"Dominic T." writes:

On Feb 18, 9:01 pm, wrote:
[...]
As I am the only tea drinker at home, I use a mug with a Chatsford
mesh infuser.
[...]

Well, I think multiple infusions may be tough to do with your current
setup. Not that there is anything wrong with it, just that it isn't
optimal for multiple infusions beyond maybe two. I'm not sure what
kind of tea you are drinking either, so maybe let us know that bit of
info too if you would.

Sorry, but he's using a mug, not a big pot, with the infuser basket.
With a decent green tea, I would expect three infusions, more if it's
a really good tea. Brewed this way, oolongs and Pu'ers should support
more than three infusions.

Basically multiple infusions are done with smaller vessels and a
decent amount of leaves. Small as in a gaiwan, brew-in mug, or smaller
Yixing teapots. They should all be done in a fairly short time frame
and at most a couple hours, personally in a covered vessel I'd say 6-8
hours max before the air is going to react with the tea and affect the
flavor, but 2-4 is normally as long as I personally would go. Some
types of tea stand up better than others as well, Puerhs being tops
and other higher fermented/fired teas blacks, oolongs, etc. White teas
are hit or miss and might be good for 2-3 infusions and the same with
most greens... again depending on the individual tea.

I do agree, though, that you increase the scope for lots of infusions
by increasing the ratio of amount of leaf to size of brewing vessel.
I habitually use a gaiwan of approximately 100 ml because I love the
way the taste and aroma change in the course of many steeps.

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html
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