Is tea better during the second brewing?

Question

When I went to China, we went to this mountain that produces a lot of the tea today and we had this tea tasting thing. I vaguely remember them saying that as one reuses the tea leaves, the tea gets better and better. Is this true and what is the reason it tastes better after the first brew?

Answer 1

Lots of people discard the first infusion due to caffeine content and overall bad taste of certain teas such as aged pu-erh. I personally steep my teas several times (3-4) because I drink a lot of oolong teas.

Answer 2

In the experience of most tea lovers, some teas can get better after the first steeping, whereas others are at their best the first time around. Very intense black teas, for instance, can have an overpowering flavor after the first brew, and get better and more complex with subsequent steepings. That can also happen with very strong green teas.

Other teas, like white teas, are often at their best and most complex with their first brew, but that depends on the individual tea. Top quality teas can often show new and interesting sides after one or two or even three steepings.

A lot of the caffeine in the tea is dissolved in the first brew, so the steepings after will have a lower caffeine content. That is why the first steeping is sometimes thrown away.

All of this pertains to loose leaf tea, which I assume is what you had when you were in China. Tea bags are good for one, possibly two steepings.

Answer 3

i saw this video where they said that the first steeping was sight  and was to be discarded, the second steeping was for smelling, and the third steeping was for drinking.   I'm going from memory so I'm not sure this is true.  

I think the tea that they used was very high quality loose leaf tea, but I think that all steepings are drinkable.  I drink loose leaf tea, and love all the steepings.  I leave nothing to waste.

tea bags are usually only used for the first steeping since the leaves are just basically tea dust.