How to Make Cold Brew Tea

Cold brewing tea is probably one of the easiest ways to prepare loose-leaf tea, but it is also one of those methods that people have a tendency to overcomplicate.

You do not need special cold-brewing equipment. You do not need elaborate recipes, syrups or fruit. And you certainly do not need to turn good tea into something resembling a cocktail.

At its simplest, cold brew tea is exactly what the name suggests: tea leaves steeped slowly in cold water.

My usual method is incredibly straightforward. I use whole-leaf tea, good filtered water and a glass jug, put everything in the fridge overnight, then separate the leaves from the finished tea using a filter or strainer.

That is really all there is to it.

However, the interesting part is discovering how different teas behave when you take hot water out of the equation.

My Cold Brew Tea Ratio

My starting point is:

2 grams of loose-leaf tea for every 240 ml of water.

That works out at approximately:

• 2 g tea — 240 ml water
• 4 g tea — 480 ml water
• 6 g tea — 720 ml water
• 8 g tea — 960 ml water

For a roughly one-litre jug, therefore, I would start with around 8 grams of tea.

I deliberately call this a starting point rather than the correct cold brewing ratio.

Tea is subjective.

The amount that gives me the flavour and strength I enjoy may not be exactly the same amount that works for you. Different teas also extract differently.

Start there, taste your tea, and adjust.

If you want more intensity next time, use a little more leaf. If it is stronger than you like, use slightly less.

Eventually you will find the ratio that works for both you and the particular tea you are drinking.

What You Need to Make Cold Brew Tea

You really do not need much:

• Whole-leaf tea
• Cold filtered water
• A glass jug or bottle
• A way of separating the leaves from the finished tea

I personally use a glass jug and allow the leaves to brew freely in the water. Once I have finished brewing, I use a filter to separate the tea leaves from the liquor.

You could equally use a muslin cloth or a reusable cloth tea bag if you prefer to keep the leaves contained.

I generally favour allowing whole leaves sufficient room to open rather than relying on conventional tea bags.

How to Make Cold Brew Tea

1. Measure Your Tea

Use approximately 2 grams of whole-leaf tea for every 240 ml of water.

2. Add the Dry Leaves

Put the dry tea leaves directly into your brewing vessel.

I do not rinse my tea before cold brewing. The leaves simply go straight into the jug.

3. Add Cold Filtered Water

I am quite particular about my water.

I initially use filtered water, which I then put into a bottle containing charcoal for additional filtration before using it to cold brew my tea.

You certainly do not need to reproduce that exact setup to make cold brew tea, but water is the overwhelming majority of what is going into your glass.

Good water is therefore worth paying attention to.

4. Put It in the Fridge Overnight

I put the jug directly into the refrigerator and leave it there overnight.

There is no room-temperature stage in my usual method.

The tea slowly infuses in the cold water while I am doing absolutely nothing to it, which is partly why I like the method so much.

5. Taste the Tea

This is the part I think people should pay more attention to.

Taste your tea.

You do not necessarily need to blindly follow a prescribed number of hours because somebody on the internet told you that particular number was correct.

Taste it from time to time.

Does it need longer? Is it already exactly where you want it?

Tea is subjective, and everyone's experience will be slightly different.

When you discover a combination of leaf quantity and brewing time that works particularly well, remember it.

That becomes your recipe for that tea.

6. Remove the Leaves and Drink It

Once I am satisfied with the brew, I filter out the leaves.

And then I drink it exactly as it is.

I do not normally add fruit, lemon, sugar or sweeteners.

A good tea should be perfectly capable of being interesting on its own.

What Does Cold Brew Tea Taste Like?

This is where cold brewing becomes much more interesting than simply being a convenient way of making iced tea.

Cold brewing can change the expression of a tea quite substantially, and not every category behaves in the same way.

Cold Brew Oolong Tea

Oolongs have given me some of my best cold brews.

I have found that their floral and fruity characteristics can come through beautifully when brewed cold.

An aromatic oolong that already has pronounced floral or fruit characteristics when brewed hot can become remarkably refreshing from the fridge.

For someone trying cold brewing for the first time, a good oolong would be high on my list.

Cold Brew Black Tea

Black tea has also worked extremely well for me.

Like oolong, I often find cold-brewed black tea expresses itself through fruitier and more floral characteristics.

