Cold steeping?

I cold brew iced teas overnight in the fridge all the time. I don’t notice any bitter flavors developing from as you say the tannins.

I have sometimes reused leaves the next day but I know of people on Steepster who will reuse leaves for days at a time.

I usually re-infuse the used leaves for a cold brew, and will use them sometime within the same day. If I save them longer than a day it is for hot tea, but then at the end of that I may throw the leaves in a jar of water into the fridge for final cold brew.
I also do the hot brew over ice or let cool naturally in fridge, but I rarely cold brew dry leaf.

what sort of ratio works with used leaf?

I just guess really. Depends on how brewed out and how much leaf I was using etc, but usually I put the leaf from a single session in about a cup/cup and a half of water. (I cover the leaf with water and add a bit more.) :)

ah ok.. why havent I done this before!

Well, this is great. I am under utilizing my used leaf for sure. I will definitely be experimenting with this idea.

Further question, does everyone usually use dry leaf for cold brew?

And I will take another look at the leaf that ends up being saved in my infuser basket but thrown out the next day because I never got around to successive steepings.

I use dry leaf in cold brew. It lets me use up tea (sometimes tea I didn’t like much). I do it because it’s easy.

Granted, it doesn’t always work well because of undesirable flavor. When it works, crisp flavors, often pulling out flavors that might have been too soft or lost.

Thanks for the responses. I’m inspired to experiment with new methods. Who knows, if different flavors come out that way, it might be useful for combining leaf in the pursuit of blendings.

ColumbiaKate, it’s possible for cold brewed tea to be bitter if its oversteeped.

I cold steep using dry leaf unless it’s a rolled tea. Those benefit from a 1m hot steep first prior to cold steeping.

I find that the tea doesn’t get bitter when brewed overnight in the fridge. But I am also usually doing this with blends that make natural iced teas, less so with straight black teas. I usually brew flavored black teas, flavored white teas, or even flavored rooibos teas but rarely brew straight teas as iced teas. I simply like flavored teas better as iced teas much of the time.

This morning I put some used leaf in a pitcher and covered it. It’s not a flavored tea. Golden Mao Feng and a bit of longevity oolong. So, we’ll see. It will have about 7 hours on it when I get home.
I’m with you on flavored tea for iced. But a really smooth basic black is quite refreshing when no tannins have evolved.

The Tea Spot has some nice “Steep and Go” cold brew bottles. I saw those at a trade show and saved the info, but just had not been sure on the popularity of cold brewing. As well as the success.
So, continuing this exploration. @ all, Thanks for the help

How did your used leaf cold-brew turn out, ColumbiaKate? :)

Hey there Caile, Thanks for asking. It was really hot when I got home Sunday, so I had a large glass of it.
Very nice actually. A bit light because of the ‘used’ leaf. Smooth and the strongest flavor was from the Longevity Oolong, because it had only one steeping on it. (The flavor review in in my log)

I have to say, I was lazy and left the pitcher in the fridge with about a cup of cold steep yet in the bottom and all the leaf, so I just ran and tried it again. I still taste the oolong. But the tannins have definitely taken over. Dry mouthfeel after taste. Kinda sweet in a way though.

All in all, I can see the benefits of cold steeping and will look forward to getting a second life from my morning cups of tea.

Such lovely whole leaf has more to give us than one cup.

That’s great!! I agree that even though sometimes the results may be light or not ‘perfect’, it is still usually refreshing and a wonderful way to experience the tea even more. And if it doesn’t work out, there isn’t really any loss since the leaves would have gotten discarded anyway.
I too have some leaves in the fridge right now that I had forgotten about for a few days…thinking it might not be the greatest at this point. ;)

I enjoy used leaf brews like this especially in summer and am glad you enjoyed it too! Yay!
(Edit to add that the extended 5 day brew was delicious!)