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Tea Steeping question

Ok. So I boil the water and add it to a teapot with a certain amount of loose leaf tea. Here's my question. If I want to make more than one cup for myself, what is the best way to remove the tea from the pot so it stops steeping? Do you strain it out and transfer the tea to another pot? Do you use one of those basket things you put inside the pot? I thought those were looked down upon by "tea purists." By the way, lapsan souchong is fantastic stuff.
 
Ok. So I boil the water and add it to a teapot with a certain amount of loose leaf tea. Here's my question. If I want to make more than one cup for myself, what is the best way to remove the tea from the pot so it stops steeping? Do you strain it out and transfer the tea to another pot? Do you use one of those basket things you put inside the pot? I thought those were looked down upon by "tea purists." By the way, lapsan souchong is fantastic stuff.

When drinking alone, have the size of the teapot match the size of your cup. That way you can pour off all the tea into your cup and you don't have leaves steeping while your drinking.

Alternatively, you can get a container that matches the size of your tea and pour the tea into that. You can then use a tea-light to keep the tea in the intermediate container warm. I believe that the chinese call an intermediate container a 'fairness vessel', because when using it no one gets the top or bottom of the seep.

I don't use a basket. I let the leaves use the whole volume of the teapot.
 
I only add enough water to the teapot for one cup of tea. It steeps, then pour into a cup to drink. The tea leaves stay in the pot (now empty of water) until I add more water for my next cup.
 
I believe that the chinese call an intermediate container a 'fairness vessel', because when using it no one gets the top or bottom of the seep.

I don't use a basket. I let the leaves use the whole volume of the teapot.

Now, I did not realize what the "fairness vessel" implied. That is fascinating.

Oh yeah, about the teaball things, the problem is that good teas just cannot expand like they need to in a teaball. 5-7 grams of high-quality tea that you might use for a session actually want to expand to over 5 times the volume of a regular teaball. If you are talking about some kind of tea leaves broken up into small pieces, then the teaball may be ok. The problem is that the finely broken up leaves are the lowest quality of tea that is available for any particular type of tea. They are the tea residue that is left on the table after they sort out the good quality stuff that is in whole leaf form (or nearly so). You will see this referred to in the literature as tea fannings or tea dust. Hope that is useful. If there is anything I can help you with, drop me a PM or contact me through the online store.
 
not sure what "tea purists" would say, but i have a forlife teapot with a basket that can serve about 4 large cups of tea and a small beehouse that is good for 1. Each have a "basket" inside that is removed once the tea is seeped, after finishing off the teapot I just put the basket back in and re-steep. I also have a basket that is made to fit in your cup for single servings (bought from Teavana) for work.

I'm not really sure what the difference is if you keep the leaves warm, but I can't tell.
 
My teapot has an infuser that can be removed after I achieve the chosen steep. I still use my ingenuitea from agagio the most.
 
I use the IngenuiTEA from Adagio and it has never failed to produce a perfect cup. It's fairly bullet proof and has plenty of room for the leaves to expand. No muss, no fuss.:thumbup1:
 
There are mugs you can buy with a ceramic infuser basket. I use these from time to time for drinking a cup of hongcha after a meal or while I'm working. These seem like the perfect way to brew tea casually for 1 person. As fancy as some of the contraptions out there are, I really dislike having plastic or metal in contact with my tea.

I'm not too sure where you can buy these from in the west, but I'd think they shouldn't be too hard to find.
 
I'm not too sure where you can buy these from in the west, but I'd think they shouldn't be too hard to find.

Hmmm...
There is a certain somebody that started out doing Group Buys for the folks on B&B that just might have some in stock in his online store.

Whoops, shameless plug :blush:
 
I use a french press, and decant into another container.

Everyone enjoys the changing flavors over multiple infusions that way.
 
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