Cold brewing flowering tea
Has anyone tried to cold brew a flowering tea before?
I have peach momotaro from Teavana which is delicious iced.
But I was wondering about cold brewing. Would the flower ball open enough to “steep”?
I’m curious too. If no one knows, I got a couple cheapy blooming teas and I can test one.
Well its been a bit over 4 hours and there has been no movement on the trial cold brew of a flowering tea. The flower ball has not even swelled and is still floating at the top. There is not even any “steep” occurring. The water is still just clear.
I will leave it overnight but am assuming the verdict will be, no you cannot cold brew a flowering tea.
i do cold brews often (white tea, oolongs cold brew). I haven’t tried flowering tea though.
as with cold brew, I just put it in the fridge overnight and can drink it the next day. I guess same goes for the flowering tea?
I thought about doing this, because I can never get iced tea just right. Do you brew it just normally and then put it in the fridge?
To cold brew, I just fill up a pitcher of cold water from the tap, put in the tea, and put in fridge overnight. I will sometimes brew hot and then ice it. So I brew the tea hot, steeping about twice as long as usual. Remove tea and add ice to chill it or put it in the fridge once its done steeping. Add sweetener as needed.
Update: Its been about 20 hours in cold brew. The flower ball has just ever so slightly opened. There is a light steep into the liquid. I will leave it longer and see what happens. Might just take a long time.
Update: approximately 24.5 hours. The flower ball is opened more. The white tea leaves are opened enough to show the pink flower inside. However, it is not fully bloomed and has not sunk. The tea liquor is actually not too bad.
Wow. Maybe we should have placed bets? I’m guessing 38 hours for the blossom to fully open.
Update: 52 hours. Flower ball still floating, but has bloomed. Has been soaking for so long that the inner pink flower is starting to lose its colour. Tea liquor is strong but tastes good.
Doesn’t look like the flower ball is going to sink. But it still cold brews. Just needs extra hours. Kind of a waste in the sense it doesn’t look as pretty as if you brew it hot.
wow, that took a long time! At least the tea is tasty! Too bad it didn’t sink – how was it facing in the glass? blooming out the bottom?
Estimated time brewing: just over 4 days.
Liquor now very strong and gross.
All colour leached out of flower.
Flower ball never did sink.
I would recommend a cold brew of 2-3 days for a flowering tea.
I wonder if steeping it for a minute or minute and a half in hot water first would help get it to open, at least to maybe get it started? I’m surprised it is that much about the hot water! I was curious about doing it to Pineapple Kawaii because I think it tastes terrible steeping it normally.
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