The shelf life of black tea is how long it takes to buy black tea and the best way to store it.

First of all, you need to figure out what flavor, which producing area and which size of black tea you want.

The difference between the content of tea bag and ordinary tea

Then you have to think, do you want to buy tea bags or ordinary tea?

Black tea bags made of paper, non-woven cloth or nylon can be put directly into hot water so that black tea can be extracted.

Ordinary black tea needs to first put the tea into the teapot, inject hot water and then stew to strengthen the extraction, in order to lead to the characteristics of black tea itself.

Because the tea bag is separated by the package material, it is difficult to extract the taste of the tea, so we must choose the tea with faster extraction speed, so we usually pack the F (FANNINGS) or D (DUST) grade tea with fine shape.

However, in recent years, three-dimensional nylon tea bags shaped by triangular cones have become more and more popular, and more and more tea bags use BOP (BROKEN ORANGE PEKOE) tea.

If you want to use a teapot to make black tea, you should choose the original leaf tea at this time. However, BOPF, F, D grades of tea size are too small, will flow into the cup through the tea sieve, so generally when making tea will be OP and BOP as the mainstream.

Investigation and Identification of the orientation of Black Tea

The three elements of black tea are taste, flavor and brown.

If you understand the above three characteristics, you will be able to adopt suitable brewing methods and uses, and then mix black tea into more abundant drinks.

The identification procedures of black tea are varied, but they can basically be divided into three stages:

In the first stage, the tea factory carries on the appraisal for the quality management.

In the second stage, after the product was delivered to the auction house, the tea merchants identified the tea when they screened the tea. at this time, the tea merchants regarded black tea as a raw material and decided what kind of goods they needed in the future.

In the third stage, after the black tea is made into a product, decide what food is suitable for matching, or what drink is suitable for blending.

The method of identifying black tea is called Cup Test. First, you need to prepare a 150ml cup with a lid, pour 3 grams of black tea into the cup, then pour hot water that is about to boil, then cover the cup, and rest for 3 to 4 minutes, then pour the tea into a white cup completely, and finally spread the tea leaves on the lid. Confirm the color and aroma of the tea and the taste, color and aroma of the tea.

Matters needing attention

[before purchase]

Black tea and Pu'er are both agricultural products, but black tea is different. It is recommended to buy fresh black tea and drink it as soon as possible. So one-time purchase should be based on drinking within 1 to 2 months, rather than buying in large quantities at once.

When confirming the freshness of black tea products, the tasting period or import date can be taken as the standard, but there is no such information to be traced back when weighing two jin, so it is recommended to ask the seller about the time of tea making and import.

Some tea friends prefer a more balanced blend of black tea, such as taste and aroma, but mixed black tea is often mixed with leaves of different manufacturing dates, so the taste period on the package should prevail. Although this does not confirm the freshness of black tea, it can be tasted at least for a certain period of time.

In addition, the purchase of black tea must be based on the use of choice, not too much brand or price, expensive black tea is not necessarily delicious, each kind of black tea suitable refreshments and blending methods are different.

[after purchase]

When black tea is bought and taken home, you need to pay attention to the preservation of black tea.

When it comes to the storage container of black tea, many people will think of a square jar with a round lid on the top. This image comes from Britain. When tea is shipped from China, India and Sri Lanka, it is usually packed in square wooden cases with a capacity of 100 pounds (about 45.4 kg) and then collected in the cabin.

The square wooden cases, called CHEST, are sold together with the cases, thus creating a stereotype that black tea should be placed in square boxes or cans, and British tea merchants are also used to putting black tea in square cans.

Not only that, to be transported into boxes, the square box is less waste of space, and the transportation efficiency is high.

However, it should be noted that the preservation effectiveness of this kind of jar is greatly reduced after opening. Although the dome can be strongly sealed at the beginning, it will become relaxed after pried open many times, making it difficult to fully close, thus reducing the tightness.

If you want to extend the shelf life as long as possible, the tea should be placed in a highly sealed ceramic container or in a tea tube containing Japanese tea. Most square cans have a capacity of 125g to 200g, which is about the amount you can drink in one to two months, so instead of going to the trouble of changing another container, it is better to finish it as soon as possible.