Cold Brewing Tips
I have just started drinking green and white tea but I much prefer it cold brewed. I would like to brew large pitchers at a time. Does anyone have any recommendations on the accessories needed and best methods? Also are the some green teas that are better for cold brewing than others?
I’m also concerned about loss of the health benefits from cold brewing as opposed to hot brewing. I have seen several articles referencing studies that show the cold brew method produces equal or greater amounts of EGCGs. Does anyone have any other info regarding this, preferably scientific, not anecdotal?
Thanks
I like 8 grams of leaf to 4 cups of water. Vessel is whatever is easier to deal with. I have a cool bottle designed for cold brew – http://oolongowl.com/summus-tea-cold-brew-bottle-with-black-and-oolong-teas-tea-review/
I’ve also used tea travel tumbler or ice tea jug like the Takeya http://oolongowl.com/takeya-flash-chill-iced-tea-maker-oolong-owl-review/
What teas work goes down to taste. Serious Eats has a cold brew guide but I don’t agree with the tea recommendations/teas that don’t work so it’s really personal taste. http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/06/how-to-make-the-best-cold-brew-iced-tea.html
Health benefits? Meeehh. Drink it because it tastes good. There’s barely any science on what the effects are on cold brew caffeine. Most we get is “less” but that could be anything and would highly depend on brewing time and tea quality.
According to this article, cold brewed teas with the exception of white tea have less antioxidant activity than hot tea: http://www.ergo-log.com/whitetea.html. It makes sense though, the hotter the water temperature the more “stuff” (caffeine, flavor, tannins, antioxidants) are extracted from the tea leaf. But all is not lost because you’re still getting some health benefits, just a little less compared to hot brewing.
The one thing you don’t want to do with iced tea is to flash chill it by pouring hot tea over ice. Not only does it dilute the flavor but it kills the beneficial polyphenols: http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA401218/Getting-the-Most-out-of-Green-Tea.html
Anyhoo, I’m with Awkward Soul. Enjoy tea for its flavor, not as a health beverage. Most studies show that you have to drink a lot of it each day to see the purported health benefits, around 4 cups daily of green tea. That’s not so easy to do if you don’t enjoy drinking it in the first place.
I enjoy the taste of green and white tea immensely. The only beverages I drink on a regular basis are green/white tea and water. Every once in a while I will have a beer. As it is now I generally drink about 2-3 cups tea from the time I wake up until noon. I got cholesterol labs done and my LDL was very high so consuming more tea is on of the smaller things I will be doing to lower it, the main being getting off my lazy butt and exercising every day.
I use 4 to 6 teaspoons of tea to about 64 ounces of water, depending on the type of tea. I usually cold brew overnight due to laziness and it seems to work out fine, but I’ve never had any luck cold brewing white tea.
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