Exact quantities, then the method.
Good Green Tea has more than one cup in it. The same Dragonfly Organic Pure Green Mountain bag that gave you a first cup will give a second, softer one if you steep it again, a little longer this time. It is the everyday version of the Chinese gongfu habit of re-steeping whole leaf several times over; a tea bag will not stretch to five or six brews, but a second is well worth having.
Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for the How to Get a Second Cup from One Green Tea Bag recipe. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/recipes/green-tea/how-to-get-a-second-cup-from-one-green-tea-bag/
The one rule is to save the bag while it is still damp. Leave it to dry out on the worktop and the second steep comes through flat, so re-brew within about half an hour. The second cup is gentler and less grassy than the first, which is why a slice of ginger or a curl of orange peel suits it so well, giving it a character of its own.
You'll need
- 1 used Dragonfly Organic Pure Green Mountain bag from a first 80C brew (saved within the last 30 minutes, never dried out on the worktop)
- 200ml freshly drawn water (used at 80C, the same temperature as the first brew)
- 1 thin slice of fresh ginger root, peeled, OR a thin curl of unwaxed orange peel (optional, to give the second cup its own character)
- 1 tsp honey (optional)
Method
- When you lift the bag from your first cup, set it on a saucer rather than binning it. Do not press it or let it dry out; you have about half an hour to use it again.
- When you want the second cup, boil the kettle, then let it stand for two minutes to drop to around 80C, the same as the first brew.
- Warm a fresh cup with a little hot water and tip it out.
- Drop the used bag into the warm cup. The leaf is partly spent from the first brew, so the second cup will be paler and softer, which is the whole idea.
- Pour the 80C water over the bag, filling to about a centimetre below the rim.
- Cover and steep for three to four minutes. The leaf has less to give now, so the slightly longer steep makes up for it.
- Lift the bag out and discard. As before, do not squeeze it against the side, or the cup turns bitter.
- If you like, drop in a slice of fresh ginger or a curl of orange peel. The second cup takes to this far better than the first would.
- Taste, add a little honey if you want, and drink it within the first ten minutes, while the softer character is at its best.
The tea it is made with, and what to make next.
Want the background, not just the brew?
Brewed with: Dragonfly Organic Pure Green Mountain, 40 Tea Bags 80g
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