Chapter Ten: On Preservation

Tea prefers to be stored in dry place rather than in a humid place and it is very difficult to preserve tea well. When the rainy season comes, the color of tea changes even when it is wrapped in a bamboo basket, this is because humidity remains inside the basket, and thus this preservation method is not proper. To roast tea with a mild fire from time to time might avoid the tea from losing its freshness. Preservation is an urgent issue for both tea lovers and the tea itself, which cannot be neglected. The solution (to preserve tea) is to pre-warm the tea storage vessel before the rainy season arrives. Put the tea inside the vessel and place a bamboo sheet on it and seal it with a thick paper. Then take one big earthen jar and place a layer of grain ashes at the bottom, then put the vessel (with the tea) upside down in the earthen jar. Bury the vessel with grain ashes and then place the next tea vessel one top of that, then once again bury it with grain ashes, etc. Finally, seal the big earthen jar airtight and store it in the attic so as to keep it away from humidity. In this way, preserved tea will maintain its original quality even throughout the rainy season. There is no other tea preservation method than this.