Ultimately, I think it's mostly an aesthetic judgement, the most important
kind. BTW, are you in Ireland? If so, I envy you. If not, where might you
be?

Michael


12/19
/04

> Thanks Mike, for that reply. I
>
> Now, I agree with what you say in part. Clearly I don't believe that
> the volume of the infuser makes any difference -- it's the volume of
> the water-filled part of the infuser that is important. But... and
> here's what I was trying to say... when I fill the infuser in a teaCUP,
> the water goes all the way to the top, however, the leaves are
> basically at the bottom. Yes, they are unfurling, and they are using up
> some of the volume given to them, i.e. they expand and when I'm done
> infusing I note that they have expanded to maybe 3 or 4 times their dry
> volume depending on leaf type. However, they obviously don't expand all
> the way to the top of the infuser.
>
> In the teaPOT, I am unable to fill the infuser all the way to the top.
> However, there is about 3/4" of water above where the leaves are. I am
> not "limiting" their space to expand in this way, because even with
> more water, they would be settled at the bottom. My question only had
> to do with whether the amount of water ABOVE the leaves allows them to
> infuse faster or better or whatever. The actual expansion of the leaves
> is by no means restrained (except perhaps for the most LARGE leaf
> greens, like gunpowder pellets or pearls).
>
> Does that make any sense? You still may be right, but I just wanted to
> be clear.
>
> To sum it all up, imagine that the leaves will expand to volume X. In
> my tea-cup, they do this near the bottom of the teacup, because the
> infuser extends all the way to the bottom. In my tea-pot, they do this
> sort of suspended in the center of the water space, or maybe slightly
> above the center. But their unfurled volume is clearly the same. I
> think.
>