How much loose leaf tea do you use in a tea pot?

I have found, mainly through trial and error and folklore, that the ‘cup’ is an ordinary drinking-out-of cup/ mug, and ‘spoon’ is a teaspoon.
I use one heaped teaspoon of the tea per number of cups and, as you said, add another spoonful ‘for the pot’.
Do not overfill the teapot with freshly boiled water as, if you are only going to have a couple of cups out of it, too much water will result in weak tea!
(I do not live in Boston . . . .)

You measure the amount of tea that you would use for one cup (just less than half a tea ball full) and multiply that by the number of cups you are making. By doing that, I don’t bother with “one for the pot”.

Haha…funny you ask, I JUST, a few days ago, opened a stash of tea I brought back from Asia 2 years ago. Another variety I hadn’t tried yet. It didn’t look like the flowering tea, was finely shredded leaves and I tossed about a half a cup in my fairly large teapot.
OMG!
I am NOT exagerating, it exploded into this massive ball of greens like seaweed. It was amazing!
I don’t know what kind it is, the container is written in Mandarin, it has what looks like ginger roots on the box, but, never mind, I digress. lol
Suffice it to say I have to still experiment with different amounts. But it is really delicious tea!

You have to keep experimenting. It varies with the Brand, the type of tea leaves, the age, the amount of water and many other things.

I was told from where I bought the tea at that is it between 1 – 3 teaspoons per cup (a regular mug type cup – appx 8oz.) and to let it steep for about 2 minutes. It just depends on how strong you want the flavor to be. Try one teaspoon first, and if it’s too weak, add some more next time. Ihave a citrus on that is strong and use less of then the one that is more floral and vanilla like.

For some mass produced teas I have used the one spoonful per person and one for the pot rule. However, I buy really good tea from a company over here and with the Irish Breakfast tea I use only two big spoonfuls for my 4 cup pot and with the Scottish blend, I use one and a half spoonfuls. It is really, really strong. I think it depends on the tea and your own personal taste preferences.

Yup 1 tsp. per cup & one for the pot is the general rule but it really does depend on the tea , where its from & the type. I hear you Coloma. My neighbours brought me back REAL tea from Taiwan & a little really goes a long way!!!!! Otherwise its tea & a salad!!!! However personal taste is always the deciding factor so just keep experimenting till your tongue gets happy!