Reusing a tea the day after?

Just give a quick rinse with boiling water. I do it all the time with puerh. It does get a touch bitter sometimes but still drinkable.

I do that too, though mostly with oolongs. I don’t worry about the bacteria unless it’s hot at home, but you can always put them in the fridge to be on the safe side.

I grew up eating dirt, Play Doh, cow temperature raw milk and my own bad cooking experiments back in the days (1950s) when no one ever dreamed of hand sanitizer, Zika or viral warfare. So, I often have a few shallow dishes of tea in a cupboard that will be resteeped over the week. I have been doing that for years and have not once suffered any ill effects. Clearly, my idea of “unsanitary” may differ wildly from yours, but I think what you are doing is well within the norm.

I do this all the time with puerh and oolong. Just make sure there’s no water in the brewing vessel. The next day I just hit the leaves with boiling water as a rinse.

Haha glad to hear I’m not being “unsanitary”. I’m just trying to get the most out of my teas, especially greens like gyokuro which are $20/50g. Thanks for the tip, Kaylee, about putting it in the fridge; never thought of that! Usually I put the strainer/bag on a small plate/bowl and put it on my tea area which is away from cooking/prep areas. Sounds like I’m doing it right ;)

Oh, I do that all the time. I figure that since it’s practically getting sanitized by boiling both before and after the experience, sitting out for about 24 hours won’t hurt it. If it’s been two days, though, I throw it out because I know that mold can easily grow in that time frame under the right conditions (I hear that some people dry their leaves out again between uses, which would prevent this worry, but I’m not that on top of things, lol. Sometimes I put mine in the fridge though).

I try and drain most of the water out from the strainer/bag before leaving it aside and I find by the next day the leaves are between somewhat dry to completely dry the next day. If I’m using a bag I try and “flip it over” before bed and that helps dry it out too.

Wow, great timing for this topic, because I just did exactly the same thing last night (for the first time) and I wasn’t sure if I should throw it out or not! Since what I have set aside is some loose leaf green tea in a strainer, do you think it matters that it’s not gonna go into boiling water, rather water cooled for green tea steeping? I ask because someone mentioned that since some teas are re-steeped in boiling water after being left over night that it should eliminate a majority of health concerns.

If you live somewhere humid @Mookit, or the tea has been out for several days, then you might worry about not using boiling water for re-steeping. If it is just overnight and you are experiencing the same ‘return to winter’ weather that a lot of the country is getting, I would not worry.

High temperature pasteurization is 161F for 15 sec. At 180F it only takes .3 sec.
I drink tea a day or two after and have never gotten sick from it.