Wow, my head is spinning. Here's what you need to do to make tea. G

1. Get a tea pot
2. Dump some tea leaves in it
3. Pour boiling water in it, wait a while then drink it.

I've found that this method works best for me.

wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I have recently gotten back into tea after a several-year teabag hiatus
> (due to laziness). I was really irritated at how tinny my tea tasted
> from the tea ball, and I tried those do-it-yourself tea bags with loose
> leaf tea, but the space was simply too cramped (esp. if brewing more
> than one cup at a time).
>
> Anyway, I recently bought the Teeli infuser basket (medium size) and
> had been brewing cup-by-cup (6 oz teacup). Results: excellent. The
> problems began when I wanted to make tea for my girlfriend as well,
> i.e. 2 cups at a time.
>
> So I went out and bought a 2-cup teapot (although in reality it holds
> 16 oz, which is like 2 and 2/3 cups). The infuser almost fits into it,
> though to push it all the way in requires some flex of the plastic
> frame. In a way, that is excellent in its own right because it produces
> a fairly tight seal to keep the heat in while brewing -- and I use the
> Teeli infusers little black lid during the brewing process.
>
> Now, the problem is this: if I actually use 2 and 2/3 teacups' worth of
> water (i.e. 16 oz, approx 500 mL), then the water level comes almost
> all the way up the mesh of the infuser. That's great. However, I
> usually want to brew EXACTLY 2 cups' worth, i.e. 12 oz. If I pour in
> only 12 oz. of water, the water definitely rises above the height of
> the *dry* leaves, but the level is a little over an inch (1 1/8") shy
> of the full height of the infuser basket: about 3 cm to be exact.
>
> So my question is this: assuming I use about 2 tsp worth of dry leaf,
> and the water level not only covers the dry leaf, but rises a bit more
> than halfway up the infuser, is that enough space and is that a proper
> spatial configuration for a proper infusion? I'm sort of ignorant of
> the technical and scientific aspects of it.
>
> My observations are that when I brew in a single-cup with the infuser,
> and fill the water almost all the way to the top, the leaves are
> usually lurking around at the bottom anyway (for black teas). So it
> shouldn't make too much difference in the 2-cup pot, when there isn't
> a lot of water *on top* of the leaves. Presumably in the pot since
> there is much more space *around* (i.e. outside the infuser basket to
> the sides), that the flavours and chemical goodies of the tea infuse
> outward that way.
>
> But I am concerned about green teas. Greens usually seem to have a much
> higher proportion of leaves that float to the top of the infuser
> basket, whether I fill it up all the way, or halfway. Also, the
> unfurled leaf sizes in greens tend to be enormous (I am using sencha
> and gyokuro, mainly). So I am worried that with 2 tsps my teeli infuser
> is over-matched in that specific pot.
>
> Of course the easiest thing to do to ease my mind is just to fill the
> pot nearly all the way, which means 16 oz. But I really don't want to
> get 2 decent cups, and then 2/3's of a cup of "dregs" -- drank after,
> and tending to be dusty and tannic. Also, I would have to use at least
> 2.5 teaspoons of tea, and I would rather not waste tea.
>
> So... is it simply enough to "cover" the tea leaves with water
> (ignoring the ones that float to the top)? Keep in mind that when I
> re-steep and the leaves are already wet and engorged, the water level
> still rises above the level of the leaves. So should I be concerned
> about the gravity aspect? Is it simply enough for there to be lots of
> water space around the sides, on the inside of the pot?
>
> Would appreciate any advice on this subject. Thanking you all in
> advance for your sinentic wisdom...