New TeaDay 7/24/12 Taken the Plunge? COLD brewing iced tea?

[Chip]

Good TeaDay and welcome everyone. Let's Brew...and share what is in our cups today...all day on this very HOT summer day!

Today's TeaPoll and discussion topic is a pretty simple one...either you did or you didn't. Have you tried "cold brewing" to make a refreshing smooth glass of iced tea? If so, please share your experiences with this method. If you have not tried this method, listen up...you might learn something. I know I learned something on this subject once I tried, after resisting this change for years.

Bonus question, which types of teas?

See you all on TeaDay!!! COLD brew on...

[GreenwoodStudio]

I enjoy this. Most usually I cold brew a tea that is still going strong when I'm feeling done with it. Per (I think ting's) suggestion, I fill the brewing vessel with room temp water and put it in the fridge. Then there's a nice cold brew there the next day. I've done that with mostly oolong but also blacks.

My cold brewing method of choice for greens is probably sacrilege to some but I enjoy a half scoop of Matcha in a bottle of frosty water, shake it up, and presto. Great for tea on the run

[debunix]

It took me a long time to 'get' cold brewed tea. I tried a lot of variations on hot brewing, then chilled, tea, and didn't care much for it. I tried cold brewing but other people's directions usually made the tea a bit too strong--it took me a while to realize that I needed to cut down the quantity of tea for the volume being brewed: it's less than what I would use for the same size brewing vessel if I was planning multiple infusions gong fu style.

This year, I haven't had a lot of really hot days in a row, the kind that make it seem like a good idea so I prepare the cups in the morning for later in the day.

I like to use my glass cups* for cold-brewing, convenient to cover them up and put them in the fridge, come back a few hours later to pull out the insert, and drink the tea.

I've enjoyed sencha, greener oolongs, and white teas prepared this way.

*not my cups, which oddly enough I have no ready photos of, but a similar design from Yunnan sourcing. I don't like mine for hot brewing--the glass infuser filter clogs too readily--but they're great to toss in the fridge to brew cold.

[AdamMY]

Oddly enough I wrote a blog post on this this morning. But yes, I have a french press that has never been used for coffee that I dedicate to cold brewing iced tea. The tea I use most often is a Chinese Grocery Dong Ding that seems like the never ending tin of tea. But I also picked up a box of loose leaf lipton tea for the same reason.

[FlyedPiper]

Cold brewing is the way to go for good, smooth umami greens in my experience, although the hot-tea-to-ice method is more time efficient and can give you a nice caffeine pick me up.

During these hot months I've been primarily cold brewing my daily sencha , and saving the hot brew over ice method for houjicha and the occasional roasted oolong.

Having some Weng Jia Long JIng straight outta the gaiwan this morning

[teaisme]

tried with a few different teas, a few different times. Sencha did seem to be the most agreeable.

Still prefer hot over ice though if I am looking for an iced drink.

[Chip]

Yes and no.

Since cold brewing tends to chop off the higher notes of probably all teas compared to hot brewed ... I have never embraced the concept fully. Cold brewed is good, but hot is better for me personally ... and since there is only room for a limited number of teas in any given day, I prefer to get the most bang.

As I have mentioned so many times already, virtually every evening/night I will brew up SLT (soggy leaf tea aka remains of the day aka leftover steeps) with almost always boiling water. This makes a nice sweet tea water that I then put in the fridge for the following day ... usually with a touch of an ever widening selection of honey which also acts as a natural preservative. This is my prefered method.`

And since I am at the mercy of what I drank during the day hot, it is mostly green ... but whatever is leftover will all end up in the same pitcher of tea.

Fortunately with tea, there are so many options!

[laura99]

I don't drink too much cold tea - prefer hot even in the summer. But when I do, it is usually cold brewed sencha, sometimes green oolong.

I use a pitcher like this to brew up a batch. I usually leave it in the fridge at least 4 hours, and can keep it a day or two. If I want more, just top off with some more water.

http://www.amazon.com/Hario-Ice-Tea-Pot ... ea+pitcher

[BioHorn]

Excuse the second posting on this.
I modified the parameters given by B.H. (no, not me) on iced sencha.

5 or so grams of sencha in a kyusu (I think it is a 150 ml kyusu)
3-4 ounces of water, frozen in a custard cup.
I let the block of ice thaw enough to wet the leaf a bit.
Place kyusu in 'fridge.
Leave for 24 + hours.

Results have been mixed. The first time resulted in the best most amazing cup of sencha I have tasted. It was yutaka midori gifted by F.P. (granted I do not drink that much sencha.) The second was OTTI 12, #1. While not bad, it did not compare to the first try.

[Lerxst2112]

Though not a loose-leaf brewed tea, I do have fond memories of mother making sun tea, and putting fresh mint leaf in with the bags. Mmmmmm.

Maybe it's time to do some experimenting in this area. Save extra tea from a gongfu session, let it cool, put it over a little ice, and see what happens!

[entropyembrace]

I´ve been cold brewing sencha for the past few days What I do is add the normal amount of sencha leaves to the kyusu and fill with ice cubes and top off the space between the cubes with cold water. Then I let this sit at room temp until the ice cubes are completely melted, pour into a glass and add a couple of cubes and drink

sweet and lots of umami...and I´m doing multiple infusions over several days. With the cold brews the leaves aren´t getting funky.