3 ways to make cold tea! Easy even for beginners! How to make delicious cold tea

Introduction

"Hicha" (cold tea) is something you often see during the hot season.

Even when chilled, delicious cold tea has the rich aroma of Japanese tea and a subtle astringency and flavor, which will soothe your body when it's tired from the extreme heat.

Cold tea is perfect for the hot season, and there are actually a few different ways to make it.

1. "Hot water type" is made by cooling tea brewed with hot water
2. "Cold-brewed" type made from water
3. "Rock type" made with ice

This time, we will introduce the characteristics of three types of cold tea and the basic way to brew them.

Each has a different taste impression and the balance of the extracted ingredients is slightly different, so be sure to try them out and enjoy the differences.

How to brew hot water type coffee

Hot water cold tea is made by chilling hot tea brewed in a teapot over ice.

Because the strong tea is poured over ice and cooled rapidly, you can enjoy the sharp astringency and bitterness that is unique to Sencha, as well as a refreshing taste. Another point is that it can be made easily and in a short time compared to cold tea brewed with water.

The best tea leaves to use are deep-steamed sencha, which brings out the flavor easily.

The following is for making tea in a glass (about 150cc capacity). If you want to prepare tea in a pot, adjust the amount of tea leaves and hot water according to the capacity of the container.

What to prepare (materials and tools)

Teapot, glass, teaspoon, tea leaves, hot water, ice, timer, Sencha tea bowl (for cooling the water)
・Tea strainer (if using deep-steamed sencha)

1 serving

・Tea leaves: 3 teaspoons (about 6 grams)
・Amount of hot water: 140cc
・Temperature: about 80℃ ・Ice: same amount as hot water

How to make the first brew

1. Fill the glass with ice until it is about 80% full.
2. After boiling the water thoroughly, cool it down to about 70℃. (By transferring the water from the pot to a teapot and teacup, the temperature will reach about 70℃.)
3. Put tea leaves into the teapot. Adjust the amount of tea leaves to your liking. As a guideline, use about 6g of tea leaves per person.
4. Pour the cooled water into the teapot slowly in a thin stream, making sure the water reaches all the tea leaves.
5. After pouring in the hot water, cover the tea and let it steam. For regular sencha, steam it for about 1.5 minutes, and for deep-steamed sencha, steam it for about 30 seconds. This will bring out the flavor of the tea leaves.
6. Pour into a glass filled with ice in several batches to cool quickly. The golden ratio of ice to sencha (tea) = 1:1 will cool the sencha in one go. Once it is thoroughly cooled, the first brew is complete.

How to make the second brew

1. Pour hot water (about 80℃) into the teapot, which is hotter than the temperature used for the first brew.
2. Cover the teapot and steam for about 30 seconds.
3. Pour the tea into the server again with ice and chill it quickly.
4. Once thoroughly chilled, pour into a glass.

*After pouring the tea into the glass, stir it several times with a long-handled spoon to ensure that the tea is cold all the way through and that just the right amount of ice remains.
*When making deep-steamed sencha, the tea leaves tend to mix together, so straining it through a tea strainer before pouring will result in a beautiful finished product.

How to brew cold brew coffee

It is recommended for beginners as there is little chance of failure. It is easy to make as all you have to do is brew a bag of tea leaves and leave it.

In addition, by brewing in cold water, you can bring out the umami and sweetness of the sencha and reduce the bitterness. Cold brewing produces less tannins and catechins, resulting in a gentler flavor.

What to prepare (materials and tools)

• Cooled boiled water
• Server (barley tea pot)
• Tea bag
• Teaspoon
• Tea leaves

1 serving

• Tea leaves: 10 grams
• Amount of water: 1 liter

How to make it

1. Brewing tea leaves in a tea bag
2. Brew the tea leaf pack in a cold brew bottle such as a mugicha pot and slowly pour in water.
3. Cover and leave in the refrigerator for about half a day until it reaches your desired strength. Remove the tea bag.

*Make sure to use water that has been boiled and then cooled.
Use soft water instead of hard water.
*Please drink the entire bottle within one day.

How to make a rock type

The last method we will introduce is to steep the tea on ice. This method reduces the astringency and bitterness, and allows you to enjoy a delicious taste that brings out the sweetness and umami.

This method takes a long time for the ice to melt completely, and if you use deep-steamed sencha, it will turn yellow, so it is best to use high-quality regular sencha, gyokuro, or kabusecha.

What to prepare (materials and tools)

• One-sided cup (a regular mug will do)
• glass
• Tea leaves
• ice

1 serving

• Tea leaves: 3 teaspoons (approximately 6 grams)
• Ice: 80g

How to make it

1. Put the tea leaves into the cup
2. Place ice on top of the tea leaves and let it steep slowly until the ice melts.
3. Pour into a glass and enjoy!

Finally

When it comes to cold tea, you may be more familiar with commercially available bottled drinks, but you can also enjoy delicious, authentic cold tea at home.

Unlike heated bottled drinks, cold tea made at home is rich in nutrients derived from tea leaves, such as polyphenols and vitamins.

Gulping it down is the ultimate luxury in the hot and humid Japanese summer. Please give it a try.