Summer in the Northern Hemisphere is ending and tea production in the seasonal areas of China, India and Georgia is coming to a close for the year, while production in the seasonal areas of Argentina and other producing countries in the Southern Hemisphere is just awakening. This in mind, I’m reminded of the many phone conversations I’ve had with tea buyers, blending companies and brand owners about the freshness of their products.

All too many times I have heard the lament that fresh teas are so hard to come by and been asked the question, “how can I assure that the teas I purchase are fresh and have been well stored?” Well, the obvious methods I suggest below are also the simplest:

1 - sample the teas before you buy them and apply your tea knowledge to determine whether the teas are fresh or not (the STI Certification Seminars certainly can help with this)

2 - ask your purveyor when the tea was produced and how it is packed at the factory as well as how it is stored at their warehouse (paper sacks lined with foil or with a barrier film is the standard here)

3 - make yourself aware of the production season of the particular tea you are purchasing – this is the one stumbling block about freshness that some have trouble understanding.

As I mentioned in the opening paragraph of this blog, many of the teas (and herbs) used by most of us in the industry are seasonal. This means that certain teas produced in China in the Spring of 2008 are still the freshest of their type available in the late winter months and into the early Spring and possibly Summer of 2009. Therefore, because a tea may be described as ‘last year’s tea,’ it may also be the freshest of its type available.

Keeping aware of this seasonality will assist in forecasting your needs and assuring yourself of a ready and fresh supply of tea. For example: if you like a particular spring harvest green tea from some chilly province in China, and you expect to sell x number of pounds this year, you might want to buy the entire year’s supply now and store it in your warehouse. Another, and less expensive, way to assure availability of the this tea would be to let your purveyor know what you will need for the year (forecast) and have him set aside this amount for you, and store it for you. Usually they are happy to do this at no or little cost to you.

Keeping seasonality in mind makes ordering small quantities of these teas per PO in order to assure freshness rather senseless. Remember, seasonally produced teas are stored in one warehouse or another until used up. To really assure yourself of fresh product try this: locate the product you want, forecast your needs, talk with your purveyor to be sure of availability, secure your product by purchase or forecast to your purveyor.

In short, being informed, being realistic, being knowledgeable and thinking ahead are the real keys to insuring fresh product. It’s pretty easy actually!

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