Brewing time and Adagio blacks

[Drax]

I've either gotten too used to brewing oolongs and pu-erh (with initial brew times of anywhere from 10-30 seconds), or Adagio is crazy.

They're recommending brew times of 5 minutes on all of the black teas I recently purchased. I've gone ahead and stuck with 20-30 seconds for my first and second steeps, and I've gotten out very pleasant tasting teas.

I'm a little frightened to try 5 minutes out the gate.

What does everybody else do??

And if you do 5 minutes, can you actually re-steep the tea? Do you go even longer for later infusions...??

[olivierco]

How much leaf vs water do you use?

I usually go for around 2-2.5g 100-120ml 3min for the first steep but some think my tea is too strong.

[Drax]

Ah, maybe that's it? I'm sticking w/ the pu ratio of 1 gram per 1 oz of water (yeah, terrible mixing of measuring systems there).

In other words, 4 grams in a 120 mL pot.

[olivierco]

I think adagio steeping times are given for 2g for 6 oz

[toastedtoads]

I'll second that the times seem to be for "Western" brewing. Less leaf - more water - more time. I know the ratio of tea to water in gong fu, but besides the "one teaspoon per cup" vagueness, I don't know what the "standard" ratios are for western/english tea brewing.

(Apologies for the excessive quotation marks.)

[Victoria]

As toastedtoads says - while I wouldn't brew any black tea 5 mins on the first steep, I think Adagio's recommendations are assuming you are brewing an English pot.

[Drax]

Well, that all makes sense, and it's good to know, thanks!

It also explains how they get their cost-per-cup. I was getting about 2 grams per cup, and that seems way too low.

Maybe next time I'll halve the amount and double the time. But at 4 grams in 120 mLs, I got a pretty good tea for 30 seconds.

Hm, it seems almost like a shame that I brew my oolongs in a 8.5 oz pot. That's like "4 Adagio cups." I'm sure they won't mind though. Haha.