Cheers to the next 100 posts. I’m still drinking this. I’m on my fourth infusion now.
Steeps two and three still had loads and loads of flavour in them. That sourness in the aftertaste that I mentioned is almost non-existant at this point and the natural sweetness of the tea is more pronounced.
Steep four is turning slightly greenish in colour. It’s almost completely clear when pouring, but after it has been allowed to stand and develop a little more in the cup after pouring it turns into that same golden colour again. It’s the same with the flavour. Beginning to show a little weakness at first, but once it has had a few minutes to develop in cup there’s still lots of flavour in it.
I don’t have time to do any more steeps of this tonight, but I would rather like to see how much flavour it’s possible to wring out of this very nice tea. My resteeping experience only goes so far as to immediate resteeps. Is there a good way to somehow preserve the leaves over night? Like, should I rinse the pot out and put the leaves in the fridge overnight or should I dry them or some such?
Advice? Ideas?
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I’ve stuck the pot in the fridge before and continued brewing the next morning after letting it get back to room temp and it worked nicely for me. Some times it just hard to let those leaves go!
I don’t even have to take them out then? Well, that just makes it all easier. I assume it would be best to take them out a little while before actually steeping them again so they’re not completely cold.
I’ve never tried to take the leaf out of the pot mostly because I don’t think I’d have the patience to do it properly. I think the first steep after taking it out of the fridge (even once it’s warmed up) I had to brew it a little longer… kind of needed to wake the leaves up or something. But it’s worked for me!
Usually I just take the strainer with the leaves out of the cup/pot and put it in the fridge on a little dish to catch the drips. A couple times I’ve forgotten the leaves on the counter overnight and when I tried steeping them the next morning the tea didn’t seem hurt by the experience.
Ditto on the strainer. I’ve left it out on the counter or in the tea cabinet on its little dish during the day between steepings.
I’m still figuring out how to log my multiple brews (edit, comment, new log?). I like how you’re making a new tealog for them but I think mine would be too short.
NEVER refrigerate your leaves. Just leave them in whatever vessle they’re in.
@Chrine, I’d log them separately as well. It makes it easier for people to read and and logging is just that, recording each time we have a cup of tea. Sometimes mine are just “Infusion 6, 10 min… but still yummy!:)”.
Ah, I’ve never gone beyond 2 infusions for my teas (I throw most of the leaves away after the first). It feels so wasteful now, especially after seeing how people can go on for so many infusions …
Either I’m doing something wrong, or my leaves are lousy, because subsequent rounds always taste more like water than tea. Hmm, maybe I should try steeping them for a (much) longer time.
Hmm… some say fridge, some say never fridge. It was getting close to bedtime, so I only had Auggy’s suggestions to go by at the time, so I put them in the fridge. Next time I’ll try Cofftea’s suggestion and see if I can tell a difference. Although, isn’t there a risk that they’ll start to go bad and mouldy if they’re not put in the fridge? Like if you forgot to put away left-over food and the next morning it’s all disgusting?
Aduial, I hardly ever bother with resteeps. I’m not sure what came over me with this one, really, I think I was just not really done with it and I was too lazy to clean out the pot. I find that there are very few things that can handle resteeps without just getting weak. I don’t really have a very high tolerance for tea that tastes weak.
I’ve been feeling that using the tea leaves is wasteful since I heard about multiple infusions too. I do let them steep longer with each infusion.
The problem is sometimes I don’t drink 2-3 cups of tea in a row and while I don’t mind leaving the tea on the counter in its infuser on a little dish for awhile, I don’t think I’d feel comfortable leaving it out at room temperature over night or from morning until night then reusing it. So I end up tossing the tea leaves if they have been sitting out too long. I’m not really sure what the solution is.
I’ve stuck the pot in the fridge before and continued brewing the next morning after letting it get back to room temp and it worked nicely for me. Some times it just hard to let those leaves go!
I don’t even have to take them out then? Well, that just makes it all easier. I assume it would be best to take them out a little while before actually steeping them again so they’re not completely cold.
I’ve never tried to take the leaf out of the pot mostly because I don’t think I’d have the patience to do it properly. I think the first steep after taking it out of the fridge (even once it’s warmed up) I had to brew it a little longer… kind of needed to wake the leaves up or something. But it’s worked for me!
Usually I just take the strainer with the leaves out of the cup/pot and put it in the fridge on a little dish to catch the drips. A couple times I’ve forgotten the leaves on the counter overnight and when I tried steeping them the next morning the tea didn’t seem hurt by the experience.
Ditto on the strainer. I’ve left it out on the counter or in the tea cabinet on its little dish during the day between steepings.
I’m still figuring out how to log my multiple brews (edit, comment, new log?). I like how you’re making a new tealog for them but I think mine would be too short.
NEVER refrigerate your leaves. Just leave them in whatever vessle they’re in.
@Chrine, I’d log them separately as well. It makes it easier for people to read and and logging is just that, recording each time we have a cup of tea. Sometimes mine are just “Infusion 6, 10 min… but still yummy!:)”.
Ah, I’ve never gone beyond 2 infusions for my teas (I throw most of the leaves away after the first). It feels so wasteful now, especially after seeing how people can go on for so many infusions …
Either I’m doing something wrong, or my leaves are lousy, because subsequent rounds always taste more like water than tea. Hmm, maybe I should try steeping them for a (much) longer time.
Hmm… some say fridge, some say never fridge. It was getting close to bedtime, so I only had Auggy’s suggestions to go by at the time, so I put them in the fridge. Next time I’ll try Cofftea’s suggestion and see if I can tell a difference. Although, isn’t there a risk that they’ll start to go bad and mouldy if they’re not put in the fridge? Like if you forgot to put away left-over food and the next morning it’s all disgusting?
Aduial, I hardly ever bother with resteeps. I’m not sure what came over me with this one, really, I think I was just not really done with it and I was too lazy to clean out the pot. I find that there are very few things that can handle resteeps without just getting weak. I don’t really have a very high tolerance for tea that tastes weak.
I’ve been feeling that using the tea leaves is wasteful since I heard about multiple infusions too. I do let them steep longer with each infusion.
The problem is sometimes I don’t drink 2-3 cups of tea in a row and while I don’t mind leaving the tea on the counter in its infuser on a little dish for awhile, I don’t think I’d feel comfortable leaving it out at room temperature over night or from morning until night then reusing it. So I end up tossing the tea leaves if they have been sitting out too long. I’m not really sure what the solution is.