Yet another tea noob

[InsanityPrelude]

Umm... hi, everyone!

I don't know how much I'll have to say but I figured I'd join. After a while of trying different bagged teas I recently decided to give loose-leaf a spin, and I'm glad I did (although admittedly I haven't tried Adagio yet- I found Republic of Tea first. Adagio looks more affordable though so I'm glad I stumbled across it!)

I'm trying to cut down on my sugar intake, so it's nice to have something to drink when I get bored of plain water.

By the way, I have a small glass teapot. Hot water and baking soda's the way to go for cleaning, right? My OCD side protests not using soap, but I've heard that hurts the flavor... baking soda did seem to get rid of the stains nicely, though.

[Victoria]

It is fine to use soap on glass. Or run it through the dishwasher.
That warning is probably for porcelain.

Welcome to the forum!

[InsanityPrelude]

Thanks! The box specifically says not dishwasher safe, but that doesn't matter right now because the dorm kitchen doesn't have a dishwasher.

[Victoria]

'cept for you.

You can try a little white vinegar. It will work better than the soda. The stains are probably clinging due to scale deposits.

[debunix]

My dishwasher cleans off the brown stains from my glass teapot just fine.

But it didn't have a warning sticker re: dishwashers.

[Chip]

Hi InsanityPrelude. Glad to have you join us. I hope to see you around the forum!

[bsteele]

Why hello there.

[InsanityPrelude]

Another question: they say good loose teas can be re-steeped 2 or 3 times. Does this only work if you want more tea right away, or is there some way you can store the used leaves for later (not too much later!) without ruining them?

[debunix]

Depends on the tea. I generally use only as much leaf as will yield the total amount of tea that I want when resteeped. If I am filling my quart thermos for a long afternoon meeting, I use enough of an oolong that I steep 6 times to make 1/6th of a quart and infuse 6 times in succession, more or less, to fill it up.

But for my Dan Cong Oolongs, and some puerh, where I might resteep 20 or more times (no, that is not a typo), I have left leaves in the teapot overnight, 'refreshed' them with a brief boiling water rinse the next day, and continued from where I left off.

[LauraW]

The key to leaving out teas for reuse later is to not let them sit in water - let it drain. If it dries out, well that's what the rinse was for, to "wake" the leaves back up. But Debunix is right - it definitely depends on the tea. I find that flavored teas lose a lot of the flavor in the first steep, but some can go for a second steep if the first is a little shorter/lighter. I'll leave my darjeeling in the infuser in a second cup to let it drain in case I want some 2 hours later (especially at work) - put the infuser back in the drinking mug, pour more water over it, and I'm in business again.

[westsam]

Umm... hi, everyone!

I don't know how much I'll have to say but I figured I'd join. After a while of trying different bagged teas I recently decided to give loose-leaf a spin, and I'm glad I did (although admittedly I haven't tried Adagio yet- I found Republic of Tea first. Adagio looks more affordable though so I'm glad I stumbled across it!)

I'm trying to cut down on my sugar intake, so it's nice to have something to drink when I get bored of plain water.

By the way, I have a small glass teapot. Hot water and baking soda's the way to go for cleaning, right? My OCD side protests not using soap, but I've heard that hurts the flavor... baking soda did seem to get rid of the stains nicely, though.

Half bleach and hot water makes it looks like a new one and its almost instantly without much scrubbing other than washing off the bleach solution

[olivierco]

Welcome!