Firstly... My favorite, ultimately always-drank tea is Sencha Green. It is
a stapel. I do sweeten it with a sugar substitute, but it's how I like it.
I favor the 2nd, and 3rd brewings by FAR compared to the 1st. Is this
typical? In the old days, I just threw the leaves away, but a very floral
character develops the 2nd time, and even more the 3rd time, if you allow it
to brew enough, though the color is fantastically lighter, and the brew time
a lot longer. I happen to enjoy it this way, but is there any reason not
to?

The other question I have, that burns itself indelibly into my mind, and
won't let me release it.. Is this:

The tea leaves I see have a *LOT* of stems in the mixture. I mean a *LOT*.
I do not think there's a lot of flavor to be had in the stems, but I was
wondering if this practice is done to maximize profit, weight, volume, etc.
While leaving a minimally accepted level of tea. I've taken the liberty of
taking out a bunch of the stems, and chewing them. They taste like HAY.
(Not that I go 'round eating hay mind you, but, it tastes the way hay smells
to me...)

My next question would be: Do they make a stem free loose leaf tea, and
furthermore, do they do it decaf?

Many thanks to those whom I anticipate will respond.

Dan