LurfysMa, This area is too vast for one post, but this board has
several great suggestions and it really comes down to the type and
quality of tea (and your own taste vs. others). Good quality Chinese/
Tawainese are meant to be re-steeped, and the best taste often does
not come from the fist steep.

A
http://blog.ateava.com/



LurfysMa wrote:
> Is it true that a batch of tea leaves can be reused (re-steeped) at
> least once?
>
> I use a Chatsford teapot. I put the loose leaves in, add boiling
> water, set the timer, then pour it through a strainer into a cup or
> thermos.
>
> To make a second steep, can I just dump the leaves back into the pot
> and go again? I just tried that with a batch of Earl Grey. The second
> steep was slightly weaker than the first, but still fairly good.
>
> Is the second steep the same time as the first? Perhaps I should have
> steeped it a bit longer the second time.
>
> Is the second steep likely to be bitter? This one wasn't. It was
> actually a bit milder on both the taste scale as well as the
> bitterness scale. Everyone keep saying that steeping too long causes
> the tea to be bitter. How come two 3-minutes steeps are not bitter but
> one 6-minute steep is?
>
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