Collections
Tabletop
- Shop All Tabletop
Dinnerware
Drinkware & Glassware
Flatware & Silverware
- Sale
What's New
My Club
Bathroom
ProfessionalsShowrooms & Dealers
Tea storage
In addition to coffee, tea is one of the most popular beverages in Germany and the world. Whether hot or cold, as black tea, green tea, loose or bagged, with flavors or natural: Tea offers an incomparably sensuous variety and diversity. It can have a stimulating as well as calming effect and invites you to collect your thoughts for a moment, calm down and relax like no other drink.
In the following article, we have put together a few important tips and notes for you for how to properly store tea to preserve and protect the diverse flavors in the best possible way. You will also learn how long and where different tea varieties can generally be stored, what containers are particularly suitable for them and what you should look out for with different tea varieties to be able to enjoy every cup completely relaxed.
The right storage location
Choose a location without direct sunlight and away from other sources of heat, such as the heater or electrical appliances. An optimal storage is at room temperature of about 19 °C.
How long can tea be stored for?
The different tea varieties not only differ when it comes to taste, but also when it comes to their shelf lives. If the original packaging is not opened, you can usually store black tea for up to 3 years, and just as long if you store it properly after opening the packaging – in other words air-tight and protected from light at the appropriate temperature.
Storing fruit and herbal tea
When it comes to fruit and herbal tea, they are strictly speaking not real tea (this is extracted from the leaves of the tea plant), but rather they are infusions. That is why these hot beverages also do not contain any stimulating caffeine, which also make herbal and fruit teas ideal thirst quenchers for children. Fruit teas also offer a wide range of different flavors, depending on which fruits and other ingredients they contain.
Herbal teas made from chamomile, peppermint or sage, for example, are traditionally drunk to combat symptoms of illness, since the essential oils they contain reduce fevers, work as an expectorant or have a calming effect, depending on the type of herb. However, there are also more herbal tea lovers who drink the infusions for pleasure, using herbs other than the well-known medicinal herbs.
Whether fruit tea or herbal tea: In any case, these varieties should be stored air-tight, dry and cool like “real” tea so that the flavors and health-promoting substances they contain are preserved for as long as possible.
Pu’er tea and so-called white tea need to be able to breath and should therefore not be stored air-tight like other tea varieties. Fruit tea and flavored tea varieties, on the other hand, need to be stored in a sealed container if possible and nevertheless usually do not last longer than two years.
Watch out for moths in fruit teas
Weevil moths are not only annoying, but they can multiply almost uncontrolled once they have taken up residence in the kitchen or the cupboard. Because humans provide the ideal conditions for them, especially because they are flexible when it comes to their diet. While weevil moths cannot feed on tea (no matter whether black, green or white), fruit tea – especially the varieties containing real pieces of fruit in fresh or dried form – are nutritious and attractive for moths. This is why you should use tight-sealing tins or glasses to store fruit tea and always only open them briefly in the kitchen. This makes it much harder for weevil moths to settle in and you can enjoy your delicious fruit tea blends for longer.