I have another question and probably many more over the months to come. For multiple infusions, how long can I wait between infusions?
Is it ok for the tea leaves to sit wet over night? How long can I leave wet tea leaves in the pot before they start to get moldy?
Mar 11th, '10, 10:51
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Joined: Jan 10th, '10, 16:04
Location: Los Angeles, CA
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debunix
Re: How long between infusions?
I've let oolongs and puerhs go overnight, with a brief boiling water rinse/refresh/kill-anything-that-might-be-trying-to-grow before starting the 2nd session.
Have tried to avoid finding out how long before mold starts growing, because that seems likely to create odors in my clay pots that I'll never get rid of.
Have tried to avoid finding out how long before mold starts growing, because that seems likely to create odors in my clay pots that I'll never get rid of.
Mar 11th, '10, 16:09
Posts: 54
Joined: Feb 16th, '10, 22:36
Location: San Francisco, CA
Re: How long between infusions?
I'm pretty much a beginner too, and I have been reading lots of tea blogs. I've been surprised by a number of references on the blogs to people using the same leaves over a couple of days! I haven't tried this at home, however.
Re: How long between infusions?
Overnight should be just fine with a quick rinse in the morning. Or, what I do is put room temp water in the pot when I go to bed and have a nice overnight infusion to drink cold in the morning.
Edit: Forgot to mention... In my experience these long infusions only work well for highly roasted oolongs, aged sheng, and cooked puer. You would probably get less then decent results trying this with lightly roasted greener oolongs. But, hey give it a try. It helps to learn things on your own!
Edit: Forgot to mention... In my experience these long infusions only work well for highly roasted oolongs, aged sheng, and cooked puer. You would probably get less then decent results trying this with lightly roasted greener oolongs. But, hey give it a try. It helps to learn things on your own!
Re: How long between infusions?
I agree with the above posters. I will add though that you should keep the lid on the teapot or gaiwan to keep the leaf moist between brewings. If you let them dry out it wont taste as good(I think thats an understatement 
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Mar 16th, '10, 06:02
Posts: 39
Joined: Feb 2nd, '10, 11:56
Location: Guangzhou, China
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jktea
Re: How long between infusions?
For Kongfu style brewing for the Oolong teas, if I put 7 grams/Gaiwan, quick rinsing the tea, and wait for around 10 seconds for the first several infusions; for the later infusions, you can wait for a little bit while to get the same taste. Normally 30second to1 minute, depending on your personal taste.
We seldom drink overnight tea in China. For the overnight tea, its tea liquid color has changed to dark color(because the tea polyphenols have changed to TR,TB,TF). This is super obvious for green and white tea. If you put a glass of green or white tea over night, you will see the tea liquid color has changed to yellow color.
The reason why we dont drink overnight tea is: the vitamins inside the tea liquid has already diappeared, and the taste is not as good as before. But As long as the overnigh teas have not gone bad, it is still ok to drink it. It really is a waste to throw away the good teas if not fully use them.
We seldom drink overnight tea in China. For the overnight tea, its tea liquid color has changed to dark color(because the tea polyphenols have changed to TR,TB,TF). This is super obvious for green and white tea. If you put a glass of green or white tea over night, you will see the tea liquid color has changed to yellow color.
The reason why we dont drink overnight tea is: the vitamins inside the tea liquid has already diappeared, and the taste is not as good as before. But As long as the overnigh teas have not gone bad, it is still ok to drink it. It really is a waste to throw away the good teas if not fully use them.