Tea - Herbal Tea - Loose Leaf Tea - Health Benefits of Tea - Tea Storage Information
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Tea's Early Beginnings
Shortly afterwards Father Recci, one of the before-mentioned Jesuit missionaries, published his "Letters on China," giving a further account of its nature and properties. Vague and incorrect as the information was, it had the effect of stimulating inquiry; and as trade and adventure brought the Western nations into contact with the Chinese at various points, small consignments of tea gradually found their way into the hands of European merchants. The strange new commodity at once attracted considerable attention and speculation; an attempt was made in "hints on certain plants, imperfectly known to modern botanists," published in 1612, to show that China was known to the Romans, and that at their feasts they drank tea from costly vases.
In the year 1605 the Dutch East India Company, taking advantage of the public curiosity concerning this strange drink of the East, instructed their agents in Yeddo and Macao to obtain a supply, and it is said that one of their agents, with perhaps more shrewdness than honesty, impressed on the Chinese and Japanese that Europe also possessed herbs of wondrous virtue, and induced them to part with tea in exchange for equal weights of dried sage and borage, a profitable stroke of business which was commented on as follows by Father Rodes, who wrote in 1653: "In France the knowledge of tea was introduced by the Dutch, who sold at Paris at 25/per Ib. tea which had cost them in exchange:some 2d. or 2-|d. in China."
The new drink, however, made but slow progress amongst the Western nations at first, and the references to tea in European writings before 1650 are few, and show that its qualities were not by any means generally known or appreciated. In 1633, Olearius, a German writer, describes tea as a strange drink in use amongst the Persians, who obtained it from the Chinese by means of the Usbeck Tartars, and described it as "a black water with an acrid taste." In 1639 the Russian Ambassador at the Court of the Mogul declined to accept a present of tea for his master, the Czar, stating "it would only be encumbering him with a commodity for which he had no use." In 1641 the author of a "Treatise on Warm Beer," writing to recommend hot in preference to cold drinks, refers to tea only by quoting the statement of the Jesuit Maffei, that "they (the Chinese) do for the most part drink the strained liquor of an herb called 'Chia' hot."
Continental doctors differed widely as to its merits and demerits. A Leyden physician, Botenkoe, hailed it as an infallible remedy for almost all diseases, stating that "if men could be prevailed upon to drink enough of it" his idea of "enough" appears to have been two hundred cups daily "the innumerable ills to which mankind is subject would not only be much diminished, but would entirely disappear." Dr. Waldsmeck, Professor of Physics at Marpurg, with equal enthusiasm, calls it "the defense against the enemies of health the universal panacea which has so long been searched for; it is impossible for the obstructions of hypochondria and the distempers which proceed therefrom, to withstand the virtues of this healthful herb," and concludes in the raptured exclamation, "Oh, admirable virtue of tea! Oh, precious treasure of life!
Morisset, in his "Apology for Tea" (1648), hails it as "The drink beloved by the gods."
Other continental writers, on the contrary, bitterly denounced it. In Holland, in 1641, Paul Simon published a treatise against both tea and tobacco; and Fagon, the physician of Louis XIV, declared that amongst other ill effects the use of tea blackened the teeth and caused them to drop out. For more than a hundred years the controversy raged all over the continent; between 1650 and 1700 more than seventy special treatises appeared on one side or the other.
The date of actual introduction of tea into this country cannot be ascertained with absolute certainty, some authorities giving the date as 1591, others as 1597, and others again as 1610, which last appears most likely to be correct; the price at first was ten guineas per pound, arid naturally it was only used by the upper ten, and by them only on great occasions. By the middle of the seventeenth century, however, it was getting into more general use. An advertisement in the "Gazette" of 1658 calls attention to the fact that "that excellent and by all physicians approved Chinese drink called by the Chinese Toha, and by other nations Tay, alias TEE, is sold at the Sultaness Head Cophee House, in Sweeting's Rents, by the Royal Exchange, London," and in 1660, Samuel Pepys entered in his diary the oft-quoted sentence, "I did send for a cup of tea (China drink), of which I had never drank before" he does not, however, inform us how he liked it.
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A Modern Love Affair with an Ancient Beverage
Tea, as a beverage, is older than coffee, older than wine and maybe even older than beer. Some may argue about the latter, since some types of beer may be as old as 10,000 years, while tea has been around for 'only' about 5,000. Fair enough, let's not quibble. Tea is old.
