What do you do with wet tea leaves between uses?
I’m kind of new to the loose leaf tea world (I just started stocking up on samples a few months ago) and one of my favorite things is being able to use the same leaves for multiple steeps. I haven’t gotten into gongfu style stuff; normally I just steep my tea in a teapot or mug and then take the leaves out and save them for later. But what if I don’t want to drink three pots of the same pu’erh today? Where do I put the leaves? I have a limited number of infusers, and if I steep without an infuser and then filter the leaves out, then I have to look around for somewhere to keep them until I feel like using them again. I think a shot glass would be the perfect size in a lot of cases but it doesn’t seal and besides I don’t have any shot glasses.
Anyway, what do you do with your tea leaves between steeps? Do you just leave them in the infuser and pull out another one if you want a different tea later in the day? Do you have special storage containers for your wet tea leaves? Do you keep them in the refrigerator or leave them out overnight? Is there a correct procedure? Is keeping them in the refrigerator weird? I don’t want bugs to get at them, though. Would ziploc bags work? Surely I’m not the only person who’s had this problem. :P
some people lay them out to dry on a plate. i just finish what i started. and if i plan to go back to it, ill just leave it in the gaiwan or pot and go back later.
I have heard the recommendation not to store the leaves in the refrigerator. If you can’t store the leaves overnight in the teapot I would try a sealed plastic container. Reusing the leaves past a day is problematic in my opinion because it could lead to mold. And the last thing you want is to try to clean a moldy teapot, especially as many teapots can’t be cleaned with soap.
I think the theory is the fridge adds moisture and thus makes it easier for mold to grow. I think that is the theory. I don’t really know if that would be a problem if they were stored in a properly sealed container.
Interesting. I think my refrigerator would be very sad if I told it that I suspected it of causing mold, since its whole purpose in life is literally to prevent spoilage. ;)
Maybe that theory is assuming that you re-dry the leaves first? Because if the leaves were dried, they’d have a better chance in a less-humid environment for sure. But if they’re already wet I’m not sure how the humidity factor would overpower the refrigeration factor. (Can you tell that I spend too much time thinking about food spoilage?)
Have you tried putting the leaves in your freezer? I would just make sure you have an airtight container since you don’t want your tea to pick up the fridge smell…
It is only unused dry tea leaves that you need to be careful about storing in the fridge, due to chances of moisture getting in during storage or when removed. Storing wet leaves overnight in the fridge, in a sealed container, should not be an issue (though I personally haven’t bothered to do so as I’ve not had a problem storing them outside).
I’ve started to have this problem with my puerh too!I use pretty small individual size teapots/tea mugs so I’ve been stuffing them into the icebox. I don’t want to leave them out in the open because any unplanned mold seems scary!
I have put tea in the refrigerator (specifically, the cheese drawer) and forgot about it for weeks, and it was still fine when I went back to it. Other times I’ve dried the leaves on a paper plate, or on paper towels and left them in a gaiwan overnight. I used to stress about this a lot, then I found a solution that works wonders for me: I bought very small brewing vessels. Lots of them, for different teas. For example, when I brew aged sheng, I use my 80ml jian shui pot, I only use about 3g of tea, and I brew until it’s done. It seems to work pretty well.
That sounds like a good plan! And also a great excuse to buy a bunch of teaware. ;)
I also put it in the fridge, usually just overnight. Although I left an oolong out on the counter this morning. I’ll probably steep it again when I get home. If not, I’ll throw it away.
When I brew in ceramic/porcelain, I leave the leaves as they are in the brewing vessel overnight.
When I brew in clay, I remove the leaves and store them in this:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/On-Sale-1PC-New-Hot-7cm-Tea-Strainer-Stainless-Steel-Tea-Ball-Sphere-Locking-Spice-Mesh/32275309300.html
I leave the gaiwan or mesh ball out in the open (not refrigerated). I live in the tropics with high humidity, and I have never had any mold problem with leaving the tea leaves out in these overnight. I’ve never stored the leaves for more than a day, I finish it on the day after I started at the latest. I do not rinse the leaves before using the next day.
Thanks for your input, everyone! I think spreading the leaves out to dry sounds like a great idea and maybe I’ll try it if I can find any horizontal space in my kitchen (which, let’s face it, I can’t. I normally can’t even open my microwave without moving stuff away from the door onto the washing machine lid first).
I’ve just had an idea, though, for what to do with my leaves so that I won’t end up with all my mugs and infusers and teapots stuck in the fridge. I’ve got this little gift set of sample jam jars that each have one ounce of Swiss jam, and hopefully they’ll be the perfect size for the amount of tea I usually use. So all I have to do is eat several ounces of jam in various flavors and then, ta-da, I’ll be able to store my tea!! :)
I really hope this will work. :P
If you dont want to eat the jam.. you could prolly find 1oz jam jars on ebay for fairly cheap. :)
Haha, good point! The jam has to be eaten at some point anyway, though, so I figure I might as well use what I have. :)
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