On: ISO Standard for Preparing Tea

[ginko]

Look into Chinese tea infusion methods in particular the gongfu tea ceremony[1]. They stuff a tiny clay teapot pretty much full of tea leaves and do several very short infusions. The first infusion is usually undrinkably bitter and thrown out. Everything after that tastes great though.

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gongfu_tea_ceremony

[leto_ii → ginko]

I think the gongfu style preparation works great for whole leaf teas, but maybe not so well for Japanese or Indian teas. As far as I can tell, there's no one-size-fits-all method of brewing tea.

[bodhi_mind → ginko]

I brew in this style and the reason you toss out the first steeping sometimes is not because it’s overbrewed, but because some methods of leaf preparation require the leaf to hydrate and open up before you can get a decent brew. So the thrown out first brew is bland hot water. Teas that benefit from this are pu’er packaged into cakes and some oolongs rolled into balls and other tightly formed shapes

[BossingAround → bodhi_mind]

Interesting. I always thought it was because of various chemicals used on the tea; we always called it the "cleaning brew."

[bodhi_mind → BossingAround]

There definitely could be multiple reasons people would do this to their tea. I try to avoid teas prepared with chemicals.