Multiple Infusions
Growing up just using Lipton tea bags, when people would reuse bags I would shudder! Even when I switched to loose I never thought it to be something anyone who really liked good tea would do. Then learning about finer higher quality teas it seems it’s normal to do this! In Japanese cultures they throw away the first infusing (would never serve to guests) and find the 3rd and 4th the best? But I think that’s when they do the style where they do more leaves less infusion time. Forget the name… begins with g :) I have tried with little success… Except the gyokuro, that is so strong I can do multiple infusions. But I typically do not drink many cups of the same tea in one sitting. I really like my tea strong, regardless if its black, oolong, green, herbal, fruit etc. One of the reason I am having a hard time appreciating white tea, it’s too mild for me. When I do white I use more leaves then called for… I have discovered I prefer it iced mixed with a fruity tea instead of plain iced.
Anyway, I know I could save money by doing multiple infusions on the higher priced stuff… so am I doing something wrong? Or since I prefer stronger tea are multiple infusions just not for me?
I have heard some people wrap wet leaves in foil and refrigerate for later? Whenever I throw my expensive wet leaves away I am always wondering if I am missing something…
The infusion method you are thinking about is Chinese and is called Gongfu. Basically, you use a very small vessel for tea along with a larger amount of tea and shorter infusion times. A pot or gaiwan of around 100ml is a fairly standard size for gongfu. You can also resteep tea with western brewing you just don’t get the same number of infusions and the taste of the tea will be different.
Yes that’s it, Gongfu and gaiwan. I knew they were both g works and couldn’t remember close enough to google :) I thought I had watched a video of something similar in a Japanese tea house? Not new to drinking tea but very new to tea culture and history it’s all so fascinating!
So… As far as saving leaves you would be using more so in the end it seems like it would be a wash. It’s more about a different flavor experience (kind of like cold brewed iced vs hot brewed then chilled) instead of saving $ on leaves?
I agree that you don’t really save money on leaves by brewing gongfu. You will generally use more leaf per oz of tea certainly. When I brew raw puerh I use around 7g in a 120ml gaiwan. If I western brew a 16oz mug of tea I use about 3 tsp of leaf, or around 8g or 9g. So there is not much savings in tea. The only thing is in a gongfu session I generally brew the tea around twelve times.It’s really all a matter of perspective in the end.
You said that you don’t drink many cups of tea in one sitting, and that’s why you only make one infusion.
You must be using a mug, or a big cup. You’ll find that when you use smaller cups, reinfusing is natural and then you are able to save money because you use less leaves for the same volume of tea as before.
The biggest type of tea cup that I use is a yunomi for 120 ml (4 oz) of tea.
You can ALWAYS try to just brew another infusion of any given tea. If you don’t like it, just pour it out =) The worst thing that can happen is you wasted water.
In my opinion, if you are looking for very strong flavors then brewing gongfu is absolutely for you. On many occasions I’ve had infusions which were absolutely bursting with bold flavor.. something I’ve rarely seen in western style brewing. It just comes down to if you can find the time for gongfu sessions that allow you to appreciate the details of the flavor profile, or if you would rather just brew western style and get a more blended ‘whole-picture’ flavor where some of the beautiful subtleties are lost.
As a happy medium, maybe you could just start experimenting with very gradually adding more tea and less water during your infusion. Perhaps add another 30seconds-1minute to your brew time (if it becomes astringent or bitter then decrease the time). You should be able to find some stronger flavors on those white teas.
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