Multiple infusions - how to do

I've been drinking tea for some years, but never managed to
understando how to do multiple infusions of the same leaves. So, I
have the the impression that I am wasting the leaves, not withdrawing
all their potential.
As I am the only tea drinker at home, I use a mug with a Chatsford
mesh infuser.
My questions are these:
Multiple infusions must be made one immediately after another? If not,
how long can I wait before infusing the same leaves again? One hour?
12 hour? One day? a couple of days? That's an important issue, because
normally I only drink tea at night and not always like to drink
several mugs, specially if they are of the same type of tea.
If I can store used leaves for one day, I should I do it? Keep them in
the infuser?

Thanks in advance!

Joao Baptista
Lisbon - Portugal

On Feb 18, 9:01 pm, jpbati...@netcabo.pt wrote:
> I've been drinking tea for some years, but never managed to
> understando how to do multiple infusions of the same leaves. So, I
> have the the impression that I am wasting the leaves, not withdrawing
> all their potential.
> As I am the only tea drinker at home, I use a mug with a Chatsford
> mesh infuser.
> My questions are these:
> Multiple infusions must be made one immediately after another? If not,
> how long can I wait before infusing the same leaves again? One hour?
> 12 hour? One day? a couple of days? That's an important issue, because
> normally I only drink tea at night and not always like to drink
> several mugs, specially if they are of the same type of tea.
> If I can store used leaves for one day, I should I do it? Keep them in
> the infuser?
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> Joao Baptista
> Lisbon - Portugal

Olá Joao,

Well, I think multiple infusions may be tough to do with your current
setup. Not that there is anything wrong with it, just that it isn't
optimal for multiple infusions beyond maybe two. I'm not sure what
kind of tea you are drinking either, so maybe let us know that bit of
info too if you would.

Basically multiple infusions are done with smaller vessels and a
decent amount of leaves. Small as in a gaiwan, brew-in mug, or smaller
Yixing teapots. They should all be done in a fairly short time frame
and at most a couple hours, personally in a covered vessel I'd say 6-8
hours max before the air is going to react with the tea and affect the
flavor, but 2-4 is normally as long as I personally would go. Some
types of tea stand up better than others as well, Puerhs being tops
and other higher fermented/fired teas blacks, oolongs, etc. White teas
are hit or miss and might be good for 2-3 infusions and the same with
most greens... again depending on the individual tea.

In a large teapot and with only one person drinking it, one or two
infusions is about all you could ask for. Hope that helps!

- Dominic

On Feb 18, 9:01 pm, jpbati...@netcabo.pt wrote:
> I've been drinking tea for some years, but never managed to
> understando how to do multiple infusions of the same leaves. So, I
> have the the impression that I am wasting the leaves, not withdrawing
> all their potential.
> As I am the only tea drinker at home, I use a mug with a Chatsford
> mesh infuser.
> My questions are these:
> Multiple infusions must be made one immediately after another? If not,
> how long can I wait before infusing the same leaves again? One hour?
> 12 hour? One day? a couple of days? That's an important issue, because
> normally I only drink tea at night and not always like to drink
> several mugs, specially if they are of the same type of tea.
> If I can store used leaves for one day, I should I do it? Keep them in
> the infuser?

I would say not more than about half an hour, but
it may be because I'm overly sensitive to metallic
taste that old leaves acquire. Even half an hour may
be too long. It also depends on tea and type of
preparation, with large amount of pu-erh in a
gaiwan, it can last longer because area of contact
with air vs. volume of all leaves is smaller. If
you don't want to drink more tea right away, don't
bother with repeat infusions. I think, aside from
gong-fu style brewing, which is a special case,
multiple infusions are not all that economical
because you need to use a lot of leaves. If you do
just one infusion, you can use very little amount
of leaves and brew them a little longer. Multiple
infusions maybe more convenient for making a very
large amount of tea for many people, because then
it saves you the trouble of refilling with fresh
leaves, cleaning the spent leaves out, etc. So
you'd fill the pot with tons of leaf and do a
quick first infusion, then give half a cup to
everyone, then do 5-7 more infusions through the
next hour or two. -ak


>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> Joao Baptista
> Lisbon - Portugal

i infuse the tea until i dont like its taste anymore/ or until taste
fades beyond my ability to enjoy it.
most of the time 3-4 infusions

the teas i have i already know about how much tea, water and how many
times i can re-infuse. for new teas one has to experiment.

