Long infusion times

[Drax]

When getting into the higher number of infusions, I've heard people talk of steeping on the order of hours.

My question is -- what's the process for steeping pu-erh for these long times?

Do you pour in the hot water and then just let it sit for that long period, pour the tea into your glass, then heat the glass? Or re-heat the pot before you pour?

Or do you maintain the water in the pot at a high temperature throughout the steeping by some method?

What do people usually do? (aside from give up at the 5th infusion )

[shogun89]

I usually get 5 infusions in one sitting. After that I just put the pot near the sink, come back a few hour later, do a quick rinse to reheat the tea and pot then brew on.

[shogun89]

Oh, I think I misunderstood. I have never done a infusion over 10 minutes.

[Drax]

Hmmmm, interesting! I think I'll start to try to push the boundary of my infusion lengths, then. Right now, 5 min has been my max.

Well, no, wait a second. 5 min has been my intentional max. I'll just leave it at that.

[xuancheng]

You might want to check this out. Toki of The Mandarin's Tea (a weblog) has posted on cold brewing with very long infusion times. I tried it a few times, and the results have been good. I usually use tea that is becoming weak after multiple infusions, but I see no reason why you couldn't use new leaves.

http://themandarinstea.blogspot.com/200 ... sting.html
http://themandarinstea.blogspot.com/200 ... after.html

[puerhking]

I do not push my teas beyond 3min. The brews are just not good enough in my opinion. Time to start a new tea at that point.

[pb2q]

if i steep for a few hours, I don't mind drinking the result cool. [...] The tea that has been steeping that long is generally pretty light, and more like "Sweet water"

Ditto, I enjoy a few glasses of cool tea as the end of the leaves. In fact while reading this thread I'm having a cup of roasted oolong that was steeping overnight: the last steep of yesterday's tea.

The sweet water from aged puerh is particularly good and I'll often return for 2-3 cups this way.

I don't do this with young sheng.

[Jeremy]

I have a friend who does steeps overnight! Granted it was like the 15th+ infusion. I didnt believe it, but once revived with a little hot water it had an amazing taste, and almost no color. Im not sure of the method, but from what I was told it has to be very good tea.

[Wesli]

I just pour the hot water in, and wait a few hours. Then when I'm ready to drink it, I pour boiling water all over the pot and cups, then pour out the tea, and it usually becomes quite warmer.

[pb2q]

I just pour the hot water in, and wait a few hours. Then when I'm ready to drink it, I pour boiling water all over the pot and cups, then pour out the tea, and it usually becomes quite warmer.

I never even considered this, it's a good idea. You could also use a tea boat with the filled drinking cup inside, and pour boiling water around it.

[pb2q]

You could also use a tea boat with the filled drinking cup inside, and pour boiling water around it.

I tried this today with an overnight steep of a '90 Menghai area brick. I've had a few long-infused cups of this, cold, steeping the end of the leaves for hours or overnight.

Warming the tea this way worked well and it warmed quickly. I preheated the cup and then poured boiling water around the filled cup.

But I prefer this one cold: raising the temperature muted the sweetness and highlighted less desirable characteristics of the tea.

I'll try this with a higher quality aged sheng.