Tea is also enormously popular. That much is obvious at a casual glance. But just how popular is it? Annual production today of tea leaves is in the neighborhood of 2 billion pounds.
Tea leaves have about 1-3% caffeine by weight, more than twice as much as a similar weight of coffee beans. But, it's true that a prepared cup of coffee will have about 100mg of caffeine and tea only about 60mg. And, after all, people drink tea and coffee much more often than they eat the leaves or beans.
Beer, wine, coffee and tea all have health benefits some of which are the result of the very same compounds present in the drink. Antioxidants are present in both wine and tea. Caffeine, in moderate amounts, has been shown to have healthy effects.
Whether you want a robust pick me up in the morning, or a relaxing hot cup at night, tea is - dare we say it - perfect. It clears out the cobwebs and at the same time relaxes. Iced or hot, green or black (or Oolong, which is in between), or even red or white (yes, they exist), tea tastes great and makes you feel wonderful.
Throughout history and up to the present day, drinking tea has been both a delightful experience and a social ceremony. Tea ceremonies aren't exclusive to Japan - in England it's practically an afternoon requirement. New York has clubs devoted to the fine art of tea.
East and west sometimes agree on very little. But all over the world - China, Turkey, Russia, Australia, the U.S. and the UK, and all the points on the map in between enjoy a cup of tea.
Tea, a Poem by Francis Saltus Saltus
From what enchanted Eden came thy leavesThat hide such subtle spirits of perfume?
Did eyes preadamite first see the bloom,
Luscious nepenthe of the soul that grieves?
By thee the tired and torpid mind conceives
Fairer than roses brightening life's gloom,
Thy protean charm can every form assume
And turn December nights to April eves.
Thy amber-tinted drops bring back to me
Fantastic shapes of great Mongolian towers,
Emblazoned banners, and the booming gong;
I hear the sound of feast and revelry,
And smell, far sweeter than the sweetest flowers,
The kiosks of Pekin, fragrant of Oolong!
Francis Saltus Saltus (November 23, 1849 - June 24, 1889)
(courtesy wikipedia)
Saltus was an American poet. Born in 1849 in New York City, he was the elder brother of once popular but now relatively obscure novelist Edgar Saltus. He was educated at Columbia University and later at the Roblot Institution in Paris.
Saltus was the leader of a group of bohemians in New York, including his brother Edgar, which met at Billy Moulds' bar in Manhattan's University Place; they were fond of absinthe and had "a taste for anything exotic." Van Wyck Brooks remarked that the unhappy Saltus "looked like a Greek god gone to ruin, partly as a result of the absinthe that he drank to excess."
His verse reflects a refined, erotic and decadent temperament similar to that of his brother, inspired primarily by Edgar Allan Poe, Théophile Gautier (of whom he was a student) and Charles Baudelaire. He was praised by influential editor William Marion Reedy as an 'American Baudelaire' whose verse had "the perfume of exquisite sadness." Able to converse in ten languages, Saltus also wrote poems in Italian, German and French.
He was a frequent contributor to American and international periodicals, such as Town Topics. A talented musician, he wrote four comic operas and much musical criticism. Much of his humorous, commercial work was written under the pseudonym Cupid Jones.
Saltus wrote and edited a comic paper entitled the Thistle in the 1870s, the entire contents of which were written by him and signed with various pseudonyms.
After an illness lasting several weeks, he died at midnight on June 24th of 1889 at the Riverside Sanitarium in Tarrytown, aged thirty-nine and was buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. Saltus' father, Francis H. Saltus, edited a four-volume edition of his poetical works after his death.
Saltus left behind a good deal of unpublished material, including "five thousand lyrics for posthumous publication" and several musical biographies, including a life of Gaetano Donizetti which was never published.
Alton Brown's Good Eats: Trew Brew Part One
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Characteristics of the Tea Plant
Chinese tea plants are usually divided into two classes, and distinguished a Thea Bohea and Thea Viridis, the former being most suitable for black teas, and the latter for green teas; and black and green teas have been indiscriminately made from the leaves of either.A tea shrub of Chinese origin now before us, growing among a host of common American plants, displays no special characteristics which would attract attention to itself. It resembles an orange plant. Its developed leaves are smooth on the surface, leathery in texture, dark green in color, with edges finely serrated from point almost to stalk. They are without odor, and when chewed in the mouth, have a mild and not unpleasant astringency, but no other perceptible flavor. A leaf of any familiar domestic plant, such as the lilac, the plantain, or the apple, has a stronger individuality to the sense of taste, than this green leaf of the tea plant.