What tools to use? whatever i put my hands on:
any sort of cup/mug, (usually 10oz cup, or a little 4oz gaiwan)
throw leaf in it,
pour water,
let infuse,
strain into different cup / or if already used the egg-mesh infuser no
need to strain

How long between infusions?
depends on the tea, and derived from experimenting:
green, oolong, black(china) i wait less than 10 minutes,
for black the most i done is 1 day. :P
(remember, the wet leaf kind of continues brewing after taken out of
the water).

after 1-2 infusions i adjust time(increase) or water(decrease)

(i usually also let the wet leaf wait around for 1-2 days - to see if
it grows anything :)
,in 3 years only 1 time it grew fungus - so i suspect it was probably
not from the tea.)

On Mon, 18 Feb 2008 18:01:17 -0800 (PST), jpbatista@netcabo.pt wrote:

>I've been drinking tea for some years, but never managed to
>understando how to do multiple infusions of the same leaves. So, I
>have the the impression that I am wasting the leaves, not withdrawing
>all their potential.
>As I am the only tea drinker at home, I use a mug with a Chatsford
>mesh infuser.
>My questions are these:
>Multiple infusions must be made one immediately after another? If not,
>how long can I wait before infusing the same leaves again? One hour?
>12 hour? One day? a couple of days? That's an important issue, because
>normally I only drink tea at night and not always like to drink
>several mugs, specially if they are of the same type of tea.
>If I can store used leaves for one day, I should I do it? Keep them in
>the infuser?
>
>Thanks in advance!
>
>Joao Baptista
>Lisbon - Portugal

I got rid of my automatic coffee maker, which might be useful for
brewing a pot of tea if you sacrifice multiple infusions and just go
for a ratio of water and leaves. Don't know if there are automatic
tea makers out there.

But I get along just using the basket from the coffee maker sitting on
top of a large mug, with a paper filter I fill to the top with water
over the leaves. Basket doesn't drain until you depress the lever
that normally inserts under the coffee maker head, so after steeping
when I back it into my mug with the lever depressed, it drains
filtered tea. Leaning the basket against something as it drains into
your mug keeps it straight so you don't have to stand there holding
it.

I mention this as a simple way to do multiple infusions, even do a
quick 30 second blanch first. I've been doing okay with the blanch,
then 1 minute, 3 minute, and 6 minute infusions, using about 2 tbs.
tea and distilled water at about 130 degrees.

By the way, I use the coffee maker basket and filter alone to make
coffee, too. It's by far the quickest decent cup of coffee, using 1/2
minute to steep 1/3 cup of grounds. A second infusion is okay to my
taste. bookburn

On Feb 18, 8:01 pm, jpbati...@netcabo.pt wrote:
> I've been drinking tea for some years, but never managed to
> understando how to do multiple infusions of the same leaves. So, I
> have the the impression that I am wasting the leaves, not withdrawing
> all their potential.
> As I am the only tea drinker at home, I use a mug with a Chatsford
> mesh infuser.
> My questions are these:
> Multiple infusions must be made one immediately after another? If not,
> how long can I wait before infusing the same leaves again? One hour?
> 12 hour? One day? a couple of days? That's an important issue, because
> normally I only drink tea at night and not always like to drink
> several mugs, specially if they are of the same type of tea.
> If I can store used leaves for one day, I should I do it? Keep them in
> the infuser?
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> Joao Baptista
> Lisbon - Portugal

For my greens, I brew one mug, then put the infusor in the
refrigerator (in an empty mug) for the next day. I get one mug a day
for a week this way. For my Assam fannings, I brew the first cup one
minute, then brew the second cup a couple of hours, then throw the
grounds away. I do only one mug for my Ceylon. Toci

On Feb 19, 10:26 am, Lewis Perin <pe...@panix.com> wrote:
> "Dominic T." <dominictibe...@> writes:
> > On Feb 18, 9:01 pm, jpbati...@netcabo.pt wrote:
> > > [...]
> > > As I am the only tea drinker at home, I use a mug with a Chatsford
> > > mesh infuser.
> > > [...]
>
> > Well, I think multiple infusions may be tough to do with your current
> > setup. Not that there is anything wrong with it, just that it isn't
> > optimal for multiple infusions beyond maybe two. I'm not sure what
> > kind of tea you are drinking either, so maybe let us know that bit of
> > info too if you would.
>
> Sorry, but he's using a mug, not a big pot, with the infuser basket.
> With a decent green tea, I would expect three infusions, more if it's
> a really good tea. Brewed this way, oolongs and Pu'ers should support
> more than three infusions.

