When you saw this title, many tea fans probably will ask: pick up the tea leaves? Using my hand, of course!
But do you know that the tea is vulnerable to wet or odor. Human hands get into contact with a lot of places every day, it is inevitable that it will carry some bacteria and germs. Also, hands sweat easily and easy to contaminate with water. If you use hand to pick up the tea, it will change the dry environment of the tea, and highly likely to contaminate the tea with bacteria or germ. And the moist environment provides the breeding ground for their growth. In such environment, the freshness of the tea will not only fade away, but also because of this, it will speed up the deterioration of the tea.
In the tea ceremony, it is very delicate to use special tea spoon, despite of the material which made from. It is only not recommended not to use hand directly. One more thing to pay attention to, the spoon must be placed in a dry and clean environment after use. If allows, you can put the tea spoon in the sterilizer.
Some people pour the tea out directly from the tea container. This method works to. However, the editor here to remind you, this method is relatively hard to control the amount of tea poured. If you have poured over amount of tea, don’t put the tea back to the container. Because these tea may has already get into contact with water or other substance. If you pour the tea back, the tea will accelerate the deterioration. The whole container of tea might also be affected.
Not only the method you use to pick up the tea affects the freshness of the tea, the way you preserve the tea also matters. For black tea, Pu-erh tea, Green Brick tea, white tea, they are best to be kept in tin cans, porcelain. It is not recommended to be kept in the clear glass bottle as they displayed in the store. If there is iron box or wooden box, they can also be used to keep these teas. When the temperature is higher than 25 degrees centigrade, the green tea is recommended to be placed in a sealed container and stored in the freezer or the refrigerator. If you drink green tea frequently, it is better to take the amount for a few days usage once, and put it in a Lock&Lock container, then place it in the fridge. Doing so, you don’t have to take out the whole package of the green tea, which will not turn yellow and lost its flavor to fast due to the change of the temperature.
Regardless of which container you choose to store the tea, you have to maintain the dryness, clean of the environment. Once you have put the tea in the container, you need to place the container in a dry and well-ventilated location, avoid exposure to the directly sun light.