On Jun 17, 2:52 am, Ferris92 > wrote:
> For a decent oolong, 7 steeps is pretty average for me, but this means
> that the tea is out for at least 2 or 3 hours. Is this okay? Do
> the leaves go bad being wet and left out? Is there a limit?

As said before, depends on the tea, mood, weather and time of the day.
At the end of each gong-fu session I usually fill the pot or gaiwan
with hot water and leave it there overnight.
My pots seem to like it, and I have some cold drink to start the next
day with.
I neither think nor feel that I´m exposing myself to anything even
remotely harmful this way.
However, leaving them out overnight the way you described it they
usually smell "funny" and I wouldn´t necessarily try to re-steep them.
For myself it all boils down to "I trust my schnotz/guts rather than
my watch" and/or "no sleep between steeps". YMMV.

Karsten