tigress_al said

Cold brew guidelines

I used to drink cold brewed tea ALL the time, but I have forgotten my guidelines after a year of not drinking tea. I had it written down in a “safe place”, but apparently that place was too safe because I can’t find it lol.
I think it went something like this:
Black tea 8hours, green and white 6 or so, oolong 6 hours, rooibos and herbal were somewhere between 12-24 hours maybe?
How does everyone else cold brew?

12 Replies
Rasseru said

I dont know, am very interested in this though, i want to start doing it.

What ration of tea to water do you use?

tigress_al said

I usually use 1-2 times the same amount as the hot method, depending on how strong I feel like having it.

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I generally use 1.5-2x the normal amount of leaf.

Your numbers are pretty close to mine!

Black 8-10 hours
Dark Oolong 6-8 hours
Rolled Oolong 6 hours
Green Tea 4-6 hours
White Tea 4-6 hours

I use a far shorter steep on rooibos cold brew because I found anything over about 6 hours got far too rooibos-y for me to drink. And herbals I pretty much stick in overnight and drink when I get around to it. So 12+ hours on those.

tigress_al said

You are probably right about the rooibos. I will try that!

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AllanK said

I use 1 tsp per eight ounces of water and just let it brew overnight. I mostly brew rooibos and herbals this way and let them sit until I get around to taking them out the next night. They don’t seem to overbrew.

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Rasseru said

nice. I want to try some fruity blends after LP gave me one of his peachy ones as a sample.

i’ll have to try it when im back home

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I’ve found that in general the tea’s flavor doesn’t change much in a cold infusion no matter how long you leave it.

8 hours or more is fine, it won’t oversteep even if you leave it for 24 hours. I use the same amount of leaf as for a normal infusion.

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Bitterleaf said

I only usually cold brew black teas, specifically dian hong, and in that case it’s 1.5-2 hours with room temperature water. Works fine for fresh leaves and half-spent leaves, although I’ll leave used leaves in there a bit longer.

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tigress_al said

Thank you everyone!

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Cold Brew Queen…

I brew 25 oz. at a time, daily – and I pretty well NEVER pay attention to the brew time; I just start brewing at night before I got to bed, and then strain in the morning before I leave for work.

Ricardo is right in that cold brewed tea wont really oversteep. The exception I’ve found is that some times green teas will come out VERY potent with anything longer than around 10+ hours. Not bitter; just very concentrated.

As for the amount of leaf I use; typically I just double (to compensate for the fact I’m brewing 25 oz) what I’d normally use for a 12 oz. mug Western style…

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Lindsay said

I’m reusing glass pasta sauce jars for cold brewing, so they’re about 16oz (500ml). Over the summer I’d routinely have 3 or 4 different ones steeping per night. :) I’m usually not too fussy about the quantity of loose tea: I have one of those “tea spoons” that’s actually 1.5tsp, and I use two of those. If I’m measuring by weight, I’ll usually go with 4-5g. I put them in the fridge in the evening, usually around bedtime, and I just strain them when I’m ready to drink, so they’re probably steeping anywhere from 8-24 hours. Sometimes longer. :) It doesn’t seem to make much difference in the flavour.

tigress_al said

Good idea on using the spaghetti jars. They are a good size for iced tea! I use mason jars sometimes too

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