There are culprits just waiting to steal the freshness from your beautiful loose tea. Air, light and moisture are the three worst. Heat and odors are also a problem. Many sites recommend storing tea in tins. Some sites sell tins and some even package their tea in tins for a little up-charge or if you buy more tea.

There is a downside: You can’t squeeze air out of tins. There are tins that actually have a way to ‘suck’ the air out, but the tins you see as ‘perks’ or benefits, or for sale, on tea websites normally do not have this feature.

If you put tea in a bag and zip it shut, you will note that there is still air trapped in the bag, just as there is air trapped in these pretty tins. However, when you open the zip top of a bag, and squeeze gently, the air will come out the top and allow you to zip the bag shut, virtually ‘air tight’, preserving the freshness of the tea.

If you just have to have tins on your counter because they’re ‘pretty’, we suggest buying beautiful larger tins that fit your decor and putting the packages of tea inside them…after squeezing the air out of the bags!