Cinoi

Sometimes I recommend doing the second infusion for a shorter period of time when it comes to Oolongs. Generally speaking, the first infusion is more to open the leaves, beginning moistening them so that the flavors they hide will be more accessible in the following brews. With a Formosa Oolong I generally steep it like this : 4mins, 2mins, 2.5 mins, 3 mins, 3.25 mins etc.

The theory behind that is that oversteeping the second rinse will release too much caffeine and theanine, masking any subtleties you may have originally found. Also, as you continue to steep the tea, it takes more and more to release the flavors, thus the later steeps require more time. I really wish these chat boxes were bigger so reviewing my text would be easier…

I think I brewed my first cup of this for 4 minutes and my second for 5 1/2, or something, and it was still quite good. I was tempted to try to resteep this morning because it was so tasty, but resteeping leaves that have been wet all night still freaks me out a little.

That’s a nice recommendation on the oolongs, too. I’ll have to try that with some of my favorite ones. (Also, what the heck do we call you, H&STS? Your staff uses this to write tasting notes, right? You’re like some kind of hive mind account! I feel like I should be referring to you awkwardly in the plural, or something.)

@H&STS – I will keep that in mind with resteeping oolong. I usually do not have any issues resteeping and I usually find that I need to go longer because the flavors I was looking for were all in the initial steep. Next time I will definitely steep less with an oolong. And yes, the boxes should be bigger :)

@sophistre – I couldn’t agree more, the teas last night were delicious, but steeping leaves that I used last night creeps me out.

Haha.. hive mind! My name’s Emeric, I’m actually a 3rd generation Harney. I Steepster it up during the evenings sometimes, but during the day my employees use the account to put up tasting notes on what we call “teas of the moment” :)