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Yes

LeoFox wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 07, 2022 5:27 am

Wow I am surprised that many people keep the lid on as default. Having experienced bad infusions with green and oolong teas this way - I invariably keep the lid off for almost all tea except the post fermented stuff.

That’s interesting.

I would have thought the way would be out the lid on. Mentally I guess I would think that having the lid off would make it go bad.

That said I just learned that a teapot is different than a tea kettle yesterday so…

ChihuahuaTea wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 20, 2022 11:40 pm

LeoFox wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 07, 2022 5:27 am

Wow I am surprised that many people keep the lid on as default. Having experienced bad infusions with green and oolong teas this way - I invariably keep the lid off for almost all tea except the post fermented stuff.

That’s interesting.

I would have thought the way would be out the lid on. Mentally I guess I would think that having the lid off would make it go bad.

That said I just learned that a teapot is different than a tea kettle yesterday so…

To be clear this is lid off *between steeps*, when the pot is empty except for wet leaves and steam. The lid is on during the steep.

Baisao wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 21, 2022 12:14 am

ChihuahuaTea wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 20, 2022 11:40 pm

LeoFox wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 07, 2022 5:27 am

Wow I am surprised that many people keep the lid on as default. Having experienced bad infusions with green and oolong teas this way - I invariably keep the lid off for almost all tea except the post fermented stuff.

That’s interesting.

I would have thought the way would be out the lid on. Mentally I guess I would think that having the lid off would make it go bad.

That said I just learned that a teapot is different than a tea kettle yesterday so…

To be clear this is lid off *between steeps*, when the pot is empty except for wet leaves and steam. The lid is on during the steep.

I do appreciate making sure a beginner like me understands.

But the idea of the leafs sitting out just airing between steeps to me seems like the air exposure would impact the leaves? But I have no experience, I’m just going by other parallels. Like leaving an avocado lying out for a little bit and it starts to oxidize and turn brown.

How long are the gaps between steeps?
I’m assuming enough time to finish a cup, so at least a few minutes, maybe a quarter of an hour or more?

Or is it more for serving numerous people and the steeps are fairly quickly after each other?

For me time between steeps is under a minute. A really long break of several hours wouldn’t make sense as you’d have to preheat a vessel with leaves in it already. Which is not practical.

Just try it for yourself(which applies to everything we say). Maybe you won’t notice any difference for yourself, so it becomes a non-issue.

Question for some perspective:

Those who are doing steeps in relatively quick succession, are you serving multiple people and thus why so many steps back to back, or do you pour it into a pitcher or container of some sort for later?

When infusing for many steeps in quick succession, the volume per steep is usually very small, and the point is to enjoy the tea where it’s character may change from steep to steep.

I might even use a larger pot for this if I am sharing with someone else, but when I do it for myself with a very precious or tricky tea I may use a pot with a volume as small as 50 to 60 ML.

ChihuahuaTea wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 21, 2022 2:57 pm

Question for some perspective:

Those who are doing steeps in relatively quick succession, are you serving multiple people and thus why so many steps back to back, or do you pour it into a pitcher or container of some sort for later?

@debunix is on point.

I’ll add that it is common to transfer the tea to a small pitcher (gong gai bei, cha hai, fair cup) so that everyone gets the same flavor for each steep. It can be done directly to each tea cup but it takes some practice and there’s no guarantee that every cup will taste the same in that steep.

I will use a pitcher even for single servings because I am part of the “small cup gang”. I like my cups to be 30ml and not more than 60ml, unless drinking Japanese teas *casually*, in which case I use a yunomi (mug).

I started with 150ml teapots for Chinese & Taiwanese teas but have moved down to 60-80ml pots over the years. A 60-80ml pot will work even when serving multiple people, but the cups are smaller. And believe it or not cup size does make a difference to the flavor, enjoyment, and body feeling of good tea.