Apr 28th, '13, 20:23
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What Is Your Favorite Tea To Use In Iced Tea?

by John Delaney » Apr 28th, '13, 20:23

I normally drink hot tea but was asked this question by someone and didn't have a good answer beyond the generic store bought iced teas. So I figured I would get some help here, what is your favorite loose leaf ice tea to use for iced tea?

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Re: What Is Your Favorite Tea To Use In Iced Tea?

by Muadeeb » Apr 28th, '13, 21:04

Assam or Ceylon.

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Re: What Is Your Favorite Tea To Use In Iced Tea?

by debunix » Apr 28th, '13, 21:41

I like to cold brew sencha and white teas.

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Re: What Is Your Favorite Tea To Use In Iced Tea?

by futurebird » Apr 28th, '13, 22:32

silver needle

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Apr 29th, '13, 10:03
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Re: What Is Your Favorite Tea To Use In Iced Tea?

by amaranto » Apr 29th, '13, 10:03

I love pretty much any white tea cold or iced. Lately, I've been drinking cold jasmine-scented bai mu dan because of the warm weather. If your friend ices the tea, it could be a good idea to make it a little strong before adding the ice or extra water so that it doesn't become diluted. If I'm not wrong, there is a thread somewhere here where people talk about preparing iced tea.

Apr 29th, '13, 11:35
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Re: What Is Your Favorite Tea To Use In Iced Tea?

by John Delaney » Apr 29th, '13, 11:35

amaranto wrote:I love pretty much any white tea cold or iced. Lately, I've been drinking cold jasmine-scented bai mu dan because of the warm weather. If your friend ices the tea, it could be a good idea to make it a little strong before adding the ice or extra water so that it doesn't become diluted. If I'm not wrong, there is a thread somewhere here where people talk about preparing iced tea.
I tried some white tea this morning and it was pretty good as an iced tea. The light taste of the white tea makes for a good choice although I found myself adding a couple teaspoons of sugar.

And you are right, it seems most of the things I read would suggest adding an extra teaspoon or double the amount of tea used when making iced tea.

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Re: What Is Your Favorite Tea To Use In Iced Tea?

by javi_sanchez » Apr 30th, '13, 00:19

Cold brewed LongJing is one of my favorite summer drinks.

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Re: What Is Your Favorite Tea To Use In Iced Tea?

by MEversbergII » Apr 30th, '13, 00:53

I am curious to try iced pu'er, blanched and then cold-infused.

Otherwise, haven't had any iced tea that isn't the standard American fare.

M.

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Re: What Is Your Favorite Tea To Use In Iced Tea?

by teaisme » Apr 30th, '13, 16:54

shou is my favourite iced

300ish ml teapot packed generously and brewed for 2-3 mins after a good rinse, nice dark and strong

once it cools to drinking temp pour over ice
great introduction to the different tastes of tea on a blistering hot summer day,
you can throw in a flower or two of chrysanthemum as well if you want a little extra floral character

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Re: What Is Your Favorite Tea To Use In Iced Tea?

by tecnanaut » May 1st, '13, 13:51

Not an iced tea per se, but for a cold refreshing summer drink I've started to put ice cubes on some Uji sencha. It opens up a whole new range of flavours I hadn't noticed before.

The actual method is called Shinobi-Cha, and all I know about it I learned from this video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UEZcq1qVtw

Admittedly, the amount of liquor produced is minute, and takes a long time. I also cold brewed silver needles once, but something seemed off. Since then I got it in my head that some bitter flavour was created by the surface of the glass :?:

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Re: What Is Your Favorite Tea To Use In Iced Tea?

by amaranto » May 1st, '13, 14:18

Not an iced tea per se, but for a cold refreshing summer drink I've started to put ice cubes on some Uji sencha. It opens up a whole new range of flavours I hadn't noticed before.
I've been wanting to try this, but I'm out of sencha at the moment. I guess I'll have to buy some because it sounds really good.

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Re: What Is Your Favorite Tea To Use In Iced Tea?

by tecnanaut » May 1st, '13, 14:36

amaranto wrote: I've been wanting to try this, but I'm out of sencha at the moment. I guess I'll have to buy some because it sounds really good.
Hope you try it, I was pleasantly surprised! I extracted about 200ml of liquid over 5 hours, adding ice cubes along the way. It seemed to keep the same stable flavour then it just lost it suddenly. The icy cold leaves also made a delicious mini salad.

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Re: What Is Your Favorite Tea To Use In Iced Tea?

by amaranto » May 1st, '13, 23:12

I wandered across this today and thought it might be useful: http://www.smithtea.com/shop/iced/

I order Earl Grey from them, which I think is the best I've ever had, though I can't speak for the other teas.

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Re: What Is Your Favorite Tea To Use In Iced Tea?

by Teaism » May 2nd, '13, 01:23

Ice tea is great for hot days. Many tea can be used e.g Wuyi and red tea.
I usually use Ceylon or Darjeeling or Malaysian Cameroonian tea or China Qimen loose tea and add a nice scoop of mild honey e.g. Acacia honey with heaps of ice. They are really refreshing.
To economized the expensive Wuxi Yancha, after 3 brews, sometimes I just cold brew the spent leaves in a jar of cold water and keep it in the fridge overnight. It makes a very nice refreshing tea.

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Re: What Is Your Favorite Tea To Use In Iced Tea?

by MEversbergII » May 2nd, '13, 10:29

Teaism, I think I might have to try that out.

Also, here are two articles related to iced tea:

A Big Glass of Ice Tea? (3Pg)

The Ice-Fire Technique

M.

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