It turns out people are still doing their iced teas the wrong way...by brewing in hot water then cooling down the concoction, which of course results in a stale-tasting, astringent beverage without any subtlety. Or worse, pouring hot tea over ice cubes, which, again is not doing anybody any favours. As we are currently sweltering in a mini-heatwave, we need to up our iced tea game! We want our iced tea to be fresh tasting, naturally sweet and as joy-inducing as spending a day at the beach with (insert name here / hello Tom Hardy).
The way we produce our iced teas here at Tea Inc? The Cold Brew method! The down: you need to plan ahead. The up: it couldn’t be simpler and it's virtually impossible to get wrong. Method: fill up a container which fits your fridge with cold water, add tea leaves - we’re talking loose leaf here (that’s us...always loose, never baggy) and put in fridge. The leaf / water ratio is double that of hot tea, so if you use 2 teaspoos per pot for hot tea you need to use 4 teaspoons for the cold brew. And leave overnight, in the fridge. The colder temperature doesn’t draw out the tannins the way hot water does, that’s why cold-brewed tea is actually less astringent, without any bitterness and less caffeinated. In the morning, strain the leaves and enjoy!
Teas we’ve experimented with so far are (and they have all been awesome):
- Takes two to Mango - we used our flavourful black tea with mango - exotic!
- Life’s a Peach - with our deliciously peachy Peach Oolong - Oolong teas are great for cold brewing, such complex, beautiful flavours!
- Blackcurrant MojiTea - blackcurrant fruity infusion with peppermint - so cool!
- Smokey Joe - Lapsang Souchong cold brewed then a splash of Ginger Beer added...tastes like light peaty whisky & ginger cocktail!
- Pina Colada - black tea with coconut + black tea passionfruit & pineapple - say no more
- Lavender Earl Grey - we actually steeped this one in gin for a couple of hours...shhhh don’t tell anybody (it was lush)!
- Hibiscus, Rose Petals & Maple - pink, floral, fresh infusion, adding maple syrup for sweetness takes it to another level
- Green Tea, Ginger & Lemongrass - zingy!
And so on...possibilities, as they say, are totally endless. Go on and experiment. Not just with different teas, but use lemonade instead of water, or coconut water or rum (spiced chai would do rum justice). Do let us know how you get on... You’ll thank us later!