Resteeping tea -- multiple infusions

[Wholemeal Crank]

Were you using a "raw" or a "burnt" tuo cha?

Not sure how to find that out.

This is a link to the Rishi Tea web site, with their description of the tea:

<http://www.rishi-tea.com/store/ancient-pu-erh-tuo-cha-organic-fair-trade-pu-erh-tea.html>

[Richard Kilgore]

I can't tell from the Rishi site whether this is a shu (cooked) pu-erh or a sheng (raw pu-erh) but these mini-tuos have a bad reputation and the few I tried before moving on were anywhere from barely tolerable to pretty awful. A number of tea merchants carry them because they appear to be an easy entry to trying Pu-erh, but they turn many people away from pu before they have the opportunity to drink a decent one. That said, it is of course possible that these are the exception.

A few comments and suggestions.

It appears you are brewing western style. When you were doing the split brewing, I can not tell if you brewed a cup of tea (in what?) and then poured 1/3 off to taste directly into a cup...or poured off all of it into a cup and then poured 1/3 to taste in another cup and 2/3 into the thermos. The former would result in different layers of the tea water being poured into the two vessels.

I notice you are brewing at 185 degrees. That is unusually low for pu-erh. Was that the Rishi direction? You may want to try brewing using water that is as hot as you can get it...full boil; that's the usual approach which should extract much, much better.

Most good pu-erhs can be steeped 10 - 20 times when brewing gongfu style, and 5 or more times western style. Like most teas, the better the quality of the leaf, the more infusions.

[Wholemeal Crank]

>these mini-tuos have a bad reputation

I have since tried a very expensive loose-leaf pu-erh and a more traditional large disc that I break bits off of, and these rishi mini-tuos are my favorite--the tea has a fruity sweetness that is missing from the others. When I work my way through the loose-leaf pu-erh I will not get more, but I look forward to trying more of the discs.  At this rate, however, I won't get to more than one a year, because the disks are large.

> I can not tell if you brewed a cup of tea (in what?) and then poured 1/3 off to taste directly into a cup..

I poured it off from the teapot into cups and into the thermos, but swirled it before pouring to mix the layers.

>I notice you are brewing at 185 degrees. That is unusually low for pu-erh.

That was my misremembering of what my tea book suggested--205 to 210 degrees.

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[Richard Kilgore]

>these mini-tuos have a bad reputation

I have since tried a very expensive loose-leaf pu-erh and a more traditional large disc that I break bits off of, and these rishi mini-tuos are my favorite--the tea has a fruity sweetness that is missing from the others. When I work my way through the loose-leaf pu-erh I will not get more, but I look forward to trying more of the discs.  At this rate, however, I won't get to more than one a year, because the disks are large.

> I can not tell if you brewed a cup of tea (in what?) and then poured 1/3 off to taste directly into a cup..

I poured it off from the teapot into cups and into the thermos, but swirled it before pouring to mix the layers.

>I notice you are brewing at 185 degrees. That is unusually low for pu-erh.

That was my misremembering of what my tea book suggested--205 to 210 degrees.

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Yes, exploring Pu-erh is even more of an adventure than many other types of tea. I hope you'll share some of your pu explorations on the Pu-erh topic.

[Wholemeal Crank]

[ I hope you'll share some of your pu explorations on the Pu-erh topic.

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Didn't know there was a topic just for pu-erh. Will check it out.

[Richard Kilgore]

Just a note that I have recently kept multi-infused leaves overnight in the fridge in a small canning jar, and then infused them several more times...more than ten infusions for two high quality pu-erh and DanCong leaves. One of these I have already done this three days in a row. I put them back in the fridge and am going to give them a third and fourth try tomorrow.

When I bring them out of the fridge, I put the jar in a pan and run hot water to warm up the leaves. Then do a 10 second rinse with water at whatever the brewing temperature is going to be, before starting the infusion to drink.

[Wholemeal Crank]

I've wondered about leaves that were left for a few hours at room temp, and whether they're still ok for another infusion (assuming not overused at the beginning). Never thought of refrigerating them to try again later.

[Richard Kilgore]

I try to follow the two-hour rule and rinse the leaves for 10 - 20 seconds in hot water if they have been sitting in the pot for two or more hours. I have never had a problem, but do at your own risk.

[Wholemeal Crank]

I try to follow the two-hour rule and rinse the leaves for 10 - 20 seconds in hot water if they have been sitting in the pot for two or more hours. I have never had a problem, but do at your own risk.

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I have a reasonably robust immune system, so am not too worried about fungus amongus, more concerned about deterioration of the wet leaves leading to off flavors.

May try this with the rinsing for tomorrow's work pot of tea

[Richard Kilgore]

I try to follow the two-hour rule and rinse the leaves for 10 - 20 seconds in hot water if they have been sitting in the pot for two or more hours. I have never had a problem, but do at your own risk.

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I have a reasonably robust immune system, so am not too worried about fungus amongus, more concerned about deterioration of the wet leaves leading to off flavors.

May try this with the rinsing for tomorrow's work pot of tea

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Have you tried it, WmC? If so, what did you find?

[Wholemeal Crank]

did not yet have a chance to try it. But I have just received my first shipment from norbu tea, got it just as I was leaving for the weekend, and will have some nice pu-erhs on which to try it. I have steeped many teas 3, 4, 5 times, but am intrigued by the '30 times or more' I have seen written in reference to some of them, and doubt I can get to that number without either brewing such a tiny amount that I can drink each infusion in one sip; or doing it across two days.

Edited August 17, 2009 by Wholemeal Crank (log)

[Richard Kilgore]

did not yet have a chance to try it.  But I have just received my first shipment from norbu tea, got it just as I was leaving for the weekend, and will have some nice pu-erhs on which to try it.  I have steeped many teas 3, 4, 5 times, but am intrigued by the '30 times or more' I have seen written in reference to some of them, and doubt I can get to that number without either brewing such a tiny amount that I can drink each infusion in one sip; or doing it across two days.

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As Naftal pointed out in this topic, the key thing about gung fu style is that the characteristics of the tea change in interesting ways from infusion to infusion. Thirty or more would be rare, but 10 - 20 is common for gong fu style brewing - much more leaf and much shorter infusion times. Small sips are good.