Need help about oolong brewing

[Proinsias]

Aside from some pu-erh's it always seemed like a waste of good tea to me. Two five second rinses? that could be the first three brews.

Obviously, everyone's got their own way of doing things that works for them.

Now, I'm wondering how you can get a rolled oolong, with no rinse, to give you a flavorful First infusion in ten seconds? Much less the first three infusions in that amount of time? You need to tell me where you get your leaves!

I'm not saying the first few brews are incredibly flavourful , more subtle and fragrant. The real flavourful infusions come later but I'm not about to throw away the first few delicate brews. I like to enjoy the development in profile from a few seconds with tightly rolled leaves to later infusions with that overwhelming depth of flavour and a gaiwan or pot that wants to fight with its lid. I also like to think it helps cleanse the palate, which in my case is usually likely to be in a worse state than the tea leaves.

It's also nice to have something to drink as the aroma starts invading my personal space.

I've tried doing a rinse and it makes me feel sad, so I don't.

I do like to go the Half Dipper route if I'm using yixing and devote a little from the end of each brew back over the pot whilst it's brewing the next round, not sure if that's very zen of me or very materialistic of me as I want a teapot with a cool patina.

My recent oolongs have been from many usual suspects around here: Jing Tea Shop, Teaspring, Teamasters, Hou De, Yunnan Sourcing and Dragon Tea House. I suspect you may be rather underwhelmed by the first few rounds if I was brewing for you.

I have felt myself moving away from super fresh, greenish teas lately but gravitating towards tea that is darker, older, roasted etc and generally doesn't mind being neglected whist lying around the tea cupboard. Not to say that I don't enjoy hoovering up a freshly opened sample pack of the freshest, greenest TGY over the course of a week or so on occasion.

[Proinsias]

I've seen too many teas laid out on streets, sidewalks, and other unwholesome places. I rinse twisted-leaf oolongs for one flash infusion (pour water in, make sure all leaves get pushed under, pour out). For rolled oolongs I'd go more like 1 15-30 second rinse, depending on how tightly rolled.

I've seen that stuff too. I've also tasted stuff that has been carelessly stored and I suspect that many of the higher priced oolongs from some of the internet vendors have not been left lying in open sacks on sidewalks for too long. If the first few brews taste a little off, like the stuff from my local Eastern European style teashop, I chuck them out and keep brewing until decent tea appears or the leaf heads straight for the compost bin. Then I don't but that tea again.

[Bubba_tea]

What process do you all use when you're brewing a nice oolong that you can get several steeps out of, but drink over a period of time? I've been taking the lid off to prevent steaming the leaves and then brewing cup by cup as needed.

I don't use the leaves the next day as a Taoist master my teacher brought over from HK told us not to drink tea that was left overnight. However - sometimes I feel that there's still a lot left in the tea (especially some of the pu'ers) and hate throwing it out. Maybe I'll just make a last strong brew and chill it or something.

[Salsero]

tea that was left overnight.

Maybe Taoist Master not have ice box.

Many of us on the forum do not hesitate to hold the leaves overnight and continue the next day. I usually put the pot or infuser basket in the fridge as a precaution, but I have never heard a sad story about brewing day-old leaves. I have heard from people who do several overnight infusions with the same leaves with certain premo stuff.

[RussianSoul]

Some of my better oolongs, like Dong Ding and some others, are capable of 8 to 10 infusions. I myself am not capable of drinking so many cups in one day. So I regularly leave the leaves in a pot or gaiwan overnight and continue the next day. I don't even bother refrigerating them. No ill effects. Let's remember that tea has mild antiseptic properties.

Another interesting bit of tea history is Russian way of tea. Russians habitually brew super-concentrated tea called zavarka and leave it in a pot for several days at a time without any refrigerating. When tea time comes they pour about a forth of cup of zavarka into a cup and top it off with boiling water. It was done like that for decades if not centuries. So personally I am not worried about leaves going bad in a few hours.

[Bubba_tea]

How about the brewing - do you all just brew cup by cup or brew several in a row and hold in a thermos etc?

[Salsero]

How about the brewing - do you all just brew cup by cup or brew several in a row and hold in a thermos etc?

Cup by cup. Hold in a thermos seems to me to ruin the tea quickly.

[betta]

Wow, it's growing quite large now; thanks for everyone fo sharing your experiences.

[Grubby]

Maybe they didn't mean that the tea will actually be harmful, but that the taste would be worse.

[Proinsias]

I'm no taoist master. I may do chi kung and kung fu but I balance it out with tobacco and alcohol. Day old tea is not high on my 'destroying my body' list.

[wyardley]

What I have heard (from at least 2 different sources) is that it "depends on the tea" (whether or not you can let the leaves sit for a day or two). I have a feeling it also depends how humid it is where you live, what type of climate control you have in your house, etc. Now no one has ever been able to tell me exactly which teas this is suitable for, but it seems to be high fire and / or aged oolongs, and well aged or cooked pu'erh.

I usually don't save leaves overnight, but if it's something rare or special, I am not against it. I've certainly done it before, and I'm still alive to tell the tale. I think a good rinse with full boiling water should probably kill most of the creepy-crawlies / mold spores anyway.

[puerhking]

If I am brewing greener oolongs I rinse the tea after each brew with cool water to preserve the floral notes since that it my favorite part.

[taitea]

Does this rinsing business apply only to oolongs? What about greens? What about blacks?

[PolyhymnianMuse]

Does this rinsing business apply only to oolongs? What about greens? What about blacks?

Rinsing serves two general purposes, to wash away any foreign debris and to also prep the leaves for brewing. The quick wash will rehydrate the leaves. I'm sure there isn't anything wrong with rinsing any type of tea you would want, but it usually only applies to oolong and puerh tea.