Storage Taste, Aged Aroma, and Mold: Telling Smells Apart
"This cake smells a bit stuffy. Is that aged aroma or storage taste?" This is the question that comes up most when drinking aged tea. Storage taste, aged aroma, and moldy smell are often used interchangeably, but they come from completely different sources.
Where the Three Smells Come From
- Aged aroma (chenxiang): the aroma tea develops by changing slowly in a clean, stable environment. It belongs to the tea itself and is often described as woody, camphor, jujube, herbal, or lotus, smelling clean, settled, and pleasant. The various terms for aged aroma are in Terms: Aged, Camphor, Lotus, Jujube, Ginseng, and Woody Aromas.
- Storage taste (cangwei): a smell from the storage environment. Damp, poorly ventilated storage leaves tea with a damp, stuffy, earthy smell or the smell of old cardboard or wooden boxes. It clings to the tea but isn't the tea's own aroma.
- Moldy smell (meiwei): the smell of tea that has absorbed moisture and molded, pungent and sour-musty, like damp old clothes or a basement.
Ripe tea also has a "pile taste," a fermentation smell left from wodui, which is different from both storage taste and a moldy smell. See Should Ripe Tea Be Aged?
What Does Storage Taste Smell Like?
There are many descriptions of storage taste: damp, stuffy, earthy, mildewy, cardboard. What they share is "stuffiness," a smell that isn't clear. A light storage taste shows up only in the dry leaf and first infusion and fades after a few infusions; a heavy storage taste makes the liquor taste a bit earthy, dries the tongue, and masks the aroma.
Storage taste mostly comes from high-humidity, hot, poorly ventilated storage, such as tea that went through traditional Hong Kong storage.
Is Aged Aroma the Same as Storage Taste?
No. Aged aroma is the tea's own transformation and gets clearer with each infusion, leaving a clean woody or sweet note at the bottom of the cup even after it cools; storage taste comes from outside, fades with each infusion, and often leaves a stuffy smell in the cooled cup. A good aged tea may have a little storage taste in the dry leaf, with the aged aroma emerging only once it's brewed, which is why you can't judge by smelling the dry leaf alone.
How Moldy Smell Differs from Storage Taste
| Aspect | Storage taste | Moldy smell |
|---|---|---|
| Source | Smell from the storage environment clinging to the tea | The leaves have molded |
| Smell | Damp, stuffy, earthy, not pungent | Pungent, sour-musty, unpleasant |
| After several infusions | Gradually fades | Always there |
| Dry leaf | May be darker, but dry | May have hyphae, mold spots, dampness and stickiness |
| Spent leaf | May be darker | Often blackened, hardened, or mushy |
| Can it be fixed? | Airing out, resting, and rinsing can reduce it | Can't be fixed; best not to drink |
How to Smell Accurately
- Dry smell: smell the surface of the cake before prying, then pry off a small piece and smell the broken surface.
- Hot smell: put the dry leaf in a warmed gaiwan, cover it, give it a shake, and smell. The heat brings the smell out.
- Lid aroma: smell the lid after each pour and compare the first three infusions.
- Cold cup: smell the bottom of the cup once it has cooled. Aged and sweet notes linger, while storage taste comes across as stuffy.
- Spent leaf: spread the leaves after brewing, check the color, squeeze them for springiness, and smell them for any off-notes.
Methods for smelling aroma are in Smelling Aroma.
Can Resting Tea Remove Storage Taste?
A mild storage taste, yes; a moldy smell, no.
- Resting (xingcha): pry the tea apart and keep it in a ceramic or paper canister somewhere dry and ventilated for a few days to a few weeks. Once the pieces have breathed, the surface storage taste fades a lot.
- Rinsing: when brewing, do one or two quick rinses with boiling water, pour them off, then start brewing in earnest.
- Airing out (tuicang): if a whole cake has a heavy storage taste, it needs a longer stay somewhere dry and ventilated. See Tuicang.
The details of resting and rinsing are in Rinsing and Awakening Tea.
Keeping Tea from Picking Up Storage Taste at Home
Keep the relative humidity where you store tea below 70% and the temperature stable at 20–28°C, raise boxes off the floor and away from walls, and don't put them in sealed, hot, stuffy corners. As long as the environment is clean and ventilated, tea will develop aged aroma rather than storage taste.
FAQ
What does storage taste smell like? A damp, stuffy, earthy smell, or the smell of old cardboard or wooden boxes, coming from the storage environment. It fades after several infusions.
Is aged aroma the same as storage taste? No. Aged aroma is the woody, camphor, and jujube notes the tea develops itself and gets clearer with each infusion; storage taste comes from outside and fades with each infusion.
How does a moldy smell differ from storage taste? A moldy smell is pungent and never goes away however you brew, often with mold spots; storage taste isn't pungent and can be reduced by airing out and resting.
Can resting tea remove storage taste? A mild storage taste, yes: pry the tea apart, rest it in a ceramic jar for a few days, and rinse once or twice when brewing, and it fades a lot. A moldy smell won't rest away.