Lipton Cold Brew

Note that you can do cold steeping with virtually any tea, although they take hours to steep. I make iced teas all the time at home that way. I do them a gallon at a time, in rinsed out plastic milk jugs. Steep overnight in the refridgerator. The tea tastes great and never gets cloudy.

How many hours do you recommend letting the tea steep in the refrigerator? Will it get bitter if left too long?

I found some Celestial Seasonings Lemon Ice, which was probably put together on the same principle. It says it is made out of tea with tea extract, so I imagine there's some sort of processing for it to brew quickly in cool water. It also has several kinds of lemony flavor. Mine is stamped best before April 04, looks like dark red brown tea, and tastes lemonlike. I brewed it a second time, and the second time it tasted more nearly like tea. Okay for a Missouri summer.

Depends on the kind of tea. I do this with loose teas from online vendors like Upton and Special Teas. Typically, I used black teas to make iced tea. I let it steep 8 to 10 hours. Yes, eventually it will get astringent if you steep too long, but it isn't real touchy in this regard at low temperatures. For a green like a Sencha, I'm pretty sure you would have to shorten this cold steeping time, but I don't know to what as I haven't tried this with Sencha. My first guess would be about 4 hours.

Thanks.

I've been using Yorkshire Tea. It makes a very nice iced tea. I like it strong and unsweetened with just a hint of lemon. I just put a pitcher in the fridge, so we shall see what it is like tomorrow morning. If it doesn't come out right, I'll go back to brewing it hot and just put up with the cloudiness.

For full leaves : 4 hours If the leaves are a little crashed : 2 hours If the leaves are *well* crashed : 20 minutes. When I'm in a hurry, I pound leaves, put them in a bag, insto a flat pot filled with cold water, and I place that 20 minutes in the freezer. Powdered tea /instant : 1 minute

As it's cold brew, there is no over-steeping. 4 hours or the whole night give the same result. I guess you can keep it 48 hours in the fridge. I never keep some more than 12 hours.

Kuri

Thank-you Rob and the rest for reminding me that there is something I can do with those black teabags that I really don't care for hot. I put some of my Williamson and Magore (which I do enjoy hot but I've moved on for now) teabags in a pitcher tonight and enjoyed a couple of glasses. I've been really focused on greens lately, this was a nice change of pace. I liked it with lemon and Splenda.

Thanks

give the same result. I guess you can keep it 48 hours in the fridge

This has not been my experience. I put a cold steeped batch in the fridge once and forgot about it, and didn't get it until

24 hours later. It was definitely more astringent than normal. Not as bad as a hot tea would have been when steep 2x normal time, but still very noticeable.

Randy

Thanks for trying. I'll keep 12 hours as a limit.

Kuri

I use these also at work, because I'm dying for iced tea and don't want to pump in loads of sugar all day. This is my technique. I put the Cold Brew tea bag in the cup, along with a packet of Stevia and a tiny pinch of baking soda to kill any sour/bitter flavors (it works). Then I go to the water cooler and put a tiny bit of the hot water on the bag to get it brewing faster. Depending on how much patience I have at the moment I either let it sit a bit, or I stir it around and then add the cold water right away. Very passing for something so cheap and continuously available.

Baking soda? Does it work for already brewed tea that sat a little too long and got bitter?

to pump in loads of sugar all day. This is my technique. I put the Cold Brew tea bag in the cup, along with a packet of Stevia and a tiny pinch of baking soda to kill any sour/bitter flavors (it works). Then I go to the water cooler and put a tiny bit of the hot water on the bag to get it brewing faster. Depending on how much patience I have at the moment I either let it sit a bit, or I stir it around and then add the cold water right away. Very passing for something so cheap and continuously available.

where to buy this stuff?

Health food stores. It's a plant extract, and it's insanely sweet.

"Marlene Wood" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@individual.net:

I think so. I know some of the Southern cooks around heah put in a tiny pinch of it when they make their "ice tea". Of course, many of them actually *boil the tea bags in the water*[1], so they need all the help they can get.

[1]Usually just enough water to make a concentrate, which is then mixed with the rest of the water.

Mixed replies:

I think it bonds with whatever chemical makes the astringent taste and neutralizes it. I've used it when I got absent-minded and poured boiling water over nice tea - it salvages the brew, at least for me. I don't purposely ruin my tea with overly hot water, but it's nice to know there's hope if I make a mistake.

Regular groceries don't have it. You can get it online or at a health food store, or a vitamin store like Vitamin Shoppe. I'm liking this brand now:

because it dissolves quickly. Some of the other ones are reluctant to dissolve in cold water. I can't tell the difference in flavor between it and sugar. And I'm VERY touchy about artificial sweeteners, I can't stand them. This isn't artificial, and it's not bad for you. Some health food stores will have an open box of it, and you can take a packet to try. I wish more people would know about it and use it so I could buy it at a regular grocery.

check out the liquid stevia from this company. very convenient, mixable, and portable.

i use this product and have no problems with it. it was sold at my local health food store. ps. i have NO affiliation with this company...just a satsified consumer.

((parts snipped)) Lorra> Mixed replies:

ok

but what is advantage to stevia?

is it no cal?