"Cold brew? But isn't the water meant to be hot first to make tea?!"
It sounds pretty odd eh? Whether you're a beginner to the tea world or an expert in all things loose leaf, we guarantee that if you haven't tried cold brewing tea, once you have, it will change your perspective on infusing tea forever!
Read on to hear all about the wonders of the cold brew method!
What is cold brew tea?
Cold brewing is such a fabulous way of making tea and it is so simple - you just add cold liquid (usually water) to your tea leaves and leave to steep.
Cold brew tea tastes a lot smoother because the flavour is slowly extracted over several hours. Some of our customers have told us that cold brewing brings out flavours that they had never noticed before when they brewed it with just hot water!
You can also cold brew with other liquids such as milk, plant milk (including flavoured milk such as chocolate), sodas like cream soda or lemonade and spirits such as gin or vodka.
How to make cold brew tea?
If new to cold brewing tea you can see if you like it by adding either loose leaf tea or tea bags into a bottle/jug and topping it with your liquid of choice (we recommend starting with water, to see what you think). We use, and recommend, our cold brew bottles which work perfectly as they have a built in infuser in the lid.- Use 5-6 heaped tea spoons of your chosen loose leaf tea to your Cold Brew Bottle.
- Add 750ml of cold water or your liquid of choice (we like experimenting with lemonade, milks or spirits).
- Leave to brew for 4-6 hours or overnight. (If using black tea brew for max 3 hours to avoid bitterness.)
- Pour over ice & enjoy!
Tips for beginners:
- There is no wrong way of cold brewing so get experimenting! We like flavoured black teas in oat milk, most chai in coconut milk, herbal tea in lemonade, or fruit teas in gin (yep it's incredible) What we love about cold brewing is that its super diverse and so so easy to do!
- In our stores, we always have a cold brew or two infusing in the fridge for our customers to sample. Pop in and try a cold brew in your nearest Bird & Blend store.
- We have a handy collection on our website of blends that work really well as a cold brew.
- Check out this blog on our top tea blends to cold brew with
2 comments
Hi Caroline, I personally don’t bother and actually reuse the leaves. Often using water for first infusion and lemonade for second.. it gives a very subtle flavour on second go
Hello – after the 12 hours max steep time are we supposed to take out the tea?? :D