My second infusion is much worse than the first

In short

Usually the leaf was left sitting in water between steeps, or the second infusion was given the same time as the first. Both are easy to fix and neither is the tea’s fault.

Likely causes, in order

Most likely first. Answer the question under each one before moving on — several of these look alike in the cup and are told apart only by what was done to the leaf.

1. 1. The vessel was not emptied completely

   Technique

   Check: Was there liquor left in the pot when you poured the first cup?

   Fix: Pour off every drop. Liquid left behind keeps extracting at full strength, so the second infusion starts already over-extracted.

2. 2. The second steep was given the same time as the first

   Over-extraction

   Check: Did you use the same timing for both?

   Fix: The second steep is usually SHORTER than the first, which surprises people. The leaf is already open and hydrated, so it extracts faster. From the third onward the times extend again.

3. 3. The leaf sat wet for hours between sessions

   Storage

   Check: How long was the gap, and was the leaf drained or sitting in liquid?

   Fix: Leave used leaf in the vessel with the lid off so it can breathe, and return to it within a few hours. Wet leaf left overnight in a warm room is not worth brewing.

4. 4. The tea was brewed western-style and has little left to give

   Under-extraction

   Check: Was the first steep three minutes or more in a large volume of water?

   Fix: A long western steep extracts most of what the leaf has in one go. Multiple good infusions come from short gongfu steeps, not from re-using a leaf that has already given everything.

Tea types this applies to

• Oolong
• Green tea

Brewing methods this applies to

• Gongfu brewing (gaiwan) — A high-leaf, low-volume, many-infusions approach: a great deal of leaf in a small vessel, steeped for seconds at a time and poured off completely, repeatedly.
• Kyusu brewing (Japanese style) — The Japanese domestic approach to green tea: a moderate quantity of leaf, water well off the boil, short steeps, and two or three infusions from the same leaf with the times adjusted each time.

Guides covering this

• Can you re-steep tea leaves? — Yes, and for most whole-leaf tea the second infusion is the better one. The habit of throwing leaves away after one use comes from tea bags, where it is correct, and has been generalised to leaf where it is not.
• The order things leave the leaf — Steeping is not one process running at one speed. Different components of the leaf dissolve at different rates, and almost every brewing decision is really a decision about where in that sequence to stop.
• Pouring off completely, and why the last drops matter — Liquid left on the leaf between infusions is the most common unforced error in multi-infusion brewing, and it is the one that gets blamed on everything else.
• The shape of a session, and why it is not a decline — A multi-infusion session has a curve with a peak in it, and where that peak sits is a property of the leaf. Reading the arc tells you more about a tea than any single cup does.

Related problems

Sharing a cause category, a tea type or a brewing method with this one.

• The dry leaf smells wonderful and the tea tastes of nothing — Opening the packet gives a strong, attractive aroma that has largely disappeared by the time the tea is in the cup.
• My gaiwan is too hot to hold — The rim and lid become uncomfortable within seconds, the pour is rushed, and tea ends up on the tray.
• My tea tastes of the cupboard it was kept in — The dry leaf carries a note that does not belong to it — spice, coffee, cleaning products, or simply a generalised kitchen smell — and the same note comes through in the cup.
• There is sediment in the bottom of my cup — A layer of fine dark particles settles out, and the last mouthful is gritty.
• My pu-erh tastes exactly the same as when I bought it — A cake bought several years ago to age has not noticeably changed, and it was stored carefully.

Sources