How was the hidden mystery of its incalculable value to mankind revealed? What premonition guided the Chinese discoverer to the preparatory treatment and delicately graduated firing process which develops tea's precious flavors? And does not this unsolved question suggest the possible existence of other plants, growing, perhaps, at our very doorsteps, possessing rare and unrecognized virtues?
In form, tea leaves have been compared by writers to leaves of the privet, the plum, the ash, the willow, but close observers know that not only do leaves of the species just mentioned represent different types, but that important variations in form occur in leaves of the same species, and in leaves growing on a single tree or plant. The tea plant is subject to the same vagaries, and any description by comparison will be misleading.
All varieties of the tea plant bear a pure white flower, averaging, say 1-1/4 inches in diameter, and resembling very closely our single white wild rose blossom.
Its bunch of bright yellow stamens is so bushy and showy in some varieties that careless travelers have been led to report the flower as yellow in color, which is never the case. In some Chinese plants, and in those of India, tea blossoms are very fragrant, and they have been used for scenting tea leaves in India, if not in China, as other flowers are used by the Chinese. In India a perfume has been distilled from tea blossoms; and a valuable oil is expressed from the very oily seeds.
The long tap root of the tea plant renders it difficult to transplant.
In China, tea is commonly cultivated in small patches or fields, large tea fields being the exception. The nature of Chinese inheritance laws and customs which tend to continual subdivision of land, may be one of the causes of this state of affairs. The least area of spare ground is frequently utilized by the small farmer or the cottager for the cultivation of a dozen or more tea shrubs, from which they procure tea for their own use, or realize a small sum by sales of the green leaves to tea traders. Many a rocky hillside or mountain slope, otherwise waste ground, is terraced so as to detain the rains and meager soil within its inwardly inclined banks and trenches, and made to yield a valuable crop of tea. Indeed, some of the finest flavored Chinese tea, of fabulous value where they are produced, are grown in seemingly inaccessible retreats among precipitous mountains. Japanese Tea Terms
Ori-mono-châ . . . Folded TeaGiy-ôku-ro-châ. . . Dew Drop Tea
Usu-châ . . . Light Tea
Koi-châ . . . Dark Tea
Tô-bi-dashi-châ . . . Sifted Tea
Ban-châ . . . Common Tea
Yu-Shiyutsu-châ . . . Export Tea
Neri-châ . . . Brick Tea
Koku-châ . . . Black Tea
Ko-châ . . . Tea Dust Broken Leaves
Riyoku-châ . . . Green Tea
The Endless Combinations of Flavored Teas
Cornucopia: 'A symbol of prosperity and affluence, dating back to the 5th century BC.' In modern parlance, 'a great many very good things'. And that exactly describes the flavored teas that are available today.Though counting them could be difficult, the variety of flavored teas to be found could quite possibly exceed those of coffee. Devoted tea drinkers everywhere are the beneficiaries of that wide array of choices.
Flavored teas are created by adding flavors to tea. During the process of preparing tea leaves, particularly as they oxidize, they can absorb a great many additives. Today, those additives range from floral aromas to fruit flavoring to syrups.
Most of the tea used is the black variety, since green tea is barely oxidized at all (it's steamed instead), and Oolong only moderately so. But all types have been used, even the rare white teas that make it to Western shores only rarely.
The teas used are almost as diverse as the flavorings themselves. Ceylon, Darjeeling, Wu Yi and even African Rooibos are often used.
Among the flower-flavored teas are Jasmine, Chrysanthemum, Rose and many others. These have a delicate flavor and a lovely bouquet revealing their twin origins as tea and flower. They are popular at all sorts of functions, and even those who enjoy a robust Turkish in the morning may long for one after a hectic day.
One can easily find ginger combined with a Ceylon black. Peaches added to a Formosa Oolong are a specialty of many sites. Yunnan from China, flavored with calendula petals is all the rage, too. Even the rare China white, blended with sweet melon, shows the endless creativity of tea creators.
Cinnamon has long been used as a delightful spice sprinkled atop a rich black cup of coffee or hot chocolate. Infusing it into a black tea is just as delicious. In the Middle Ages cinnamon was sometimes used as a currency among the elite. Modern devotees of tea can find out why if they try this superb combination.
The variety of fruits used to flavor teas simply staggers the imagination, not to mention taxing the pen. Blueberry, cherry, banana, apple, raspberry and every other fruit grown on the planet have made their way into one of the world's most ancient beverages.
