On Wed, 15 Nov 2006 02:03:30 -0800, Balt wrote:

> Hi,
>
> to pu-erh lovers/collectors I have a question
>
> How do you store your pu-erh ?
> Where ?
> I live in a block of flats, so I'm somehow limited in getting the right
> place to store my tea...
>
> thanks
>
> Tomas


Here is what I do:

I get as nice, new as possible - the red clay flower pots. I like the
stubby ones, 31cm -- 12 something inches, I think. These fit pretty nice
on a nice shelf somewhere. Select them carefully, to make sure they haven't
been sitting in the greenhouse or storage area of the garden center you're
buying them from and aren't moldy or what-not. Nice, new ones. It may be a
seasonal thing - you may have to wait 'till spring when the new shipments
arrive. I also purchase the clay saucer that comes with the pot - the
right size, but it goes on top, not on the bottom. Check to make sure the
saucer fits nice and snug on top of the pot.

Then, I purchase 100% cotton fabric, in a nice pattern, whatever looks
nice or is interesting. For the 31cm pots, 2 yards is a good length for
the stubby flower pots - the more tapered, taller ones you'd probably need
3 yards or more - the fabric stores usually have the fabric at 43-44
inches across in the rolls, and that fits the 31cm pots perfectly. Any
larger pot, you'd probably need the fabric that comes on wider rolls, and
you'll have less variety there.

So in any case, it's basically - 31cm stubby flower pot with
corresponding clay saucer and 2 yards of 100% cotton fabric on a standard
43-44" roll. Easy enough.

What I do then, is to wash the flower pot by hand with natural, non-toxic
dish soap (Dr. Bronner's Sal Suds, for instance, something of that
caliber, or even better, something fragrance free) - fairly heavily
diluted, because the clay pots, being porous, soak up the soap and its
incredibly hard to wash them clean. In other words, dilute the soap first,
then pour it on the flowerpot, then scrub it real good. I scrub it down
pretty good for a while, rinse it numerous times, and then let it dry in
the hot sun, turning it so that the sun gets all angles. I try to leave it
out for the whole day, if possible. Obviously, this can't be done during
the winter. You can probably skip the hot sun part, but that's just how
I've always done it.

Then, I take the cotton cloth and wash it in the washing machine with a
fragrance-free laundry detergent, then hang it outside to dry in the hot
sun. You could even wash by hand to avoid the nasty smell of laundromat
laundry machines, if necessary.

Then, once it's all clean, I line the bottom with a Chemex coffee filter
or two opened up (they're pretty big) to catch any tea that crumbles off,
and then wrap the flowerpot in the cloth.

Here's how I do that: Take the cloth, place it on a table or some other
large enough clean surface area - good side down. Place the flower pot
directly in the middle of the cloth. In my case, the cloth is a rectangle
- 2 yards long, 44 inches wide. Take the short length - the 44 inch
length, and fold each side up to the top of the flower pot. Depending on
that particular fabric roll, it may or may not reach all the way around -
the sides may not touch - but that's not a problem - you stretch them up
as far as they will go, and place the saucer on top. That holds them down.
Then, you likewise, nicely fold up the remaining length of the cloth,
essentially doubling it up, and then bring the long end of the rectangle
up and over the top of the saucer.

This combination allows air circulation (although slowly) and also
protects from cooking and other temporary odors - I don't smoke, and
there's no smoking in my house, so I don't know if it's effective against
those types of odors, but I doubt it.

As far as humidity and temperature, my understanding is that wherever your
puerh is stored, it will reflect those storage conditions. I don't know
that there's really any way around that. I'm fine with that, actually.