Aug 21st, '09, 19:57
Posts: 37
Joined: Aug 20th, '09, 12:01
Contact: moot

Re: Where to keep leaves in long brewing sessions?

by moot » Aug 21st, '09, 19:57

Intuit wrote:CZ, tight-fitting top, thoroughly drain first. I wouldn't leave any vessel with wet tea sitting overnight with the lid off, especially if you live in a wetter area of the country or live in a dwelling with known mold problems.
It might be a useful datapoint that all my experiments were done in Los Angeles - a very dry place. I've had mold grow several times in drained, tight-fitting, closed yi xing, but never in an opened yi xing. YMMV.

User avatar
Aug 23rd, '09, 10:37
Posts: 243
Joined: Dec 1st, '08, 22:04
Scrolling: scrolling

Re: Where to keep leaves in long brewing sessions?

by JP » Aug 23rd, '09, 10:37

We have to remember that tea is an organic thing, and so is the liquor that we brew from it. It can spoil.

I have left wet leaves in the yixing overnight and used them the next day after first heating up the yixing with boiling water poured over it and then doing a rinse infusion. But I have not left leaves in it any longer than that.

When I was in the restaurant industry I used to see spoiled iced tea all too often. That came from the way it is brewed and stored. Typically, the restaurant will brew up the tea and then store it unrefrigerated. That's fine when it is going to be used in a matter of hours.

The real problem came when they tried to save money and keep the leftover tea for the next day. Even though it was refrigerated, it would often develop a mucus like substance in it becoming what we called "ropey." Nasty!

User avatar
Aug 24th, '09, 06:01
Posts: 150
Joined: Mar 4th, '08, 04:04
Location: Finland

Re: Where to keep leaves in long brewing sessions?

by Ritva » Aug 24th, '09, 06:01

Thanks for all the comments! I haven't yet tried storing wet leaves overnight in yixing but since many of you think it wouldn't spoil the pot I think I'll give it a try. Maybe I'll test both the "lid on" and "lid off" approach. I'm usually very careful with my teaware so I think there's low risk of me forgetting the leaves in a pot for a week :wink: I live in dry climate so maybe the mold is not that much of a risk either (when doing 2 day or max 3 day brewing sessions).
I actually had a 2 day session with high quality concubine oolong (Guei Fei Cha). I had some friends visiting and they all drank coffee, so I prepared myself some concubine oolong casually in Western style. The leaves looked so good afterwards that I saved them (in Western style porcelain teapot) for the next day. I was able to get two more excellent brews the next day.

+ Post Reply