Infusers and water levels

Good god, man, tea isn't this complicated. Just get a small tea pot or a Japanese kyuusu. Maybe a mesh strainer for when you pour into the cups. That's it, that's all you need.

--crymad

I keep two pots and two infusers. Me no have to think.

A Chatsford (for smaller volumes, they come in several sizes) and a standard store-bought one quart porcelain pot and a large "Swiss gold tea filter" (from Stash) for larger volumes.

Warren

You don't have to fill the infuser for best effect.

I used to use a Teeli infuser with mugs of tea. The infuser stood a couple of inches above the top of the mug. I simply poured in as much water as the mug would hold.

Now days, I use something different. But I almost always make it double strength and then dilute it before serving.

I think your concerns may have gotten the best of you. If the tea tastes good to you, you're doing it right.

Wow, my head is spinning. Here's what you need to do to make tea. G

1. Get a tea pot
2. Dump some tea leaves in it
3. Pour boiling water in it, wait a while then drink it.

I've found that this method works best for me.

snipped-for-privacy@> Hello,

Well, I must admit I am surprised at some of the sarcastic replies. Especially when this newsgroup very often contains long threads about how to calibrate thermometers to within 0.1 degrees for ideal brewing of rare green teas.

Thank you Warren and Derek, though.

Maybe my post was too long to read and turned a lot of people off, so here's a quick summary:

When using an infuser basket, is it ideal to have the water level so high that the entire basket is filled to the brim, or is it simply enough to make sure that the tea leaves themselves are covered in water (excluding the ones that float, which will always float no matter how high the water level is)?

That's the main issue. The space for the leaves to unfurl and be exposed to water does not change with the water level since that's a function of the infuser dimensions. The only difference here is that there isn't that much water *on top* of the leaves -- but so what? Should that really make a difference?

I'm hoping someone who knows about this sort of stuff will post a sincere reply. I'll continue to experiment, but it would be nice to hear some sort of authoritative answer based on science (or something approaching that).

I would say that you need 2-3 times the height of the expanded leaf. If you barely cover the leaf I suspect that it will not get as thorough of an extraction. The leaf needs to move freely and not be encumbered. This is based on experience not science.

I disagree here. The "effective" volume of the infuser basket is limited to the height of the water, any infuser volume above the water line is irrelevant. The volume for the leaf to expand "freely" is a function of V = H x PI x (r x r) If you have a 3 inch diameter infuser basket and fill it one inch with water you will give the leaf

It has been my "unscientific" understanding that the more room that you allow the leaf to swim the happier the leaf is. I am sure that there has got to be a practical limit here but I would allow at least

Mike Petro snipped-for-privacy@pu-erh.net

Thanks Mike, for that reply. I

Now, I agree with what you say in part. Clearly I don't believe that the volume of the infuser makes any difference -- it's the volume of the water-filled part of the infuser that is important. But... and here's what I was trying to say... when I fill the infuser in a teaCUP, the water goes all the way to the top, however, the leaves are basically at the bottom. Yes, they are unfurling, and they are using up some of the volume given to them, i.e. they expand and when I'm done infusing I note that they have expanded to maybe 3 or 4 times their dry volume depending on leaf type. However, they obviously don't expand all the way to the top of the infuser.

In the teaPOT, I am unable to fill the infuser all the way to the top. However, there is about 3/4" of water above where the leaves are. I am not "limiting" their space to expand in this way, because even with more water, they would be settled at the bottom. My question only had to do with whether the amount of water ABOVE the leaves allows them to infuse faster or better or whatever. The actual expansion of the leaves is by no means restrained (except perhaps for the most LARGE leaf greens, like gunpowder pellets or pearls).

Does that make any sense? You still may be right, but I just wanted to be clear.

To sum it all up, imagine that the leaves will expand to volume X. In my tea-cup, they do this near the bottom of the teacup, because the infuser extends all the way to the bottom. In my tea-pot, they do this sort of suspended in the center of the water space, or maybe slightly above the center. But their unfurled volume is clearly the same. I think.

Eh. People can be cranky around the holidays. ;)

You're welcome.

It is ideal to ensure that your infuser basket and steeping vessel are large enough that the leaves are still covered in water after steeping and unfurling.

