Help Understanding Re-Steeping
Hi All,
I just got into tea and am hooked. I primarily have been drinking green tea varieties and am amazed a the differences between them. I am however struggling to understand how the amount of dry tea leaves translates into how much water you are supposed to steep it in, which may dictate what size brewing vessel you are using depending on how much tea you want to drink in one sitting.
For example, I want to drink 450 ml of tea in one sitting.
Should I get a 450ml brewing vessel and steep “X” amount of dry leaves exactly once with a long time to release all of their flavor into that 450ml of water? Or should I get a smaller (lets say 150ml) vessel, and steep the same amount of dry leaves 3 times with each steep being a shorter duration than the one long one?
When a tea is described as being able to be “re-steeped many times”, what exactly does that mean? Does that mean that for a given amount of dry tea leaves you can get more tea-flavored water before they are used up than another variety of tea?
For example, 3 grams of tea A will produce 450ml of tea by the time the leaves are completely used up (regardless of brewing vessel size), whereas 3 grams of high quality tea B will produce 750ml of tea before the leaves are used up?
If I have accurately described the above, than it would stand to reason that if I wanted to drink 450ml of tea, I would have to experiment with exactly how much dry tea leaves to start with so I am not wasting tea?
Are there any benefits to multiple short steeps in a small vessel compared to one long steep in a larger vessel?
Thanks for any insight!
Xixor
I usually do 10 grams of tea to 10oz. of water. Gongfu method. It allows you to experience the way the tea progresses.
When I read a tea as being able to be resteeped, that means to me that the leaves still give an enjoyable infusion after the initial steeping. What an enjoyable infusion is means different things to different people. Some people like a really strong initial brew, and weaker subsequent brews are not to their liking. Some people like to brew their teas for a shorter amount of time, meaning the leaves have less time to give off flavor to the water, but the taste of the tea between those different steeps might be different in ways you might have trouble discerning if you brewed it for a long time. This usually means that those leaves can be reused because they still have plenty to give, but if the drinker doesn’t like the taste of later steeps, they don’t have to resteep. On the same token, one might not like the first few steeps and prefer the latter ones.
I know people that will put lots of leaves and leave them in the water forever, and just add water to keep the tea going, this is usually referred to as grandpa style. Or some do gongfu style brewing with very short steep times. Some people might just keep reusing their leaves until the result is little more than hot colored water. Others might make really concentrated tea and water it down as they go through it. Basically it all depends on your individual preference.
It also differs with what kind of tea you have. I find that green teas appeal to me for usually the first three steeps when brewed western style, but oolongs can go for 4-6 steeps depending on the quality. Puerh is notorious for resteeping capabilities in many types of brewing, but is also known for withstanding very long steep times without going bitter, depend on the type.
Some people don’t ever resteep flavored teas. I tend to, especially if the base tea is a good one. You might get a good hit of the flavoring in the first brew, less in the 2nd with a stronger impression of the base tea, even more in subsequent steeps if the tea is good quality.
Experiment and have fun with your tea! I believe that there is no incorrect way to brew, just preferred ways to brew. It’s like baking a cake! You might follow the guidelines the first dozen times, but after awhile you can start to tinker with the parameters until you have it just how you like it.
Ditto everything Flyawaybirdie said.
I usually vet a new tea with a classic western brew – 1g of tea per 2oz of water, brew with near boiling water for 3-4 minutes. From there I can experiment with brewing techniques and leafing to find my sweet spot for that tea.
For high quality whole leaf loose teas, there is generally more tea in a steeped leaf that is still folded crumpled and closed up. In my experience a fully brwed out leaf is fully opened, soft and velvety to the touch.
For many teas, usually ones that are not flavored, I do steep in a smaller vessel and mix the steepings. For instance, my husband drinks plain black tea, mostly darjeelings and assams. He will use 1 rounded tsp per 8 oz of water in a 4 cup pot and steep with boiling water for 3 minutes. He pours it into a large pitcher and then uses the same leaves again for a 5 min steep and pours into the pitcher. He then pours into his thermos for the day. I do a similar thing, but only with my oolongs, greens, and whites.
For my flavored teas with a black base I’ll only brew them once. There are definitely exceptions, though, and if I can tell the base is of higher quality (like Della Terra teas or the Lychee Black tea my mom got me) I will rebrew and see if I get enough flavor.
I never rebrew herbal teas that are just dried fruit or rooibos blends as I do not get any flavor from the second infusion.
If you brew the western method, re-steeping is a waste. I know the narrative is that you can brew it multiple times; but it gets worse with each infusion (maybe not all oolongs).
I disagree. While it’s completely subjective how good it is, for me personally there is still plenty of flavor left in for at least a second steeping after western brewing.
Ditto Everune. Even with flavored teas I can often get three or more good steeps. I just keep resteeping the leaves until they start to lose their flavor.
The re-steepings mean that by using the same leaves and appropriate water volume, you get to make more cups of tea with the same leaves by adding more hot water.
In theory, you could add enough green tea leaves to brew your desired 450 ml volume and then steep at boiling water for a very long time until you get “all of their flavor”. However, all the flavor includes quite a bit of bitterness and astringency, so it’s probably not going to be an enjoyable brew.
You can dilute it, yes, but the flavor balance will still be off, in my opinion. The idea is to get the right kind of flavor components in each brew. For example, for brewing gyokuro you want more sweetness and umami that come from amino acids, that’s why you should use a low water temperature. If you add hot water you bring more catechins and caffeine instead, which are astringent and bitter.
So the point is to make more steepings that actually taste good, it’s not about exhausting all that’s in a tea leaf. Of course, it’s also a matter of taste.
I see that you like green tea, for a longer explanation on the topic feel free to take a look about my post on the subject:
http://www.myjapanesegreentea.com/re-steeping-japanese-green-tea
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