My Cold Brew Tea How-To
Okay, since my LAST POST, the one about Cold Brew Iced Tea, I have made several jugs of the stuff, and I have to tell you, this is EXCELLENT tea.
I’ll tell you how I make this excellent tea in a moment, but first let me tell you why this tea is so good.
First, it is SMOOTH. If you’re used to drinking restaurant-made iced tea, or making overbrewed tea in your home, you’ve probably gotten used to the somewhat acrid bite of this kind of tea. I never got used to it.
When I tasted this tea, the smoothness of the taste was a sensation all of its own.
When I tasted this, I knew immediately I didn’t ever want to fix tea any other way.
Second, the subtle flavors of the tea come through nicely. In my first batch of tryouts of this method, I used English Breakfast tea, and let me tell you, the actual flavor of that tea, as distinguished from green or black pekoe, was very nice.
Of course, with the smoothness and flavor of this tea, it is very easy to drink it unsweetened, and to enjoy every sip of it. Which is a good thing for my waistline and my minimal-carbohydrate diet regimen.
Here’s how I make it.
How To Make Wonderful Cold Brew Tea
First, I use five teabags for two quarts of water.
Yeah, yeah, I know in the previous article, I referenced a website where the author talked about how many “grams” of tea to use … Really? GRAMS? Who measures tea in grams anyway? I think most people measure it in TEABAGS. Don’t you?
Anyway, I took a twister tie and fastened one end of it to the filter in the lid of my 1-gallon water jug, and bent the other end into a “J” shape.
I then hung the teabags by their paper tags from the “J” of the twister tie.
After that, I simply lowered the teabags into the 2 quarts of water,
Then I put the lid on the pitcher and the pitcher into the refrigerator.
So how long do I let it steep? I’ve left them to steep in the refrigerator overnight, for 8 hours, 6 hours, and 12 hours, and each time it turned out great.
When it’s steeped, I simply discard the teabags and the tea is ready to drink.
That’s all there is to it. Really. It is so easy, so simple, and so GOOD.
Try this method, and let us know in the comments below if you like tea made this way. Try several types of tea and tell us which is your favorite.
Perhaps you too will say THIS is the only way you want to make tea in the future.
I started cold brewing tea this summer and I am using 5 bags per 2 quarts as well. I am using 2 quart wide mouth mason jars and I bought plastic wide mouth lids. I can drop the tea bags in and they are held in place by the lid. I prefer the cold brew taste as well. I usually brew black tea, but have found that mint tea is excellent using this method.
I now brew it a whole gallon at a time. I use 4 bags of Twinings English Breakfast and 3 bags of Bigelow Plantation Mint. Excellent! The only drawback is that I have to drink it ALL before the fourth day, or it begins tasting “off.” It helps if I meticulously wash my hands just before squeezing out the teabags after the steeping.
I truly wish all restaurants would begin using the cold brew method. I haven’t found a single one that doesn’t overbrew their tea, to the point of bitterness. Becoming accustomed to the delicious flavor of cold brew tea makes me even more sensitive to bad tea. However, it does help to add an ounce or two of water to restaurant tea.