I frequent 2 forums,& I'm seeing more people trying "hop teas" before adding LME/DME,etc for extract beers. Adding a strong hop tea to the fermenter/secondary,rather than "dry hoping" seems to be the latest extension of this idea.
I saw a thread once (I think on here) where a guy was spending big $$ on 1-5 lbs of hops for big batches of this 250 kiloton IPA of his. Some 240 IBU's! Sooo,he bought a "french press" (used to make coffee),put an ounce or 2 of hops in,top off with boiling water. Put the lid/press part on & let it sit for 30-60 mins. You then push down on the flat,round button to "press" the solids into the bottom. The press part has a fine mesh screen on it to accomplish this.
He claimed to get the same strong hop flavor with the 1-2oz of hops that pounds did before. I'm gunna buy one & give it a try.