Flavorings that have only recently delighted coffee drinkers have been used in teas for decades. Coffee drinkers have to generally be satisfied merely with adding the syrup after brewing. Caramel, chocolate and even candy syrups are being used right in the preparation of the leaf grinds or powder.
Whatever tea you favor, whatever flavor you prefer, you can find combinations that only a computer could keep track of. So don't rack your brain. Just open your palate and try something new!
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Fetching RSS feed... please stand byOpen a Tearooom - Turn Your Passion for Tea Into a Profitable Business
Do you love tea? Imagine owning a rewarding retail business that allows you to profit from your passion for this healthy and delicious drink. You can when you open your own tea room.According to the Tea Association of America, the U.S. tea industry is expected to grow to over $10 billion by 2010, an increase of over 60% from 2005.
As tea becomes increasingly popular among consumers, tea rooms are enjoying unprecedented growth in North America, similar to the early days of the boom in coffee houses.
With so many people feeling harried and stressed these days, the growing appeal of tea rooms as a welcome respite is only natural. Although many coffee shops offer tea, a tea room (also known as a tea house) offers a whole different culture and a tranquil atmosphere.
Tea rooms offer people a greater variety of teas, which makes finding and trying new teas an exciting and pleasurable adventure.
There are many benefits to opening your own tea house. When you open a tea room, you will have insider information about the latest trends and most sought after teas. You will have access to some of the world's finest tea and you will have the luxury of selling the type of tea you want to sell.
As a tea room owner, you will have the freedom to make your own decisions and express your own creative spirit throughout your business. You will also create the atmosphere where your customers can enjoy a memorable dining experience.
For example, when you start a tea room business, you might choose to open:
- An elegant Victorian or traditional tea room
- An Asian-inspired or themed tea room
- A children's tea room
- A sophisticated tea bar or tea lounge
- A café that sells a variety of fine specialty teas and tea-based drinks
- A bubble tea shop that sells freshly blended tea smoothies
If opening a tea room sounds like the career of your dreams, the Guide to Become a Tea Room Owner is for you! In this e-book you will discover how you can get started and succeed in the tea house business.
The guide covers topics of vital importance to anyone who wants to open a tea room in the United States or Canada, including:
- How to create a business plan for your tea room (includes a sample tea room business plan
- Deciding what kind of tea room to open
- An overview of options for your tea room business
- Where to get start-up financing for your tea business (includes sample start-up budgets)
- Information about the different legal structures for businesses and the advantages and disadvantages of each
- How much space (square footage) you need to open your tea house
- What to consider when choosing a location for your tea room, including information about permits and leases
- Creating the interior design of your tea room with tips on how to display items to increase sales
- Information on the types of licenses and insurance you will need to start your tea room business
- Equipment and supplies you need to start a tea room business and where to get them
- How to get inventory for your tea room including information on
- Managing Your Tea Room
- How to develop effective systems for operating your tea room on a daily
basis (including opening and closing duties, and sales procedures)
Valuable samples and checklists for starting your tea room, including:
o Sample business plan for a tea room
o Sample tea room floor plan
o Sample lease agreement
o Sample budgets for a tea room
o Sample daily sales report
o Sample tea room menu with prices
o Sample press release
o Sample tea workshop syllabus
o Checklist to evaluate competing tea rooms
o Checklist for finding the perfect location for your tea room
o Tea room supplies checklist
o Store operations checklist
It can cost hundreds of dollars to take courses on starting a business, and chances are they will not include specific information about how to open a tea room. Our guide can save you many hours of research, help you avoid some costly mistakes, and give you information you need to open your own tea room.
If you believe you deserve to have the career of your dreams, this guide is for you. It gives you what you need to know to open a tea room.
Don't miss the opportunity to have the career of your dreams. Ordering is fast, easy and safe. You will receive your e-book within minutes.
Order your 237-page guide now!
White Tea: Delicate & Distinctive
White tea is made from the same plant as is green tea, but undergoes a very different process. It begins with the rolled buds of the Camellia Sinensis plant, but suffers no oxidation.That oxidation process, often called fermentation, is what produces the distinctive color and taste of other teas. Though the word is the same, 'fermentation' in tea circles does not mean the same as when it's used in relation to wine. No sugars are altered to produce alcohol.
Instead of oxidation, the buds are dried by steaming, then air dried. No rolling or crushing occurs. This leaves the enzymes in the leaves intact, unexposed to air. Water evaporates more slowly and up to 40% of the original weight is lost. Then the leaves are slow-roasted to remove about 95% of their moisture content.
