02.03.05
Storing your green tea
Should I keep my green tea in the freezer? In short, no. Here is why I personally don’t think it’s a good idea.
If the bag has yet to be opened, then you probably should keep it in the refrigerator (the freezer won’t do much for you.) First flush green tea is normally stored under refrigeration throughout the year. Once you open that bag, however, I don’t recommend that you keep it in the refrigerator anymore. Why? A couple of reasons. First, when green tea is packaged, it’s moisture content is reduced to around 2 percent. This means it will suck up moisture very easily. Just the process of moving it to and from the refrigerator is going to expose it to condensation, etc. It also seems to be that it would be very susceptible to absorbing unwanted “refrigerator” tastes that you don’t want.
Another important thing to keep in mind is that good green tea is either vacuum packed or packaged in nitrogen, the later being more common. Once you cut open that bag, the clock starts to tick. You have about 2-3 months maximum to brew your green tea before it deteriorates to undrinkable.
So here are my recommendations:
- First and foremost, make sure you start off with something fresh!
- Store unopened bags in the refrigerator
- Store opened bags in a container located in a cool, dry place
- www.O-Cha.com sells tea canisters especially made for storing green tea.
- If it’s been in the canister for 6 months, dump it and get something fresh.
Hope that helps….
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