On Food and Cooking

discarded. In Asia, a larger quantity of leaves
of any tea — as much as a third the volume of
the pot — is first rinsed with hot water, then
infused briefly several times, with the second
and third infusions offering more delicate,
subtle flavor balances. The infusion time
ranges from 15 seconds to 5 minutes, and
depends on two factors. One is leaf size; small
particles and their great surface area require
less time for their contents to be extracted.
The other is water temperature, which in turn
varies depending on the kind of tea being
brewed. Both oolong and black teas are
infused in water close to the boil, and
relatively briefly. Green tea is infused longer
in much cooler water, 160–110ºF/70–45ºC,
which limits extraction of its still abundant
bitter and astringent phenolics, and minimizes
damage to its chlorophyll pigment.
In a typical 3–5 minute infusion of black
tea, about 40% of the leaf solids are extracted
into the water. Caffeine is rapidly extracted,