When is This Tea in my Pot Too Old? Too Used?

[Chris Amirault]

I'm trying to figure out how to figure out the appropriate number of tea infusions based on prior infusions, time, exposure to air, and who knows what else.

Take today. I put a few leaves of Norbu Ruby Black Tea into the pot this morning and made a nice brew. I'm now about to make the second pot: it has been only four hours; I left the leaves in the pot wet and covered (though air gets in through the spout).

But then what? Tomorrow morning? There's a storm on the way: Thursday? Covered? Uncovered? Exposure to light? Sound?

And please don't say "trial and error." Surely there's some guidance that's less hit-or-miss out there!

[cdh]

Depends on the leaves. Some give up all the interesting flavor in the first infusion... some keep getting better. As far as the ones that keep getting better... the course of a day is about as much as you can hope for. To re-infuse every few hours, you are essentially re-pasteurizing the leaves. Leaving them sitting wet and warm overnight is asking for stuff to start growing on them. If you do a hot rinse, you can kill it all again... but the flavor is usually funky when you do that.

[andiesenji]

I have found that unless you are going to prepare subsequent brews in no more than a few hours, it is best to spread the leaves on a screen and allow them to dry completely.

This was the method used in the early days of tea use in Europe and England because tea was incredibly expensive at that time.

In one of the museums I visited years ago there was a Georgian tea-drying apparatus (I think I have written about this in a much earlier thread) that was a small mesh cage that rotated, much like a salad spinner, but much smaller, that was used to extract as much liquid as possible. The leaves were then spread on muslin stretched over a wood frame that was suspended over a lamp (and with enough distance to keep the muslin from burning).

I have tried keeping tea leaves moist and as cdh notes, there can be rather rapid growth of unwanted organisms, especially molds, which seem to thrive on tea.

[nakji]

I re-infuse over and over throughout the day, then toss my leaves at the end. I start each morning fresh with a new measure of leaves. Yesterday, I actually re-filled so often in the morning, due to the cold, that I had to start a second batch at lunch.

But I basically go around with a tea flask attached permanently to one hand. Using Tie Guan Yin or Dong Ding, refilling 3-4 times supplies a decent cup of tea each time. For Houjicha, no more than twice. Long Jing I find can stand up to 3-4 re-infusions well, too.

[Richard Kilgore]

Trial and error, as far as different teas responding, well, differently. I usually try in one day to get through how many ever infusions a tea will give up, and do a hot rinse if it has been more than two hours since the last infusion. I have been known to hold leaves overnight, doing a hot rinse the next day, but there is some risk and I do not recommend it to others.

[Chris Amirault]

So, basic guidelines include keep the leaves dry. Having no access to Victorian tea-drying screens, I'm at a loss as to how to do that. Google isn't helping. Thoughts?

As for number of infusions, is it roughly related to green/oolong/black? Age?

[Richard Kilgore]

I have never attempted to dry the leaves, though Andie's post may result in me trying it sometime. For day to day, it's just more trouble than it's worth to me. I am quite satisfied with the number and quality of the infusions I get.

"As for number of infusions" it is more complex than category of tea and age. Within a category the number of infusions vary, often correlated with the subspecies; the quality of the leaf - which may be related to environmental growing factors (soil, micro-climate, etc.); and the nature of the picking and processing. In general, the better the quality of the leaf, the better the quality and quantity of the infusions.

Trial and error is your friend. With a given leaf and a given brewing method, the first infusion that is unsatisfactory to you is...one too many.

[Peter the eater]

I don't have the answer.

Whenever I re-squeeze the goodness out of my tea leaves I think of Donald Pleasence in The Great Escape. He played the nearly blind forger in a WWII P.O.W. camp who got weeks out of a single scoop, and his other senses were probably heightened.

[Will]

As for number of infusions, is it roughly related to green/oolong/black? Age?

I rarely leave teas for more than a few hours, but overnight is often Ok. I don't worry so much about safety, but certain teas won't taste that great after resting overnight. With certain teas (really old puers), I will brew a couple days in a row, in some cases, maybe even boiling the leaves to get the last bits out. I have heard those who know more than me say that "it depends on the tea" as to whether you can do this, but no one has offered an exact explanations of what criteria make a tea suitable. Yixing pots are also said to keep the leaves well overnight; I've certainly left leaves in the pot overnight and then cleaned it; however I live in (relatively dry) Southern California, and not sure I'd risk damaging my pots with mold if I lived somewhere extremely humid.

As far as the number of infusions a tea can take, I think the amount of leaf used relative to water (no shocker there) is a very big factor. If you use a ton of leaves, you can get a number of infusions out of green or red ("black") teas as well. The quality of the tea matters too; certain teas may last 15-20+ infusions when brewed in a fairly concentrated way; others will give out after 3 or 4, even with the same brewing parameters.

When brewing for myself, I typically use a fairly small (50-125 ml) brewing vessel, which means that usually, there's no need to keep leaves longer than a few hours, even when I'm drinking at a slow pace while at work or something.

Edited January 12, 2011 by Will (log)

[Wholemeal Crank]

Trial and error is your friend. With a given leaf and a given brewing method, the first infusion that is unsatisfactory to you is...one too many.

I just left a batch of leaves in my gaiwan overnight, but that turned into four days before I returned to the office to get back to them. It was a lovely Korean 'oolong' that has very good stamina for many many infusions. The gaiwan was covered, the leaves still damp, but smelled ok. I rinsed quickly once with water at full boil, then infused the leaves a few times until I was getting sweet water. Quite amazing.

[Kake]

In one of the museums I visited years ago there was a Georgian tea-drying apparatus (I think I have written about this in a much earlier thread) that was a small mesh cage that rotated, much like a salad spinner, but much smaller, that was used to extract as much liquid as possible. The leaves were then spread on muslin stretched over a wood frame that was suspended over a lamp (and with enough distance to keep the muslin from burning).

I would love to know more about this device/custom, but have failed to find the earlier thread — can anyone point me to it? I'm also not having much luck Googling for more information elsewhre, so would appreciate any suggestions of potentially useful search terms.

Kake