Do you reuse/re-steep tea leaves or not?

[ClarG]

Sometimes I re-use/resteep tea leaves, and sometimes I do not.

I have noticed that with some black teas like Ceylon tea the 2nd cup will be a lot more mild or weak compared to the first cup.

[debunix]

Probably a majority of us here do resteep leaves, but the tea session is designed that way, so that we use a higher proportion of leaf to water and do a series of shorter infusions (search 'gong fu cha') instead of one long steep. You can adjust the timing of the infusions to get what you want out of a particular tea with some practice.

[ClarG]

Probably a majority of us here do resteep leaves, but the tea session is designed that way, so that we use a higher proportion of leaf to water and do a series of shorter infusions (search 'gong fu cha') instead of one long steep. You can adjust the timing of the infusions to get what you want out of a particular tea with some practice.

OK you are also using a smaller vessel in a gong fu cha.

I use a teaspoon of tea leaves, a standard glass measuring cup, and a strainer, and for black tea and green tea I steep for 3 minutes. If I am making black tea for someone who likes it weak I only steep it for 1-2 minutes.

I have done a gong fu cha but only with a pu-erh which does work for multiple steepings.

In college when I would stay up and write papers on lots of black tea I would re-use stash Earl Grey black tea in teabags, and even white tea leaves or bai mu tan in a tea strainer for multiple steepings and they worked fine.

[Frisbeehead]

Try brewing black tea gongfu style! I love the way most black tea tastes when brewing it with a lot of leaf and shorter steeps. You don't get the bitterness, and you can taste it evolve over the steeps.

Chinese black teas are my favorite black teas so far. Feng ching and dian hong are some good ones.

[kuánglóng]

Try brewing black tea gongfu style! I love the way most black tea tastes when brewing it with a lot of leaf and shorter steeps. You don't get the bitterness, and you can taste it evolve over the steeps.

Chinese black teas are my favorite black teas so far. Feng ching and dian hong are some good ones.

Been doing this for many years, even with my beloved Himalayan teas, primarily to get to know them better.