Hygrometer
A small meter reporting relative humidity and temperature, used by people storing dark tea for ageing. It is the one measuring instrument in tea whose value is in what it rules out: it tells you whether a cupboard is swinging wildly between conditions, which is the thing that damages stored tea most and is invisible without a record.
Identity
- Category
- Measurement
- Also called
- humidity meter, thermo-hygrometer
- Material
- Plastic housing with a capacitive humidity sensor
- Skill level
- Advanced
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
Modern, and adopted by collectors storing pu-erh outside its home climate.
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
For every category except dark tea, none — the requirement there is simply airtight, dark and cool, and no measurement is needed to achieve that.
This one is not marked essential. The tea can be made without it.
Tea types it suits
Care and maintenance
Cheap sensors drift. Check one against a second unit rather than trusting a single reading, and expect the number to be indicative rather than exact.
Other measurements
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.