I was trying to drink through my stash before buying more tea, but I couldn’t help but stop by DavidsTea during my lunch break yesterday. I was really going there to look for an iced tea maker, since the one I ordered on amazon arrived broken. Unfortunately, DavidsTea was already sold out of their first shipment of them! Really?!! Didn’t they just come in? Geez! I think the world just doesn’t want me to have an iced tea maker! So fine! I’ll make it with the steeping equipment I already own! There!
So, I picked up some of this tea to try, and also a new 36oz. Steeper. I decided it was time to upgrade my little 16oz. steeper from Teavana, which I may have bought before these things were BPA-free (yikes!).
Anyway, I decided to try my hand at cold brewing. My first time! I cold brewed this tea for 10 hours, and well, I think that may have oversteeped it, because there is a bitterness that is pretty yucky….kinda ruins the whole tea. Anyone have tips for cold brewing a green tea? I think I am going to have to try this tea the old fashioned way (hot) for comparison. It smells really sweet and tropical, but the taste is very light on the tropical fruit, and much more astringency than I would expect. I think it’s kinda grassy too. Oh well, I guess I’ll try cold brewing a non-green tea and see how that turns out.
UPDATE: YUCK! Just made it hot, and it still has that bitterness I found in the cold brew. I even disregarded the recommended steeping parameters on the package, which said 5-7 minutes at 200 degrees. Who steeps green tea like that?!! I steeped it at 176 degrees for 3 minutes. Blech. Bummer that I spent money on this tea. At least it was only 1 oz.
Ya know, as I am sipping, I think the bitterness has to do with the enormous amount of sediment, which now has settled to the bottom of the cup and it tastes a little better. Hmmm. Still not a winner.
Btw, this is my 200th tasting note! :D
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YAY! grats on 200 :)
I sometimes have greens get way to strong at >8hrs cold brewing, so you could always try a shorter time. Maybe even sampling along the way so that you know when it starts to turn!
The thing I like about Davidstea is in the store you can buy as little as you want, I’ve even done 10 grams before not knowing if I’d like it or not! :)
Thanks, Sil!
Dinosara – thanks for the tip! I’ll probably try that with another tea, though, because this tea doesn’t have enough flavor from the fruit to tempt me to drink more.
whatshesaid – ya, it is nice you can buy less. I got 1 oz. because I thought I’d need more for iced tea, and actually, I don’t have that much left because I used a bunch for the cold brew. Good, I guess.
Wow that worked out then! Maybe if you had used less it wouldn’t have been so strong? The few times I’ve cold brewed I honestly used like a tsp or two in a big mason jar and let it sit overnight or even a whole day but it never got too strong, but very flavorful :) though probably not with green tea, now that I think of it
I made like 32 oz. with a little less than 3 TBSP, so maybe it was a little too much. I think I was following Dinosara’s posts about using 1 TBSP per serving, although I can’t remember how many ounces she did that for.
Yeah I use 1tbsp per 6-8oz because I just want to brew them overnight and I find them too weak (particularly black teas) with less leaf. I guess it’s just about finding what parameters work for you.
YAY! grats on 200 :)
I sometimes have greens get way to strong at >8hrs cold brewing, so you could always try a shorter time. Maybe even sampling along the way so that you know when it starts to turn!
The thing I like about Davidstea is in the store you can buy as little as you want, I’ve even done 10 grams before not knowing if I’d like it or not! :)
Thanks, Sil!
Dinosara – thanks for the tip! I’ll probably try that with another tea, though, because this tea doesn’t have enough flavor from the fruit to tempt me to drink more.
whatshesaid – ya, it is nice you can buy less. I got 1 oz. because I thought I’d need more for iced tea, and actually, I don’t have that much left because I used a bunch for the cold brew. Good, I guess.
Wow that worked out then! Maybe if you had used less it wouldn’t have been so strong? The few times I’ve cold brewed I honestly used like a tsp or two in a big mason jar and let it sit overnight or even a whole day but it never got too strong, but very flavorful :) though probably not with green tea, now that I think of it
I made like 32 oz. with a little less than 3 TBSP, so maybe it was a little too much. I think I was following Dinosara’s posts about using 1 TBSP per serving, although I can’t remember how many ounces she did that for.
Yeah I use 1tbsp per 6-8oz because I just want to brew them overnight and I find them too weak (particularly black teas) with less leaf. I guess it’s just about finding what parameters work for you.