Re-steeping

Re-steeping means brewing the same batch of leaves more than once instead of discarding them after a single infusion. Whole leaf teas, especially oolong and pu-erh brewed gongfu style, are often designed around this idea, sometimes giving several distinct, drinkable infusions from one set of leaves.

It works because whole or lightly broken leaves release their flavor in layers rather than all at once. The first steep rarely extracts everything, so later rounds can still taste full as long as you adjust for it, typically adding a few extra seconds to each successive steep rather than repeating the exact same time.

Whole leaf and larger-leaf styles generally re-steep better than fine, broken or dust-grade tea, which tends to give up most of its flavor in one steep. A common mistake is discarding leaves after the first infusion out of habit, or using the identical steep time for every round, which under-extracts the second steep and over-extracts a later one.