Multiple infusions

Is this a joke? One tea bag for multiple infusions?

If it's not a single tea bag, I would guess that a large amount of tea could be brewed that way, probably in a small pot and poured immediately. The 180-90 high heat would cause quicker infusion, I suppose.

During the Olympics in China, I saw a video clip of a man making tea by piling a large amount of leaves into a very small pot, pouring hot water on, pushing down on the leaves to expedite the process, and quickly pouring a small amount into several cups, which they drank immediately. With enough tea leaves to begin with, I suppose you could do that multiple times. bookburn

This happens all the time, and not just in China. I usually brew the same leaves all day long, often upwards of ten times. Oolongs and Pu'ers support this; greens and blacks/reds, not so much.

/Lew

How much tea, how much water, what time and temp?

How much time between steepings and where do you store the wet leaves?

It depends, but a rule of thumb I use is 7g, 100ml, and mostly boiling water, sometimes cooler. Time is usually near instant pour at first (usually after an initial rinse), then gradually longer steeps, as long as 15 minutes sometimes after 10 or more steeps.

The only reason I might worry about time between steeps is to keep the temperature as high as possible. The leaves stay in the gaiwan.

/Lew

Do you drink just half a cup at a time? Or do you do several quick infusions one right after another?

I haven't tried scented teas with multiple infusions, but for greens results haven't been that great. Second infusion feels like some component of the flavor is missing. It's not terrible, but not as good as the first infusion. I have to add water for second infusion not more than 2-4 minutes after the first, otherwise taste is degraded. With white teas, especially silver needles, you can get a second infusion as good as the first, possibly even third; with blacks, oolong and puerhs, it's a completely different matter, and depends on a particular tea, but I find that in every case some degradation of taste if new infusion is not done in 2-4 minutes. Gong-fu is a separate issue, though, because there leaves might fill the whole volume of small pot and keep their temperature up for a long time.