Credits: Creative Director Lina LebbouTips
How to store your natural powders properly
Matcha, ube, hojicha: powders have only four enemies, light, air, moisture and heat. Our simple rules to keep colour and aromas intact, before and after opening.
Four enemies, one rule
A powder is a leaf or a root reduced to particles a few microns across. That fineness, which gives it its texture, exposes it: the surface in contact with the air is immense. Four factors degrade a powder, and a well-sealed bag stored in a cupboard keeps almost all of them at bay.
| Enemy | What it damages | The gesture |
|---|---|---|
| Light | the colour (matcha turns olive, ube fades) | opaque bag, closed cupboard, never on the worktop |
| Air | the aromas, through oxidation | push the air out, reseal the zip straight away |
| Moisture | the texture (lumps, caking) then the shelf life | dry spoon, never over a steaming pan |
| Heat | everything, faster | away from the oven, the radiator and the window |
Before opening
Our bags are opaque zip doypacks, with a best-before date of 24 months. Sealed, they keep without any particular precaution in a cupboard at room temperature. Simply avoid an overheated kitchen in summer and the top of the fridge, which gets warm.
After opening: each powder has its own pace
Matcha is the most fragile. Its chlorophyll, which gives its colour, oxidises quickly: an opened matcha loses brightness and gains bitterness within a few weeks. Use it within two months, and keep it in the fridge in its tightly sealed bag, ideally inside a tin. Take it out fifteen minutes before use and only open it at room temperature, otherwise condensation wets it.
Hojicha is already roasted: it is the most stable of the three. Closed cupboard, resealed bag, and it keeps its toasted notes for four to six months.
Ube sits between the two. Its pigments hold well, but the powder is hygroscopic and attracts moisture: it is lumps that threaten, not the colour. Dry cupboard, zip well closed, and it stays perfect for three to four months. If it has caked, pass it through a sieve: it is still good.
Fridge or not?
Yes for opened matcha, no for the others. The fridge slows oxidation but brings in moisture every time it comes out: reserve it for the powder that really needs it, and respect the fifteen-minute rule. The freezer suits a stock of unopened matcha you will not use for several months; there too, let the sealed bag return to room temperature before opening it.
The signs it is time to finish the bag
A matcha turned khaki, a smell of hay instead of fresh grass, a foam that no longer forms; an ube that smells of cellar; a hojicha that no longer smells of anything. None is dangerous, but none is worth it any more. Better a small bag often renewed than a large one that lingers: that is also why our sizes start at 20 g.
