Cool Yourself Down with a Nice Cup of Tea (part 1)
Serious tea drinkers often face a dilemma when hit with a tea craving in scorching hot weather. To most this is remedied by a nice refreshing glass of iced tea. However, the more serious tea drinkers find the majority of iced tea to be of undesirable quality. But why is iced tea generally viewed as a lower form of the beverage by tea enthusiasts? Until recently we too thought that iced tea was in fact inferior to its steamy counterpart.
Cold brewing seems to be the answer we are looking for. Cold brewing is exactly what it sounds like; you are simply brewing the tea in cold water over a much longer period of time. The most appealing aspect of good iced tea brewed this way is that it is almost devoid of defects. This is because the cold water restricts many undesirable tastes from coming out. Cold brewing cuts down on the consequences of slightly over steeping a tea because you are working with a matter of hours instead of minutes. Steeping time does matter, but it is easier to manage when done in this fashion. It is also a much easier way of preparing iced tea with the resulting taste simple but delicious.
Although cold brewing restricts many of the defects from coming through in the resulting cup, it does not omit the importance of leaf quality in the flavor equation. The first step to good iced tea is a good high quality tea. A lot of time, inferior tea is used to make iced tea, and so of course it tastes inferior. If iced tea is treated with the same respect and care that hot tea receives, it will taste just as good.
A friendly aid in reaching iced tea nirvana is the ingenious yet simplistic Ceylon Pitcher. It serves its purpose and has a simple design and yields good results. It comes equipped with an easy to remove filter, which is just the right size for controlling the extraction of the tea. Essentially, any pitcher of the sort will do, providing it has a good filter and make.
Just remember the point of drinking tea, in our view, is to enjoy the flavor. Why drink iced tea that does not bring the same experience. It can be complex and flavorful when properly brewed. As long as you use the same control when brewing iced tea, as with hot tea, you will enjoy the same caliber of taste. This is just the beginning of the summer and we have a lot more iced tea experimenting to do! We will keep you posted on our thoughts and developments throughout the summer.
-Silas and Joe
Cold brewing seems to be the answer we are looking for. Cold brewing is exactly what it sounds like; you are simply brewing the tea in cold water over a much longer period of time. The most appealing aspect of good iced tea brewed this way is that it is almost devoid of defects. This is because the cold water restricts many undesirable tastes from coming out. Cold brewing cuts down on the consequences of slightly over steeping a tea because you are working with a matter of hours instead of minutes. Steeping time does matter, but it is easier to manage when done in this fashion. It is also a much easier way of preparing iced tea with the resulting taste simple but delicious.
Although cold brewing restricts many of the defects from coming through in the resulting cup, it does not omit the importance of leaf quality in the flavor equation. The first step to good iced tea is a good high quality tea. A lot of time, inferior tea is used to make iced tea, and so of course it tastes inferior. If iced tea is treated with the same respect and care that hot tea receives, it will taste just as good.
A friendly aid in reaching iced tea nirvana is the ingenious yet simplistic Ceylon Pitcher. It serves its purpose and has a simple design and yields good results. It comes equipped with an easy to remove filter, which is just the right size for controlling the extraction of the tea. Essentially, any pitcher of the sort will do, providing it has a good filter and make.
Just remember the point of drinking tea, in our view, is to enjoy the flavor. Why drink iced tea that does not bring the same experience. It can be complex and flavorful when properly brewed. As long as you use the same control when brewing iced tea, as with hot tea, you will enjoy the same caliber of taste. This is just the beginning of the summer and we have a lot more iced tea experimenting to do! We will keep you posted on our thoughts and developments throughout the summer.
-Silas and Joe