TeaChat

Hi TeaChat,

I've been hunting down this info everywhere and I can't find a good call on it. As Pu'erh tea yeld 2 tons of infusions, is it possible to save the leaves for the next day or it can lead to molds and that kind of stuff?

Thanks for the info,
paxl13

You have to monitor it, but yes, you can brew for as long as a month, or whenever the leaves die enough for you to be bored.

Usually takes really, really, good, and old tea to do that, but quite possible.

Cool! But now my question would how to care with the wet leaves! I get them out of my Yixing and then what do I do?

Sorry if that sound stupid! Just want not to kill myself nor get me sick!
Thanks
Paxl13

If you drink a brew a day, well, the hot water will kill any nasties.

I always put tea in the fridge and take them out the next morning to warm up to room temp before pouring more hot water in it.

I assume I can't leave the leaves in my Yixing can I?

I have left leaves several days in a row, brewing at least once daily with hot water, in an unglazed pot. That occurs rarely--usually it's one room-temperature overnight at most--but because the tea leaves are being regularly hit with boiling water, and don't mold visibly overnight, I just don't worry about it. I do take a little extra care to rinse the pot with boiling water after such an extended session and to let it dry thoroughly before using it again.

I usually don't encourage brewing overnight tea. But in the past I have done it before but rarely.
If you intent to do so, after brewing drain all the water out the best you can. Then let it cool down. Use a cling wrap and wrap up the pot fully and put it in the fridge. The next day, you should give a a rinse with hot water before proceeding with the drinking brew.
Cheers!

I continue to brew tea leaves (puerh or otherwise) the next day often. If your dealing with a gaiwan or other porcelain, then there's not much to worry about - if worst come to worst an you forget about it and find mold, you can clean the gaiwan heavily with soap or water and it's fine. I do leave leaves in pots overnight (I don't refrigerate and I leave the top on), but in this case you have to be extra careful to make sure you don't forget about them. If you get mold inside a clay pot you're in trouble. It hasn't happened to me (knock on wood ) but I've seen horror stories.

Also, the humidity probably matters. Mold grows easier in some places than others.

PurplePotato wrote:Also, the humidity probably matters. Mold grows easier in some places than others.

True, true. I live in a dry place.

When I want to keep a tea for multiple days, even in a yixing, I will do hot brews all day and then I fill the pot with cold water and do a cold brew overnight so it does not oversteep and the leaves do not start molding because I have been doing hot brews all day. Sorry for the run on sentence

Can someone explain this to me.. how good must a Pu be to last that long?
I mean i recently started with Pu and without sampling too much bought a 2003 cake for about 50€ thats nice and lasts me about two hours (10-15 infusions) and then its only sweet water... not without taste, but very weak. The infusion gets quite bright also.
Do you go on four hours with infusions like this or are there miracle teas that you can infuse fourty times, or do you actually drink that slowly?

It's a good tea when it lasts ten to fifteen brews!

However, yes, you generally can get worthwhile brews from very good young teas into the twenties to low thirties. High quality old teas, such as some of the better mid-80s (or older) tea will last for-freaking-ever.

I use an infuser to brew White Tea. I have used the same leaves to brew 2 days (6 cups) of tea before discarding the leaves.

I keep the leaves in the infuser and store the infuser in an air-tight container between uses. Is this a good way to store wet leaves? I was thinking I would throw the leaves away after one day of tea (3 cups) but that third cup is still strong.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

my suggestion: drink six cups straight

I let a cup of green tea stand for two days once, and it was already visibly moldy after that time. I mean, it doesn't have to be toxic right away, but it can be and you won't see the mold right away... when its furry, its already an advanced stage.
I love Fu Cha which is super moldy, but thats the right kind of mold I guess it depends on the person, and also on how frequently you do that.

For me, the best way is to finish the leaves in one session, and the second best to do is to start a tea in the morning and finish it in the afternoon, and beyond that I don't go
If a tea has a lot of stamina, I tend to use less leaves, only two to three grams, that usually requires longer infusions and will empty the tea leaves faster.
I'm talking mostly about Oolongs and White tea here, especially Yin Zhen can last very long if the quality is good.
But decades-old Pu may be another dimenstion, I don't know about these.

Thank you! I think that is very good advice. I only use 2g. I can try reducing to 1.5 and see how that goes. I'll trash the leaves at the end of the day. Thanks a lot!