5 Tips For Protecting Your Tea
Admit it, you have a healthy obsession with tea. So, if you want to keep your prized leaves in tip-top-tea shape, you should try to remember these five simple tips:
#1 If you’re only going to let your memory store one rule, definitely remember to keep tea away from moisture, air, heat and light. These archenemies will rob it of its flavor, quality and shelf life. If acronyms are your thing, just remember M.A. H. L. And if you want to take it to the next level, the Spanish word “mal” translates to “bad” in English. Moisture, light, air, heat=mahl=mal=bad=bad for tea. OK, you get my point.
#2 You like to drink it iced, but please don’t freeze your tea. Sure, you might have seen your coffee-drinking friends (yes, you’ve tried to convert them) placing their leftover coffee in the freezer, but the same rules don’t apply to tea. Instead, just remember to store your leaves at room temperature.
#3 Although most teas are visual masterpieces, it’s not a good idea to keep your tea in glass containers, as exposure to light will sacrifice quality and flavor. Your best bet is to keep tea in an airtight tin (preferably stainless steel). But if the sterile look doesn’t match your kitchen décor, no need to fret. Tea tins are often made of beautiful wood, ceramic or even have a decorative exterior of delicate origami paper (that of course covers the stainless steel).
#4 It might seem logical to keep your tea on the counter next to your stove (the kettle is so close!), but storing tea near a heat source will cause it to lose its flavor, scent and overall freshness at a rapid pace. Time to give your stove a restraining order and keep your tea safe and sound.
#5 OK, so you’ve placed your tea in an airtight tin and have stored it far, far away from its evil tea enemies (moisture, air, heat & light). Congrats! You must really love your tea. But if you want to take that love to a whole new level, consider storing a few of your tins in a wooden chest. The pirates stored their valuable gold coins in chests, so it makes sense that you’d store your treasured tea in one too.
OK, so those are my tips to storing tea, but I’m sure you have a few secret ways to keep your tasty leaves extra fresh. Care to share?
So I have a question about tins.
I absolutely LOVE the Teavana 3 oz tea tins! (you know the ones that are purple and silver w/ the Teavana logo on them, the sold for $2.99 online…) However, it seems they are no longer available to buy online! I really need some more of these tins (and have friends that would also love some this size!) They are the perfect size for flavors I don’t use all the time and only need a couple oz of!
Can you tell me if these will be brought back and are just out of stock or are they discontinued?