When is it time to call it quits?

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May 3rd, '12, 02:23
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When is it time to call it quits?

by Saayuq » May 3rd, '12, 02:23

A friend gave me a yixing pot, and it has enabled me to control water volume and focus on temp and time. What I'm finding is that some teas seem to go on for 20 infusions. The color gets darker with longer steeps, but the flavor dwindles. At what point does a guy call it quits and reload with fresh leaf?

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May 3rd, '12, 05:13
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Re: When is it time to call it quits?

by Leo_Blue » May 3rd, '12, 05:13

When the tea begins to bore you. No sense in going through tea faster if you are enjoying your 25th brew. :lol: It's called being economical.

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May 4th, '12, 18:54
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Re: When is it time to call it quits?

by TomVerlain » May 4th, '12, 18:54

I regularly leave tea overnight or even multiple days. If you have more than one teapot you can switch it up and have a new tea, and go back to the other tea later. If a tea is really good, it is nice to drink as long as possible.

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May 6th, '12, 21:56
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Re: When is it time to call it quits?

by TwoDog2 » May 6th, '12, 21:56

TomVerlain wrote:I regularly leave tea overnight or even multiple days. If you have more than one teapot you can switch it up and have a new tea, and go back to the other tea later.
How many days? How long in between steepings?

I have found that some teas tend to go bad faster than others. A friend recently advised me to do a quick pour of boiling water if a tea has sat for a long time (pour on/pour off) in order to get rid of anything bad on the tea and re-awaken the leaves. Not sure if that has any science behind it or not though

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May 6th, '12, 22:10
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Re: When is it time to call it quits?

by TomVerlain » May 6th, '12, 22:10

yixing is miraculous for its preservative powers. Gaiwans, not so much. Easily three days. I don't refridgerate, just leave the lid on. YMMV

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May 7th, '12, 04:53
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Re: When is it time to call it quits?

by TwoDog2 » May 7th, '12, 04:53

TomVerlain wrote:yixing is miraculous for its preservative powers. Gaiwans, not so much. Easily three days. I don't refridgerate, just leave the lid on. YMMV
Even with yixing pots, I have experienced variance between various teas. I rarely re-steep tea after it has sat overnight.

Have you experienced any variance with your teas? Or is 3 days fairly standard for everything you drink?

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May 7th, '12, 06:37
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Re: When is it time to call it quits?

by Drax » May 7th, '12, 06:37

Hrm, with young pu'erh that I am testing for the first time, I usually run with it for 10 steeps (at a 1.5g tea to 1oz water ratio) -- my final steep there is 10 minutes and most teas could easily go another 2+ steeps at longer times..... but I have a large backlog of samples that I am trying to work through, so I need to move on... :lol:

For aged pu'erh, if it's especially good, I'll go until I'm only getting the lightest of remnants of its flavor (which can be very long if it has that camphory or mediciny quality). When this happens, usually 24 hours is the longest time period that the tea sits without exposure to hot/boiling water....

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May 7th, '12, 19:35
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Re: When is it time to call it quits?

by TomVerlain » May 7th, '12, 19:35

Some teas are done in less than a few hours, and others, might go three. It depends on the quality of the tea. I have some of clouds tea collection that has a strange perfumy taste that can go on and on - past where the liquor has color. Shu gives up the ghost fairly rapidly compared to a high quality aged tea. I don't drink a lot of young sheng, and of that, it would not normally be a multi day tea.

And in the best tradition of heresy, I recently was not thrilled with a young tea, so mixed it over two days with shu, brewing two pots separately and then mixing together in the cup. It was a 2007 tibetan flame and a 2005 v93 shu. I actually like the combo.

If drinking really weak tea is not very exciting for you, there is no rule that says you have to do it. I just find if there is tea in the pot that is still capable of brewing something i am interested in drinking, but not right now, it can sit until I am interested in drinking it. It hasn't killed me yet.

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May 8th, '12, 04:27
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Re: When is it time to call it quits?

by TwoDog2 » May 8th, '12, 04:27

TomVerlain wrote: And in the best tradition of heresy, I recently was not thrilled with a young tea, so mixed it over two days with shu, brewing two pots separately and then mixing together in the cup. It was a 2007 tibetan flame and a 2005 v93 shu.

A friend just gifted my some v93 tuos, so this will be an interesting way to put them to use. I am joining your heretical cult.

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May 8th, '12, 09:00
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Re: When is it time to call it quits?

by BioHorn » May 8th, '12, 09:00

Drax wrote:Hrm, with young pu'erh that I am testing for the first time, I usually run with it for 10 steeps (at a 1.5g tea to 1oz water ratio) -- my final steep there is 10 minutes and most teas could easily go another 2+ steeps at longer times..... but I have a large backlog of samples that I am trying to work through, so I need to move on... :lol:

For aged pu'erh, if it's especially good, I'll go until I'm only getting the lightest of remnants of its flavor (which can be very long if it has that camphory or mediciny quality). When this happens, usually 24 hours is the longest time period that the tea sits without exposure to hot/boiling water....
+1 (and on the sample front too :!: )
BTW
I have found some shou's do not stand being laid up overnight as well as many shengs.

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May 9th, '12, 22:31
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Re: When is it time to call it quits?

by TwoDog2 » May 9th, '12, 22:31

Biohorn wrote:I have found some shou's do not stand being laid up overnight as well as many shengs.
Same here. Shengs tend to hold up overnight with little issue. Many shous can't take an overnight. Especially some low quality shous i had around, i let one sit overnight, and it was nearly rancid.

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May 18th, '12, 16:54
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Re: When is it time to call it quits?

by hop_goblin » May 18th, '12, 16:54

There are no rules. Your palate, your buck, your life.

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