What is Cold Brewed Tea
Cold brewed tea is tea steeped in cold water for an extended period of time.
Pictured above is Sencha green tea cold brewed for 12 hours.
The process brews the tea leaves slowly, using time rather than temperature to release the flavors. Free form catechins(antioxidants) and tanning acids, which are good for the human body, are more dissolvable and readily released in cold brewing as opposed to regular hot brewing. In addition, the amount of caffeine released from cold brewing tea is only half of the caffeine released from regular hot tea brewing.
How to Cold Brew
- Use cold water or iced water to brew tea. (It takes longer to brew tea with iced water).
- Ratio of tea leaves to water is usually 1:50 by weight (you can adjust the ratio according to your taste).
- Put loose tea or tea bags into a water container filled with cold or room temperature water.
- Put the container into the refrigerator. * Do Not Put It In Freezer
- Tea leaves which come in stripped form such as green tea, black tea or flat/wavy Oolong tea (Pouchong) should be brewed in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours. We recommend 4-12 hours.
- Tea leaves that are rolled such as Jade Oolong and Ti kuan Yin should be brewed in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours. We recommend 6-12 hours.
- Strain the tea leaves and enjoy the refreshing cold brewed tea. And if you have excess tea left over, put it back to the refrigerator (remember to strain the leaves).
