I'm an avid tea drinker who drinks several cups of loose-leaf tea every day. My usual steeping technique is to fill a teapot with about 3 cups of boiling water, wait for it to cool to the correct temperature depending on the tea, and then steep about 3 tsp of tea in a very large infuser for 1-3 minutes. The first cup usually turns out great. However, despite the fact that many tea drinkers talk about how they can re-steep their teas 2-5 times with great results, I have not had any success in this regard. No matter how I adjust the time, amount of water, or temperature, the second steeping inevitably comes out fairly bland in comparison to the first.
- Does re-steeping require a different technique to begin with? I've read some casual accounts of tea drinkers starting out with something like 2x the tea leaves and 1/2x the time that you would normally use, and then gradually increasing the brew temperature and time with each steeping. However, I have not been able to find any explanation of the specific differences between "normal" steeping and steeping for multiple infusions, if they even exist.
- Which teas are more susceptible to multiple infusions? I've heard that pu-erh is the best, but I've also heard people talk about green tea in this regard.
- Am I "wasting" tea by brewing it in one go and then throwing out the leaves after one batch? Instead of 3 tsp for 3 cups, should I instead be using 1-2 tsp for 1 cup (depending on the answer to Q1) and infusing 3-5 times?
Best Answer
As you've noted in your description of your experiments, there are many variables (e.g., amount of tea, type of tea, steeping times for each infusion, etc.). Fundamentally, the type (green/oolong/pu-erh/etc., quality, nature) of tea is a huge factor, and personal preference is a factor but not the only factor (what you describe as "bland" or weak might not be to someone else). I think there are some objective generalizations, though.
The tea you start with matters. A specialty tea dealer will often annotate a given offering with brewing recommendations (e.g., commonly temperature, time, quantity of leaves per cup, as you note); some dealers will also suggest that the tea can be enjoyed through 2-3 or multiple infusions. Such a tea is a great place to start for your own experiments. I find that some teas (e.g., darjeeling, broken orange pekoe) simply infuse too quickly and to fully in the first infusion that they are totally spent. Further infusions are weak and bitter.
Some teas that I find work well for multiple infusions:
Techniques. This varies per the type of tea; but in general, I personally do the following when I intend to infuse loose tea multiple times:
That tends to make the resulting brew (to my taste) slightly more uniform in result, though there is significant difference in flavour.
Other things to keep in mind: if you're using tea with caffeine, most will come out in the first infusion; if you're using 2-3x the tea, this is significant! As you also note, the character of the brew can be very different through the several infusions. This can be part of the enjoyment, as each infusion will extract different ratios of "stuff" into the resulting brew. For lower-quality gunpowder green teas, for instance, I actually prefer the second brew over the first.
Instead of multiple infusions, you might also simply
I would not recommend some things that you said: most specifically, I don't think you'll get benefit from infusing at a higher temperature for subsequent brews; this is likely to give you bitter or off-tastes; you're "burning" the tea and extracting stuff you don't want.