Hi all,
I was talking to some people the other day about Puer and the aging
process. A friend of mine brought up the fact that the extremely dry
Minnesota winter might pose a problem.

For those of you who don't know, Winters in the upper Midwest get
bitterly cold and dry, and indoor heating makes the air dryer still.
Many people employ humidifiers and lotion to keep comfortable.

I hadn't thought of this before, but it's occured to me that, since the
overwhelming majority of puer aging goes on the subtropical and
tropical regions, folks will tend to care more about overly damp
environments, and dryness may not really be an issue.(

So I was wondering whether anyone has enountered this problem, and what
they have done about it. I know there are humidity regulating devices
for storing cigars. There are similar devices for intruments. While we
usually use a hudifier at my place, I'm afraid it won't have enough of
an effect on the inside of my pu cabinet.

Any ideas?

Nico

It is a bit high maintenance, but a cheap humidifier can be made with a
sponge and a plastic sandwich bag with holes in it. This is what I use
in my guitar case to keep the wood from drying out too much.

Nico wrote:
> Hi all,
> I was talking to some people the other day about Puer and the aging
> process. A friend of mine brought up the fact that the extremely dry
> Minnesota winter might pose a problem.
>
> For those of you who don't know, Winters in the upper Midwest get
> bitterly cold and dry, and indoor heating makes the air dryer still.
> Many people employ humidifiers and lotion to keep comfortable.
>
> I hadn't thought of this before, but it's occured to me that, since the
> overwhelming majority of puer aging goes on the subtropical and
> tropical regions, folks will tend to care more about overly damp
> environments, and dryness may not really be an issue.(
>
> So I was wondering whether anyone has enountered this problem, and what
> they have done about it. I know there are humidity regulating devices
> for storing cigars. There are similar devices for intruments. While we
> usually use a hudifier at my place, I'm afraid it won't have enough of
> an effect on the inside of my pu cabinet.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> Nico
>

Don't worry about it. I come from Winnipeg, MB, colder and drier than
you. My pu-erh collection has been doing fine for three years now with
no artificial humidity. The tea drys out and probably doesn't age all
that quickly over the winter but come summer it'll start up again.
>From what I can tell my tea is aging almost as fast as anyone else's.
Maybe the dormant period does something good...

Cheers,

Cameron



Nico wrote:
> Hi all,
> I was talking to some people the other day about Puer and the aging
> process. A friend of mine brought up the fact that the extremely dry
> Minnesota winter might pose a problem.
>
> For those of you who don't know, Winters in the upper Midwest get
> bitterly cold and dry, and indoor heating makes the air dryer still.
> Many people employ humidifiers and lotion to keep comfortable.
>
> I hadn't thought of this before, but it's occured to me that, since the
> overwhelming majority of puer aging goes on the subtropical and
> tropical regions, folks will tend to care more about overly damp
> environments, and dryness may not really be an issue.(
>
> So I was wondering whether anyone has enountered this problem, and what
> they have done about it. I know there are humidity regulating devices
> for storing cigars. There are similar devices for intruments. While we
> usually use a hudifier at my place, I'm afraid it won't have enough of
> an effect on the inside of my pu cabinet.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> Nico

Cameron Lewis wrote:
> Don't worry about it. I come from Winnipeg, MB, colder and drier than
> you. My pu-erh collection has been doing fine for three years now with
> no artificial humidity. The tea drys out and probably doesn't age all
> that quickly over the winter but come summer it'll start up again.
> >From what I can tell my tea is aging almost as fast as anyone else's.
> Maybe the dormant period does something good...
>
> Cheers,
>
> Cameron

I have heard this from more than one authority on puerh. That the
alternating seasonal changes are beneficial to the aging process. I
know for a fact that many of the processes used to accelerate aging
artificialy will alternate between dry and humid conditions.

Mike
http://www.pu-erh.net

Thanks Mike and Cameron,

So Mpls might be an ideal place for puer aging? Very cool. The worry I
had was that the bacteria on the tea might die in overly dry
conditions, but I'll defer to a Canadian any time
Nico

Mike Petro wrote:
> Cameron Lewis wrote:
> > Don't worry about it. I come from Winnipeg, MB, colder and drier than
> > you. My pu-erh collection has been doing fine for three years now with
> > no artificial humidity. The tea drys out and probably doesn't age all
> > that quickly over the winter but come summer it'll start up again.
> > >From what I can tell my tea is aging almost as fast as anyone else's.
> > Maybe the dormant period does something good...
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Cameron
>
> I have heard this from more than one authority on puerh. That the
> alternating seasonal changes are beneficial to the aging process. I
> know for a fact that many of the processes used to accelerate aging
> artificialy will alternate between dry and humid conditions.
>
> Mike
> http://www.pu-erh.net