If your idea of cold tea is a heavily sweetened bottled iced tea, drinking a good whole-leaf black tea cold and completely unsweetened can be quite a revelation.

Cold Brew White Tea

White tea tends to become mild, delicate and exceptionally refreshing.

That makes it particularly appealing when you want something light rather than an intensely aromatic drink.

A good white tea can make a very elegant cold brew.

Cold Brew Green Tea

Green tea is interesting because I find its vegetal character becomes more apparent.

Whether that is a positive or negative depends entirely on what you enjoy.

If you like those fresh green, leafy or vegetal characteristics, cold brewing can highlight exactly the qualities you are looking for.

If you do not, another tea category may suit you better.

Cold Brew Hei Cha

Hei Cha is the category with which I have personally had the least success.

That does not mean you cannot cold brew Hei Cha. You absolutely can.

But in my experience it loses some of the complexity that makes these teas so interesting when prepared hot.

Hei Cha can have layer upon layer of character revealed through successive infusions, particularly when brewed Gong Fu style. In a cold brew, I have generally found the result less complex.

For that reason, it is not normally the first tea I reach for when I want something from the fridge.

Can You Cold Brew Any Tea?

You can certainly experiment.

And I think experimenting is important.

One of the pleasures of tea is discovering that something which theoretically should not be your favourite preparation can occasionally surprise you.

Based on my own experience, though, I would broadly describe the results like this:

• Oolongs: floral, aromatic and fruity
• Black teas: fruity and floral
• White teas: mild and refreshing
• Green teas: fresher and more vegetal
• Hei Cha: drinkable, but often less complex than when brewed hot

Your tea may behave differently.

That is precisely why tasting it matters.

Can You Use Tea Bags for Cold Brew Tea?

Yes, although I personally always use whole-leaf tea.

If you want an easy cleanup, you can put the leaves into a muslin bag or reusable cloth tea bag before adding them to the water.

Personally, I prefer simply allowing the tea to brew freely and then filtering the leaves afterwards.

Use whatever method makes the process enjoyable enough that you will actually do it.

Should You Add Ice to Cold Brew Tea?

You can, but I normally do not.

The tea has already been sitting in the refrigerator overnight, so it is cold when I drink it.

Adding a large amount of ice also means that, eventually, you are adding additional water to the tea as the ice melts.

If you love your tea over ice, account for that when deciding how strongly to brew it.

Otherwise, I would suggest trying your first glass without anything added at all.

Taste the tea first.

You can always add something afterwards.

The Biggest Cold Brewing Mistake

For me, the most common difficulty is not choosing the wrong tea or leaving it in the refrigerator for precisely the wrong number of minutes.

It is getting the amount of tea and water right.

Too little leaf and you can end up with something disappointingly thin.

Too much and the result may be stronger than you enjoy.

That is why I start at 2 grams per 240 ml and adjust from there.

More importantly, do not become obsessed with finding somebody else's perfect recipe.

Taste your tea during the process.

Find the point where you like it.

Then remember:

• Which tea did you use?
• How much leaf?
• How much water?
• How long did you brew it?

Once you know those four things, reproducing a particularly good cold brew becomes extremely easy.

Cold Brew Tea Recipe

If you just want the short version, this is my baseline method:

• Tea: 2 g whole-leaf tea
• Water: 240 ml cold filtered water
• Temperature: Cold
• Brewing vessel: Glass jug or bottle
• Rinse: None
• Brewing time: Overnight
• Location: Refrigerator
• After brewing: Filter out the leaves
• Serving: Drink cold, without additions

Scale the tea and water proportionally for however much you want to make.

Cold Brewing Is About Experimentation

There are plenty of brewing charts that will tell you exactly how many grams of tea, how many millilitres of water and how many hours you supposedly need.

They are useful as starting points.

They should not become rules.

Two oolongs can behave completely differently. So can two black teas, two white teas or two teas from the same producer.

And two tea drinkers can taste the same brew and disagree completely about whether it needs another hour.

That is not a problem.

That is tea.

Start with a sensible ratio. Use good water. Put it in the refrigerator. Taste it.

And when you find that perfect combination where a black tea suddenly bursts with fruit, an oolong becomes intensely floral, or a white tea turns into something wonderfully light and refreshing, write down what you did.

Then make it again.