Features of Cold Brew Tea
Unlike Iced Tea, which is brewed hot and chilled over ice, Cold
Brew tea is as simple as tea can get; it's just pure loose leaf tea brewed
slowly in cold water. The Cold Brew method works especially well for loose leaf
tea which highlights their refreshing natural sweetness, distinctive aromas and
smooth mouth feel.
The Cold Brew technique highlights tea's sweet flavors while producing a lighter-bodied tea with less
astringency and bitterness. The key is that catechins (tea tannins that have
astringency, like a dry wine) and caffeine (which has a bitter taste) are more
easily extracted at higher water temperatures. Cold water selectively draws out
tea's flavor and aroma, while extracting as little as half of these astringent and bitter components derived by hot-brewing. Try your favorite
tea brewed both hot and cold side-by-side and taste the difference.
How To Make Cold Brew Tea
Cold-brewing is more
time consuming than hot-brewing. Cold brew tea needs to fill with cold
water, place the tea into the refrigerator to infuse slowly, and keep cool
at least 6-8 hours. Therefore, there are some prepackaged tea bags marketed as
"cold brew" friendly. Though these bags designated for cold brewing
may work faster, the natural tea's full flavour, sweetness, and aroma are
usually compromised. Besides, It is not allowed to determine how strong your tea will taste and to choose your
preferred blend of tea.
Using a tea filter to pack
your own tea bag is a good way to make your favorite cold brew tea, but most
of tea filters constrict the tea leaves. The inside extension volume is the key point to affect the time needed while
cold brewing. Using an infuser is an another choice, but it seems not be able to
adapt to bottles which is the most frequently use in cold-brewing.
Using Transformer Tea Bag, while cold brewing, is the best choice.
The enlarged inside volume provide the packed extract to extend
which makes cold brewing less time-consuming. In addition, it can easily adapt
to various kinds of bottles or kitchen items, and it makes doing cold brew tea
more friendly and simply.
Time needed while cold brewing loose tea by comparing Transformer Tea Bag and ordinary tea filter in bottle. The same amount (about 5 g) of Oolong Tea is packed and sunk in the same temperature (4°C) of cold water.