How to store loose leaf tea so it stays fresh
Tea does not go off the way milk does, but it does fade. Stored badly, a lively green tea turns flat within weeks and a black tea loses its edge within months. Stored well, black tea keeps for 2 years and more. The rules are simple, and most of them are about where you put the tin.
The four things that spoil tea
Air oxidises the leaf and dulls the aroma. Light, especially sunlight, breaks down the oils that carry flavour. Heat speeds all of that up. And tea leaf is very good at absorbing smells, so a tin next to the coffee or the spice rack will start to taste of them.
That rules out the most popular spot in the kitchen: the shelf by the window, above the kettle, next to the coffee.
What to keep it in
A tin or jar with a close fitting lid, kept in a cupboard, is all you need. Metal or ceramic are better than glass because they block light, but a glass jar inside a dark cupboard is fine. Keep each tea in its own container so the flavours do not cross.
Our pouches are kraft paper with a food safe liner and a zip seal, so they are fine for the first few weeks. Once opened, a tin is better for anything you will not finish within a month.
Where to keep it
Cool, dark and dry. A cupboard away from the cooker is ideal. Not the fridge, which is damp and full of smells, and not the freezer, unless you are storing a large amount of green tea unopened for a long time. Room temperature in a dark cupboard beats both.
How long each type keeps
Black tea, oolong and pu-erh: 2 years and beyond if kept well. Pu-erh is meant to age and often improves. Rooibos, honeybush and most herbals: 1 to 2 years. Green and white tea: best within 6 to 12 months of opening, since they are less oxidised and fade faster. Flavoured and scented teas, like Earl Grey or Jasmine Green: drink within a year, because the flavouring fades before the leaf does.
Every Chai by Kai pouch carries a best before date of 2 years from packing. That is a guide, not a cliff edge. Tea past the date is safe, it is just quieter.
How to tell if tea has faded
Open the tin and smell it. Fresh leaf has a clear aroma. Faded leaf smells of very little, or of paper. If it has picked up a smell it should not have, it has been living next to something it should not. Brew it anyway if it smells clean, and add a little more leaf to make up for what it has lost.