Question for folks who use a brewing basket

[Love4TheLeaf]

Hi.

I have been using a mesh basket for brewing tea by the cup and I was wondering if you guys notice whether or not it makes a difference if you rinse every bit of the old leaf out between fillings? It's obviously a cumulative inconvenience to run to the sink all the time to rinse it.

[stanthegoomba]

Get a gaiwan: there is no annoying mesh for particles to get stuck in and you can often wing it and just wipe the inside out and go on to the next tea. But even a gaiwan deserves at least a good daily rinse. Running laps to the sink is just one of the little inconveniences we put up with, especially those of us who use two or three DIFFERENT pieces of teaware a day.

[Salsero]

I generally do at least 3 steeps with my brew basket, often 5, and sometimes more, so I don't empty the leaves out for hours. When I dump the leaves in the trash, I am pretty careful about rinsing out whatever small pieces remain in the basket. I suppose you wouldn't have to get compulsive about it, especially if you are brewing a similar tea the next time.

[peacock chinchilla]

I tend to leave my basket in the kitchen after I dump it and the leaves dry, so I can pitch them the next day. About once a month I "steep" all my baskets in a cup of boiling water to rinse off any funky stuff. NEVER wash them.

[Marky]

I dump as many leaves as possible at the end of brewing and leave my basket out to dry overnight. In the morning I just turn it upside down and tap it and almost all of the dry leaves fall out.

[Love4TheLeaf]

I think some may have misunderstood what I was asking. I meant does it make a difference in taste if you don't rinse it out every time you use it? I drink many cups of tea in a day. If I just dump out the leaves I used for the last cup, there is still a significant quantity of used leaves sticking to the inside of the basket no matter how much I shake it. I have noticed that once I've gotten the maximum number of steeps from a batch of leaves, it starts to get rather unpleasant tasting. I was just wondering what the experiences of others have been on leaving little bits of used leaves in the basket between steeps.

[silverneedles]

if you feel weird taste then definitely clean it.

in general i shake off & "clean" with a water stream +/- fingers before starting a new batch of infusions.