Caffeine and rebrewing

I'm what you might label a novice afficionato of tea, and it never required wisdom of the ages to surmise that the transitory qualities of anything are greatly depleted/altered by heat, but why would you want to cook whole tea leaves more than once? I mean, when I brew a cup of tea, I want as virgin a sensorial experience as possible -- or not at all.

However, I've yet to venture beyond grocery store flow-thrus, and that means I have a lot to learn.

Because you enjoy letting the varied qualities in the leaves show themselves over a series of steeps rather than having all flavor and aroma components combined, and possibly masking each other, in a single, presumably longer, steep.

Stick around.

/Lew

The simple reason for rebrewing is that, as with pot roast and chile, it is as good or better the next day, but more consequentially it transforms the economics of buying the very best teas. You can only brew the mediocre stuff once, but you get 2-5 brews from whole leaf. If yo buy, say, high end Silver Needle, the cost per cup can seem high

-- but in just about every instance 2-3 brews makes it cheaper than a tea bag or IFE -- Imported from England mix of broken leaf and fanings.

quoted text -

I am assuming you mean "infusions". Most good Asian teas hold up through multiple infusions. As far as going a day or two and then re-brewing, you may be dealing with airborne molds or mold growth that can temper the flavour and quality of the tea - or not. Caffeine, it is generally said, will dissipate with an initial 30-60 second leaf bath and tends to dissipate with multiple infusions.(there is a great deal of this discussion in the archives of this group). Shen Shen

Someone, somewhere, posted a link to this scientific paper on the effects multiple brews have on caffeine concentration. I found it interesting enough to bookmark it:

-cha bing-