The result is a tea with very little caffeine and a very light color and delicate taste. The final product has a very fresh taste, somewhat like real leaves or grass, that is preferred by some tea aficionados. Leaves gathered in the early spring provide a clean cup with a fragrance that has a hint of outdoors.
A type called Silver Needle that hails from the Fujian province in China is an especial treat. The Darjeeling province in India makes a fine white tea as well. And there is a variety called Ceylon White that hails from Sri Lanka.
But there's more to white tea than just good taste.
Though still an area of active research, there are studies that suggest white tea is even healthier than the already great green tea. Green tea stimulates the immune system to fight infection and according to a recent study at the Pace University, that property may be even more pronounced in white tea. It has an anti-viral and anti-bacterial effect.
With its lower caffeine content (15 mg per serving, compared to 40 mg for black tea, and 20 mg for green tea) white teas will be a great addition to the 'decaf' section of your tea tin.
Brew about 2.5 grams (1.5 teaspoons) for every 200 ml (6 oz). Heat the water to 82°C (180°F), then steep the leaves for a few minutes. Cool to taste and enjoy this ancient delight as a new experience.
Alton Brown's Good Eats: Trew Brew Part Two
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Green Tea Sampler
A wonderful introduction to the wide range of green teas, including: green pekoe - light daily brew from China hojicha - charcoal-roasted tea from Japan citron green - green tea with lemon & lime sencha - smooth everyday tea from Japan gunpowder - smoky tea from coastal China.
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Rooibos Tea Sampler
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Proper Storage Methods for Tea
You've gone to great lengths to find a great tea. You've spent two to five times or more what it would cost to get an ordinary tea from the grocery store. But even fine teas can go stale, like any agricultural product. In fact, finer teas often have fewer or no artificial preservatives and can decay the quickest. But keeping your tea stored properly can make it last as long as a year.A proper tin or chest is your best defense against the aging effects of air and light. You can find them in different materials and hundreds of stylish designs. But the two chief characteristics they need to have are to be airtight and light-proof.
Ordinary sunlight and indoor lighting both have a UV component. That energetic light wave can break down the molecules in tea, stripping color and flavor over time. Keeping your teas in the dark may not allow you to enjoy a display of the multi-colored fine leaves from around the world. But it is preferred in order to preserve the flavor and appearance of the brew.
Air contains oxygen, which readily combines with a wide variety of organic molecules, altering them. The result is rarely an enhancement of the flavor of tea. That oxidation breaks apart molecules and changes their flavor profile.
But air has more than just oxygen. It also carries odors from foods, air pollutants like hydrogen sulfide (a component of smog) and other compounds. Those readily find their way into both the water and the tea leaf and bag. Keeping air out during storage keeps those chemical reactions to the minimum. Those will happen on a very small scale when the tin or chest is opened, but not enough to cause a change that most can detect.
Air also contains moisture, water molecules that float around. Higher humidity climates have more, desert climates have relatively less, but all but the most extreme environments have some. Moist air carries odors, enhances the effect of oxidation and can itself produce chemical changes. It can also form an environment that is friendly to the growth of mold and other organisms that can ruin your tea.
Keeping the interior of the tin or chest moisture tight and dry helps your tea retain the optimum flavor. Get an airtight tin or chest, then add a small desiccant to absorb water that gets within the container.
Since tea leaves themselves will evaporate a certain amount over time, it's best to keep each one separated. The flavor profile of your favorite oolong can be altered if it's exposed to the same air as a good rooiboos. Whether you use individual tins, or a type of container in which each cubical is closed off is a matter of convenience.
A good tea caddy is your first and best line of defense. But help it along by keeping teas away from spices, heat and other things in the kitchen that can rob your tea of flavor. Storing the tea in a cool, dry area away from pungent foods - and away from other teas - will reduce the chances of your fine leaf being exposed or degraded.
A Wealth of Health Benefits in Green Tea
It is not always that we are so fortunate that something we enjoy is good for us. How lucky we are that green tea fits that role so well.The role of green tea in promoting health has been much in the news in the last few years. There is ample evidence that, consumed in moderation, green tea indeed does aid many aspects of functioning. Some of these benefits have been known for over a thousand years.
The polyphenols, flavonoids and even caffeine (in moderate quantities) present in green tea are all known to help the body protect itself. Green tea helps lower cholesterol (the 'bad' kind), absorbs free radicals that can damage cell membranes and reduces the prospect of certain cancers.
