On May 13, 12:59*pm, taopants > wrote:
> Has anyone's '09 tea's come in? how do they look compared to last
> year. *II usually wait until june to order from the bigger houses, as
> I think that the old tea stock will be gone. Is this necessary? I'm
> not sure how tea is rotated in the wharehouses

Well made and well stored teas keep for many years - I have drunk 12
year old teas that I manufactured in Pakistan and stored in the UK -
and they still had the freshness and fragrance of newly made tea.
Green teas and China greens in particular used not to be well dried
and lost their quality quickly. I suspect this reputation remains
even if not supported by current fact. Freshness is certainly hyped
up to convince gullible purchasers to shell out extra cash for new
season teas. And faddy consumers play the game by falling for it.
Back to the days when buyers waited for the tea clippers to race new
stock from Shanghai to London - first ship in got the sky high
prices.
As Jim say's in this thread - he will trust his palate and clean up on
the discounted 08 stock. Personally I am happy that my current stock
of Georgian handmade tea was grown in 2006 and 2007 - and all the
better for being kept awhile.

Nigel at Teacraft