tea to store in which jar.

Then, just after Christmas, Teaparker demonstrated how a 6 year old Oriental Beauty would change and improve after just 18 hours in a glazed porcelain jar. The same leaves would not just smell finer, but also taste smoother after staying in the jar overnight (compared to those that stayed in the original plastic foil).

Yesterday, I nearly emptied a pack of 100 gram of my Spring 2006 medium roasted Wenshan Baozhong, the Qizhong Oolong in these 8 jars. The stripe-shaped dry leaves have more contact with air and this should mean that they should be impacted faster by the storage in a near empty jar than rolled Oolong.

Indeed, today the fragrances in the jars were noticeably different. And, brewing leaves from each jar also confirmed that the taste had been impacted by this short term storage.

A view of the open jars to show how each jar is closed:
Notice that the Japanese pewter jar has 2 lids to close the jar extra tight. Notice also the 2 mini jars at the bottom. The one on the left has an shiny plastic foil wrapped inside the lid, while the jar on the right has no such foil.

Now to my findings after brewing this same tea stored in different containers with the same gaiwan, same water... :

- Plastic foil storage: greener, fresher, rougher, less refined feeling.

- Mini jar, no foil inside: perfume like scents, more refined, smoother taste. Intense and sweet. Excellent.

- Mini jar, with foil inside: greener than without the foil, but also lacking intensity and aftertaste.

- The other 3 porcelain jars with porcelain lids (no foil): very similar to the mini jar. Small variations seem to be more due to different ratio of leaf to volume in the jar, but nothing very striking.

- The pewter jar: freshness and 'greenness' come out even more than from the foil. However, the tea tastes finer. Less sweetness, more salivation.

- Small Yixing zisha jar: Fragrances and tastes have been absorbed to a degree. It feels weakened rather than refined. The tea doesn't taste so fresh, but feels 'greener' in the sense that the roasting is somewhat erased. When cold, I also noticed bitterness in the taste.

- Bigger Yixing zisha jar: I noticed the jar still carried an unwanted storage smell. It needs further cleaning and drying before it can be used properly.

Major Conclusion: Porcelain jars were the best match to store medium roasted Baozhong (and most probably Oolong, too). They clearly helped refine and smoothen the fragrances and taste of the tea.

However, the plastic foil that wraps the inside of the lid of the jars in my selection has an adverse effect on the tea. It may help to protect the lid during transportation, but I strongly advise that you remove it after you have received your jar. (It only takes a couple of minutes with a sponge and water).

I'm not sure this counts as a New Year Resolution, but, from now on, I'll brew my roasted Oolongs and Baozhongs only after having them stored in a porcelain jar for some time! This shows that using a jar for a Cha Xi isn't just about aesthetics, but that the right storage for the right tea will improve the tea.