Tea caddy
An opaque, airtight container for keeping tea. The four things that degrade tea are air, light, heat and moisture, and a good caddy addresses all of them — which is why a clear glass jar on a sunny shelf is close to the worst possible option.
Identity
- Category
- Storage
- Native name
- 茶葉罐
- Romanised
- cha ye guan, chazutsu
- Also called
- tea tin, tea canister, chazutsu
- Material
- Tin-plated steel, ceramic, or double-lidded washi-wrapped tinplate
- Typical capacity
- 100–500 ml
- Skill level
- Beginner
Porosity
Not porous. It contributes nothing of its own to the liquor, so it can be moved between teas freely and washed with detergent without consequence.
Where it comes from
Universal. The Japanese chazutsu is built with two lids — an inner one that seals against the body and an outer one over it — which is a more deliberate seal than most traditional caddy forms attempt.
Named here rather than presented as generic equipment. The object belongs to a practice, and TeaHQ describes it from the outside.
If you do not own one
The bag the tea came in, folded and clipped inside a cupboard, is better than a decorative glass jar in daylight.
This one is not marked essential. The tea can be made without it.
Care and maintenance
Keep dry and do not wash between teas unless the previous tea was strongly aromatic. Never store dark tea meant for ageing in an airtight caddy — that leaf wants airflow.
Other storages
Sources
This page is TeaHQ synthesis. No external source stands behind the description, the material or the account of how the object is cared for. Where the record names a tradition, that attribution is TeaHQ’s own reading of common practice rather than a citation.
TeaHQ names no maker, brand or shop and has nothing to sell. Nothing on this page should be read as advice to buy the object — the substitute note above exists because owning it is usually optional.
Written comparisons
Where TeaHQ has set this piece of teaware against something it is routinely confused with, and argued the differences out in full.
- Airtight caddy vs breathable pu-erh jar — Storage advice for tea is nearly unanimous — keep out air, light, heat and moisture — and there is exactly one category where following it destroys what you bought the tea for. Dark tea meant to age has to breathe, and sealing it stops the process it was bought for.
- Natsume vs tea caddy — A working container against a storage one, and confusing them costs the tea. A natsume holds the sieved powder for a single occasion; a caddy is built against the four things that degrade tea — air, light, heat and moisture — over months.