Tea, like coffee, should be stored away from oxygen, away from moisture, away from strong scented items, and away from light (most importantly sunlight). Additionally, because dried tea leaves are fairly fragile, care should be taken to be gentle when handling teas (breaking the leaves quickly decreases the quality of the tea). Also, tea should not be touched because the oils on our skin is detrimental to the leaves.
I am often amazed at how inexpensive most tea is when you consider the amount of manual labor that is involved in tea production. However, not all tea is so inexpensive. The priciest tea I know of was a Fujian Ti Kuan Yin that sold for $1200 per pound (which is about par for ultra-premium teas), and while that sounds expensive, it is still only about $6 per cup, and it doesn't sound so bad to pay $6 for a cup of one of the best teas the world has ever had to offer. It’s just difficult to think of that when you need to pay $1200 for a pound of tea.
Tea times in Great Brittan are generally not really about the tea. Low-tea aka. afternoon tea is served between 2pm and 5pm and involves a strong black tea accompanied with cream and sugar and an assortment of pastries and little sandwiches often served in courses. High-tea aka. meat-tea aka. empty-out-the-larder-tea is really a term for a hearty early evening meal, often engaged in by the working class after coming home from the factories and fields. The term "high-tea" and "low-tea" came from the height of the tables they were typically enjoyed on. Low-tea on coffee table height furniture and high-tea on dining room furniture.