Tea Strength/Quality gone down?

[ooc1992]

Shocked at not having anymore tins, I would like to present this observance on the last shipment.

Alas, I confess, the teas are weak! I have to double the recipes for my teas to get the same bang for my cupful- anyone else have this rather negative experience. I ordered my usuals of irish breakfast and my blend of irish breakfast, lapsang souchong and caramel teas (alas that should be strong no?)

Anyone else?

[ooc1992]

I seem to be mistaken, perhaps the tea has gotten weak for my palate. Alas too much coffee?

[tortoise]

People are shy about responding to posts from new members who haven't introduced themselves first. Just an FYI.

[dokpm0]

I recently had a Lapsang Souchong strength problem. My problem is probably completely different than yours. I mentioned it in a TeaDay post, but thought I'd mention it here also. It might be of help to someone who finds this thread searching for tea strength problems.

I tried a couple of Lapsang Souchong samples from Upton Tea. I liked them, and ordered a tin of one of them. That's one of the things I like about Upton. Most of their teas can still be ordered in tins. Anyway, when the tea arrived I took the tin to work. With my first steeping attempt at work the tea was weak, and the liquor was much lighter than the sample I had tried at home. I tried another mug with more leaves than the first. It was better, but still not right. I took the tin home over the weekend. I tried some at home and it came out great. Back at work Monday I tried the tea again with the same weak tea results as the first attempts. After some head scratching the problem finally dawned on me. At home I was steeping in an Adagio personaliTEA pot. At work I was using an Adagio glass mug/infuser. The mug's infuser is made of a thin sheet of stainless steel with very very tiny holes in it. The personaliTEA's infuser is made of a wire mesh. One reviewer described the tea's liquor as "thick", much like coffee. The mug's infuser was too fine for the tea in question. I tried another steeping keeping all of the equipment used the same, except leaving out the infuser. I then strained into another mug with a wire mesh tea strainer. The tea came out great, dark and rich. I think it might actually be a little better than the results I got with the personaliTEA pot. I was already questioning whether infusers were a good or bad thing. Before long I might completely kick the infuser habit.

[ooc1992]

I had the Lapsang a while ago and that it was too strong. I noticed many people criticized the mix for being too smokey. And I would agree more smoke than tea taste. Back then I mixed it with my irish breakfast and fashioned a blend with a hint of caramel.

Now it is my mainstream teas, even my irish breakfast, using double the suggested allowance that seems watered down. I try to steep it longer and all I get is a weak tea flavor coupled with that characteristic bitterness of over-steeped tea.

Any others with the same problem?

As far as the infuser, my favorite way is with a pyrex and a fine strainer works wonders for me. Sometimes infusers do not give me enough space for my leaves to open. They must have ROOM!

[teaisme]

its a bit strange that all their teas you have would be less strong.
Do they leaves look the same as before?

if your brewing technique/equipment hasn't changed recently maybe its your water