Despite Federal FDA denials, many studies lend strong support to those who tout green tea's benefits. Black tea, as well, has most of the same benefits.
But green tea has many virtues beyond the medicinal. It tastes delightful and provides a relaxing form of enjoyment in a hectic world.
Just as with black or Oolong tea, green tea comes from the leaves of an evergreen called Camellia Sinensis. They are plucked, then processed. But unlike black tea, green tea leaves do not go through a long oxidation process.
Instead, green tea leaves are steamed, which retains the EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate) antioxidants. Black and Oolong teas undergo 'fermentation' which converts the EGCG into other compounds. 'Fermentation' in tea, despite the use of the same word, is not the same process as in winemaking. No sugars are converted to alcohol. It's simply a synonym for oxidation, more or less.
As a result, the tea flavor is much more delicate and the aroma and taste retain much more of the 'vegetative' quality from the original bush. That flavor is enjoyed in a hundred varieties by tea drinkers the world over.
The Long Jing tea from Hang Zhou in China, pan dried and flat in appearance, often goes by the name Dragon Well. This green tea is among the most common drinks in China. Yet for all its commonality, it makes a fine brew. The Gyokuro, also known as Jewel Dew as a consequence of its color, is another fine green tea from China.
The Ryokucha from Japan is a green tea that is so common there that a form of the word (ocha) is often taken to mean simply 'tea'. Connoisseurs regard the green tea from the Uji region of Kyoto to be among the finest. Matcha is a powdered green tea once used primarily in tea ceremonies. Now it is so popular throughout Japan and elsewhere that it finds its way into ice cream and other sweets.
Gunpowder, which has nothing to do with the explosive, is another popular variety. The leaves are rolled into tiny pellets, making for a very intense infusion. Its muscatel overtones make for a wonderful brew.
There is even a green tea-style Earl Grey. Though without the heady flavor of the more common black tea type, the bergamot oil combines well with green tea.
Tea Storage: Tins & Chests
Whether you prefer loose leaf or bag, or enjoy both, you'll want to keep that fine tea you searched so hard for in optimal condition.
Like coffee and other organic products, tea can degrade and go stale. Oxygen-filled air and airborne compounds can destroy a fine tea leaf, or infuse it with unpleasant odors and tastes. Fortunately, there is a world of tea tins and tea chests that can prevent those problems. A fine container, also known as a tea caddy, will keep your tea fresh and add a decorative element to the kitchen.
Tea tins and chests come in all sizes, shapes and designs.
Few are made of tin anymore, despite the name. But if plastic is not your preferred material there are rust-proof metal tins that can seal airtight and keep your stash fresh as the day you bought it.
Porcelain, glass, plastic, wood and entirely new kinds of materials are being used for tins today. You can enjoy the fine traditional look of a Japanese porcelain or the latest Swedish composite that could seal a modern mummy.
Some are just round, rectangular or octagonal containers in which you dump loose leaf or bags. But others have compartments that help keep your teas separated and organized. You'll want to keep loose leaf teas in either separate tins or find a tin that has individually sealing compartments. The latter type has smaller cubical areas that enclose individually or close off each one separately when you shut the lid.
Tea chests often allow for holding dozens of individual sachets or bags.
Here again, the design you get will be dictated by the type of tea, tea bag and decorative element desired. Individual sachets are air-permeable, so it's important to get a chest that can seal each compartment. If you buy sealed bags, then the design options are wider.
Chests can hold from as small as a dozen to over a hundred and many make for fine furniture. Teak, and other fine woods are often used and the display is equivalent to a fine cigar holder. Some have cherry finishes, others ebony, others still another color. Some with glass tops are available, but exercise caution. Glass transmits heat much better than fine woods, so you'll need to keep the tin somewhere out of the sunlight. Also, UV can degrade both fine mesh bags and the tea leaves themselves, so the interior should be kept dark.
In either style, tin or chest, fine teas can be kept fresh up to a year, depending on how often they're opened and how the tea itself is stored.
Small, flexible metal or plasticized paper can seal extremely well. Sachets and other fine cloth mesh will allow exposure to air. But the latter are often used for the finest teas and are intended to be consumed fairly quickly.
You may want just an inexpensive, but attractive, tea tin to hold a few bags. Or, you might prefer a finely crafted piece of furniture for the kitchen that contains hundreds of dollars of fine tea. Whatever your preference, there's a tin or chest tea caddy in a price and style perfect for you.
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