On Mon, 07 Jun 2004 12:16:07 GMT, "DPM" > wrote:


>Again, I'm talking about loose bold, mainly whole-leaf teas, not the
>fannings or dust that fill tea bags nor most broken-leaf style teas. My
>original assertion was that the quality of a subsequent steep was, in
>general, a function of leaf size, not oxidation level. I believe the larger
>the leaf, the lower the surface area and the slower the infusion rate, and
>that this phenomenon is independent of whether the tea is green, oolong or
>black.

Sounds convincing, but does not explain what I experienced. The
Darjeeeling oolong I have tried had in fact very big, complete leaves.
The aroma of the dry leaves was what I expected: a very flowery
'oollong-scnet' combined with the typical aroma of a very good
darjeeling. The leaves could not have been more intact. Also it was
pretty fresh. In fact, form the appearance of the (used) leaves one
could imagine it was a top class Ti Guan Yin. But onlky the first
steep, the second did not have the aroma or taste to make it an
acceptable steep in my book.

Must be something else, I wiosh I had a little more insight in the
making of really fine oolong teas, I understand a lot of handwork is
involved, could this make a difference maybe?

Thank you all,
Ralf