As the summer weather kicks in, the need for thirst-quenching beverages is high. As a tea sommelier, I’m always looking for different brewing techniques for the best cup of tea, even and especially if it’s on ice. 

There are so many effective approaches to brewing a great cup of iced tea. It all comes down to what your goals are in consuming. Whether you’re looking for something that can balance additives such as sugar, fruit, or dairy and milk alternatives, or you’d like a large batch done with little to no effort, or you simply want to admire the flavour profiles of some specialty teas, we have a method for you. Read on to learn more!

Hot Brew Method

Hot Brewing is an almost instant method to brew a delicious iced tea. It involves making a concentrated liquid using twice the amount of leaves you would normally use for regular brewing, and pouring the concentrate over a cup of ice. This concentrate can bring out more tannic, bitter, or astringent notes in your teas. You can balance that out by adding your preferred sweetener, and even some herbs, citrus slices, or frozen fruits for a fun and refreshing summertime beverage. 

Directions

Place 2 teaspoons of tea per 8oz serving in a heat-proof vessel. Steep tea using the recommended steeping guidelines for time and temperature. If you like your tea sweet, this is a great time to add sweetener to be able to dissolve fully, as it may not incorporate well after the tea is poured over ice. 

Strain your brewed tea over a cup filled with ice and discard the tea leaves. Optional: Add a slice of lemon or frozen fruits for a fruity twist. Enjoy!

Recommended Teas to Hot Brew
Keemun Black Tea
Golden Tips Black Tea
Goji Chrysanthemum Herbal Tea

Cold Brew Method

Cold brewing is a more delicate method in preparing chilled tea. This slower method is effective in lowering the amount of caffeine and tannins extracted, leaving you with deliciously smooth and refreshing tea. Using this method, you may find the flavour profile of your tea to be lighter, smoother, and with different characteristics than your normal hot brewed tea. If you’ve had difficulty in steeping your tea hot and found that your tea is bitter, cold brewing might be for you. The great thing about this is you can brew a large pitcher to share with your friends and family very easily with the tiniest bit of planning. Just scale the amounts up, and bring it to your gathering. Try this method for yourself!

Directions

Place 1.5 tsp per 8 oz serving in a jug. Add cold water to the jug, Cover, and place in the refrigerator for 4-12 hours, or overnight. Strain tea leaves, leaving you with your finished cold brewed tea. Fill up a glass and enjoy! 

Recommended Teas to Cold Brew
Sencha Green Tea
White Peony White Tea
Zijuan Purple Pu’erh Tea
Tie Guan Yin Oolong Tea

Ice Brew method

Ice brewing, or in Japanese, Kōridashi, is similar to cold brewing in the fact that you’re using cold water to slowly extract flavours from your teas. Using the Kōridashi method is a slower and more mindful way to appreciate the nuances and flavour profiles, especially in delicate green teas. When extracting flavours, you’ll be left with less tannins and caffeine, or in simpler terms, less bitterness and astringency. You’ll also pull out more theanine, which is an amino acid in tea known for savoury umami notes you’d typically find in green teas. 

Directions

There are a few different vessels you can use to ice brew. If you’d like a simple way to separate your tea leaves from your ice as it drips, a great device is a ceramic pour-over cone, generally used for coffee. Add 1.5 tsp of tea leaves in your pour-over cone placed on top of your drinking vessel. Add 4-5 ice cubes on top of your tea leaves and allow it to drip into your drinking vessel. This will take some time, but when it’s done, you’ll have a savoury, tea concentrate to sip and enjoy. You can reuse your tea leaves for hot or cold brewing after this is done. 

You can also place your leaves and ice in a teapot and allow it to steep until the ice is completely melted, and strain the liquid into your drinking vessel of choice. 

Recommended Teas to Ice Brew
Gyokuro Green Tea
Genmaicha Green Tea
Sencha Green Tea
Dragonwell Green Tea