Oops, sorry, I saw Chatsford and my mind skipped over the mug bit... I
assumed it was a Chatsford teapot/infuser. Good catch Lew.

- Dominic

I agree that most CTC black teas are good for only a single infusion.
However, I find that many whole-leaf (or as whole as possible) Chinese
black/red teas are good for at least two or three infusions. I am
currently finishing up some black rosettes I bought from Yunnan
Sourcing on ebay and they have staying power, most likely due to being
large/whole leaf and also due to being tied. Both aspects allow the
leaf to release its goodness slowly over several steepings. Plus, the
later steepings are often smoother and/or not as bitter as the first.

Alan

Another gaiwan option (cheating?) is to hold your hand palm up and
place the gaiwan (with or without saucer) on it, near your fingertips.
Hold the lid with your thumb and pour by rotating your wrist/forearm.
I find that the rim on the bottom of the gaiwan is cool enough to do
this even without a saucer and with boiling water.

Alan

The thing that I didn't really see overtly mentioned is that multiple
infusions done right (yes, I'd say almost immediately one after
another) is quite time consuming. This is not to suggest that it
should be considered a chore, but just the opposite. I wouldn't worry
about multiple infusions unless you're drinking the tea without
distraction, as an end in and of itself. Otherwise, for me anyway, I
always fail. When I make tea in the office, or at night when reading,
I almost never use the leaves more than once, simply because I drink
the tea gradually over the course of an hour or so. On the weekends,
I can take an hour just for tea making, one little cup at a time,
starting by making a short 45 second infusion, then a 1min infusion,
and so on, often experimenting with infusion times for different teas.
This is why I call it tea itself both a drink and a pasttime!

On Feb 18, 7:17 pm, "Dominic T." <dominictibe...@> wrote:
> On Feb 18, 9:01 pm, jpbati...@netcabo.pt wrote:
>
>
>
> > I've been drinking tea for some years, but never managed to
> > understando how to do multiple infusions of the same leaves. So, I
> > have the the impression that I am wasting the leaves, not withdrawing
> > all their potential.
> > As I am the only tea drinker at home, I use a mug with a Chatsford
> > mesh infuser.
> > My questions are these:
> > Multiple infusions must be made one immediately after another? If not,
> > how long can I wait before infusing the same leaves again? One hour?
> > 12 hour? One day? a couple of days? That's an important issue, because
> > normally I only drink tea at night and not always like to drink
> > several mugs, specially if they are of the same type of tea.
> > If I can store used leaves for one day, I should I do it? Keep them in
> > the infuser?
>
> > Thanks in advance!
>
> > Joao Baptista
> > Lisbon - Portugal
>
> Olá Joao,
>
> Well, I think multiple infusions may be tough to do with your current
> setup. Not that there is anything wrong with it, just that it isn't
> optimal for multiple infusions beyond maybe two. I'm not sure what
> kind of tea you are drinking either, so maybe let us know that bit of
> info too if you would.
>
> Basically multiple infusions are done with smaller vessels and a
> decent amount of leaves. Small as in a gaiwan, brew-in mug, or smaller
> Yixing teapots. They should all be done in a fairly short time frame
> and at most a couple hours, personally in a covered vessel I'd say 6-8
> hours max before the air is going to react with the tea and affect the
> flavor, but 2-4 is normally as long as I personally would go. Some
> types of tea stand up better than others as well, Puerhs being tops
> and other higher fermented/fired teas blacks, oolongs, etc. White teas
> are hit or miss and might be good for 2-3 infusions and the same with
> most greens... again depending on the individual tea.
>
> In a large teapot and with only one person drinking it, one or two
> infusions is about all you could ask for. Hope that helps!
>
> - Dominic