Getting the best second cup of tea

[pault]

I am using harneys breakfast blend , an assam tea, first steep is 1-2 mins, so i can barely make out the bottom of my white mug, 20 oz, mesh infuser, sits in holder until i need the second cup and that steeps tad longer . I just ordered a pound of long leaf tippy assam from india, for $14 shipped, they recommend a 7 minute steep, never let it sit that long before bit ill give it a try. Its been hard in fl here to drink hot tea, but weather is starting to turn cooler.


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[Smashie]

For black teas such as Da Ye Zhong I would use 0.8g per 100ml of water (sorry I'm not good with imperial measurements). The first infusion would be 2 minutes and subsequent infusions 1 minute each to a maximum of 4 infusions.

The higher the tea to water ratio the shorter the time of the infusion.

 

[HerbertHenry]

Why don`t you buy your tea in bulk, buy tea bags and fill your own tea bags. That way you can get as many infusion as you want. But try to not buy the large bags or you end up with tea bales.

 

[Smashie]

Why don`t you buy your tea in bulk, buy tea bags and fill your own tea bags. That way you can get as many infusion as you want. But try to not buy the large bags or you end up with tea bales.

I do buy in bulk, but I wont use tea bags, just a quirk of mine I guess. I'll use one of four methods for brewing, a large tea infuser (1 litre), a small infuser 200ml or enough for one cup, Gong Fu brewing if I have someone to share with or 'Grandfather' brewing out of respect for my late and ex father in law. Grandfather brewing is just leaving the same leaves in the pot or Gaiwan for many infusions. Some of the leaves after that can be used for stir fries.

A bit of history, I stopped drinking coffee 3 years ago and alcohol 1 year ago, I guess I had to be addicted to something lol

 

[TinyTim]

I haven't had good luck with multiple infusions except with whole leaf teas. Doubling the infusion time for the next cup works well for me. Usually three cups is the maximum I can get. So, if 3 minutes on the first infusion, the second is 6 minutes and the third 12 minutes. Your mileage may vary.

 

[Smashie]

I haven't had good luck with multiple infusions except with whole leaf teas. Doubling the infusion time for the next cup works well for me. Usually three cups is the maximum I can get. So, if 3 minutes on the first infusion, the second is 6 minutes and the third 12 minutes. Your mileage may vary.

Normally the first infusion would be around two minutes( not Gong fu) then further infusions should be around 1 minute. Although that does depend on the tea [emoji477]️

 

[TinyTim]

I could use a little more leaf and go with 2 minutes, but the 3 minute initial brew seems to work pretty well for me. Using a gong-fu as I sometimes do is another story. I attended several brewing classes at the NW Tea Festival in Seattle over the years and like to experiment.

 

[HerbertHenry]

I would wounder why you would take you tea bag out, just add more hot water, when you expose a wet or dry tea bag to air you just lose flavor.