I have a lot of tea! I have loose leaf tea, I have tea packets, I have packets of loose leaf tea, I have instant tea, and I have had problems storing it all. I went from having a quarter of a shelf at home, to keeping it in a slightly larger drawer, until I finally got a big storage box for my tea. This brings me to the topic of this tea themed article: storing your tea!

So, let’s talk about the basics of storing tea. It can be stored somewhere for a very long time because, in essence it is just a bunch of dry leaves. The best way to store it, however, is in a dry place that will not have any access to moisture, as that could ruin your tea. Another thing to note is that the best way to keep your tea in the dry place depends on if it is a loose leaf tea or if it is in a tea bag.

The best way to store loose leaf tea is in airtight containers. Usually you will go to your favorite tea shop (mine is David’s Tea) and they will give your tea in a bag with a label on it telling you about the tea. Another option is to get a metal airtight container and keep it all in there. Most tea shops sell them, and David’s Tea will even give you a discount if you bring one of their metal tea containers to their store when you go to buy some more tea. This is also environmentally friendly, because instead of using a bag that you throw away you are reusing a container and saving the earth. One thing I did have a problem with was knowing which container had which tea, as I found myself hunting for fifteen minutes trying to find this one tea I wanted. To fix this, I just bought these labels made with chalkboard and I stuck them onto the containers. This made it easier to find my tea, and the labels could also be changed. I found them on amazon, and a pack of 112 it was only about seven dollars.

Now, if you are a fan of prepackaged tea, then the best way to store that tea is in its original container. By that, I mean the individual packets that you open to get to the bag, or the bag that smaller tea bags come in. If you do not want to keep the cardboard box, then that is completely fine and you can toss it as long as you have one of those two things. Although the box does usually have information about the tea, like what it taste like or how to make it, so it might be kind of nice to keep it for that reason.

I am also someone who likes to take free samples of tea from places I go. If I am at an office and they have packets of tea available and I see one that I really like, I will take it. At some point you are going to end up with quite a few random, happily taken, packets of tea all over the bottom of your tea box, without a proper home. I take old tea boxes or just plastic baggies and throw them in there. It just keeps my tea looking a lot nicer!