That may or may not be at the brim of the basket. But it's certainly more than just barely covering the dry leaves at the beginning.

I think you've erred in your geometry.

The relative volume of the cylinder of the infuser basket will indeed increase as you raise the water level relative to the basket. However, the ultimate measure is not the level of water relative to the basket, but the level of water relative to the leaves after they've unfurled.

If one wished to be a real snob about it, one would not use an infuser at all. One would use two pots and a strainer. Steeping occurs in the first pot, which would then be poured through the strainer into the serving pot. The leaves have the total capacity of the steeping pot to expand and float.

Personally, 90% of the time, I'm using a contraption from Taiwan that steeps the tea in a upper compartment, and strains the tea into the lower compartment at the touch of a button. No fuss, no worry.

I also have 3 pots, which hardly get used by comparison.

Thank you again, Derek. I think you've answered my question.

I see that I misled two people so far by a carelessly worded statement in my second post on this thread. Yes, I *do* realize that the relative volume of the cylinder increases as the water level increases, i.e., any amount of non-water-filled volume is really not applicable to the equation. But I was sort of taking for granted that the water would still cover the unfurled leaves, and that the leaves tend to sink to the bottom anyway.

So, yes, the water does cover my leaves even after they have unfurled, so I should be ok I guess.

As for snobbery: I find the two-pot method to be very inexact. I can't pour that fast anyway, so inevitably the liquid that comes out at the end of the pour will be more tannic and strong -- the dregs, so to speak. With an infuser basket you can instantly remove the leaves from the water, which is much better in my opinion. Of course, the dust and micro-particles still stick around and do their thing, but it's a better way to do things.

I have to grant that the maximal space in the two pot method is the ultimate in "leaf comfort", but it probably doesn't make much difference once you get to a certain size of infuser basket (i.e. not a tea ball). Different story for gung fu, though, where you have such a large quantity of leaf that it would fill up an infuser like a squashed sponge....

I see why my earlier post caused confusion -- I said the water level is irrelevant, and the volume was a function of infuser dimensions. What I meant was that it was a function of the infuser's sideways dimensions (PI r^2) as that is the constraining factor (because I was assuming that I had at least enough water in the vertical dimension for the leaves to expand and still be covered in water).

What? You expected us to read your mind and understand that? Maybe in uk.rec.psychic, but not rec.food.drink.tea. :)

This is the point you're missing. Infusers baskets are a compromise, a convenience. If you want ideal, use a tea pot, like most of the tea drinking world does. If you prepare more than one serving at a time, brew the tea in the pot you heated the water in, and then strain into a tea pot. Either way, only one tea pot is needed.

--crymad

I'm sorry -- you said brew the tea in the pot you heated the water in?

Do you mean I should boil the water and then infuse the leaves in some sort of pan? I use a kettle, like most people, to heat the water. The two-pot method I know about boils the water in a kettle, pours over the leaves in the brewing pot, then strains the liquid (immediately once it's done) into the serving pot. I don't mind needing two pots, it's all the fussing about making sure that both are warmed and such that would start to grate on the nerves.

You're right about infuser baskets being a compromise. But given what has been discussed here so far, I think I will use my basket when I'm brewing Assam (and posibly Darjeeling), but not for some of the larger-leafed Chinese blacks and certainly not for most greens. It turns out to not be that much of a hassle to clean out the pot anyway

-- I've made a special straining contraption out of a large yogurt container with holes cut into the bottom with an exacto knife.

I just dump the leaves after a few rinses into that container which fits perfectly over my sink hole -- I leave it there, and in about ten minutes the water has drained off. If I had one of those fancy sinks with a garbage disposal unit built-in, I wouldn't have to do that. :)

Alright Mike, now there is no more ambiguity. 2-3 times the volume of the *expanded* leaf. Well, I think I have about 2 times the volume for Assam, but not for greens, so I will vary my method depending upon the tea. Thanks.

I had seen that ingenuitea pot. It certainly makes brewing easier, but I have read some of the reviews at that site and some say that there is a price to pay -- cleanup is even more irritating than when using a regular pot with loose leaves in it.