Seven Cups Tea Forum » Seven Cups Tea Forum

multiple brewings

(3 posts)

  1. klughj
    Member

    Two questions regarding using the same tea leaves for brewing multiple cups of tea:

    1) I have heard that the caffeine in tea is released almost immediately in hot water. This was told to me in the context of letting tea steep in just a little water for 30 seconds, pouring this water out and then filling the cup for a decaffeinated cup of black tea. Is this true and if it is, does this mean that all but the first brew from tea leaves are essentially decaffeinated?

    2) How long can you go between brews. Could I use the same tea leaves two or three days in a row if I am just brewing one cup each day?

    Posted 8 months ago #

  2. admin
    Seven Cups

    It is true that caffeine is water soluble and is quickly released. How fast it is released depends on tea and the leaf. It is true that a large percentage of tea is in the first infusion. It might be a little bit of a stretch to say the tea after that is decaffeinated but certainly greatly reduced. I don't know that there have been any definitive studies.

    As far as brewing goes over time, the taste of the tea will diminish with time, depending on the tea. It will happen slower with tea that is more oxidized.

    Austin

    Posted 8 months ago #

  3. lucas
    Member

    I have brewed the same leaves two days in a row, especially when its good tea and I haven't had time to drink it through all of its infusions. Generally though I don't like to let it sit for longer than 24hrs - wet leaves can get funky pretty quick and you really don't want to allow mold to grow especially in a yixing pot.

    For caffeine I notice that black and puerh teas have most of their kick in the first few infusions - maybe because of using hotter water to brew them. Green tea is more spread out since I use cooler water for the brew.

    Posted 7 months ago #

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