On Feb 18, 9:01*pm, wrote:
I've been drinking tea for some years, but never managed to
understando how to do multiple infusions of the same leaves. So, I
have the the impression that I am wasting the leaves, not withdrawing
all their potential.
As I am the only tea drinker at home, I use a mug with a Chatsford
mesh infuser.
My questions are these:
Multiple infusions must be made one immediately after another? If not,
how long can I wait before infusing the same leaves again? One hour?
12 hour? One day? a couple of days? That's an important issue, because
normally I only drink tea at night and not always like to drink
several mugs, specially if they are of the same type of tea.
If I can store used leaves for one day, I should I do it? Keep them in
the infuser?

I would say not more than about half an hour, but
it may be because I'm overly sensitive to metallic
taste that old leaves acquire. Even half an hour may
be too long. It also depends on tea and type of
preparation, with large amount of pu-erh in a
gaiwan, it can last longer because area of contact
with air vs. volume of all leaves is smaller. If
you don't want to drink more tea right away, don't
bother with repeat infusions. I think, aside from
gong-fu style brewing, which is a special case,
multiple infusions are not all that economical
because you need to use a lot of leaves. If you do
just one infusion, you can use very little amount
of leaves and brew them a little longer. Multiple
infusions maybe more convenient for making a very
large amount of tea for many people, because then
it saves you the trouble of refilling with fresh
leaves, cleaning the spent leaves out, etc. So
you'd fill the pot with tons of leaf and do a
quick first infusion, then give half a cup to
everyone, then do 5-7 more infusions through the
next hour or two. -ak




Thanks in advance!

Joao Baptista
Lisbon - Portugal