14 June 2023

Grande Teapot Cold Brew: Ways to Cold Brew Tea – Part One

Welcome to the first part of our mini series on ways to cold brew tea. It’s a question we get asked a lot. And it’s really, really simple, though there are many different ways to do it. It’s about finding the right tools and the right way for you. Here we take a look at cold brewing tea with rare, loose leaf teas from our Platinum Collection and our new Grande Teapot that’s helpfully been designed to sit within your fridge door.

What are the best teas for Cold Brew?

You can use any tea for cold brew*, if you like. For this guide, we are working with our new Platinum Imperial Yunnan Golden Buds because they are so rare and perfect, made with incredibly scarce, pure buds from wild trees in Yunnan, China. Their complex, honeyed flavour can really shine in a cold brew, without extracting the usual tannins that come from using boiling water. Basically, the higher quality the tea, the more likely you are to enjoy wonderfully complex, smooth and sweet flavours.

*Herbals should really be made hot first and then left to cool, since they have been picked in their purest, natural state and left to dry – boiling water here ensures that any residues are killed.

How do you cold brew loose leaf tea?

As a rule of thumb, you should increase the amount of tea leaves by 1.5 to 2 times the amount stated on the recipe. Add to your teapot of choice and cover with the correct ratio of cold, fresh water (filtered is best) from the recipe. For this article, we’re featuring our Grande Teapot which has a capacity of 1400ml. Since it offers around four 350ml cups of tea, which would take 4 tbsps of our Platinum Imperial Yunnan Golden Buds for hot tea, you can increase the volume to 6 tbsps.

Once ready, you can now either brew at an ambient temperature on the counter for two hours, or up to eight hours in the fridge. It’s really a case of preference. Why not try the infusion four hours in and see how you like it? Once you’ve started cold brewing, you’ll find the way that suits you best. And what a refreshing world to discover!

How to serve cold brew tea

Once your tea is at its preferred strength, you will need to remove the tea from the water to stop it infusing further. If you’re using loose leaf tea (later in the series we’ll talk about teabags and self-filling teabags) you can either fully decant the tea into the glasses you’re entertaining with, or into a pretty jug to add to the centre of the table. Some of our loose-leaf loving customers like to buy two of the same teapot – one for brewing, and one for serving. When they’re as elegant as our glass teapot range, you can see why.

Enjoying Cold Brew Tea

Your cold brew is ready to enjoy! For our Platinum Teas, we like to serve into glasses fit for the occasion – special wine glasses, whisky glasses, or long highballs. Wine glasses are particularly suited to cold infused rare teas as they really allow you to inhale the complex aromas that these teas offer. Some rare teas are as limited and fine as exclusive wines and whiskies. Pair with dishes of similar style – a plate of superbly prepared sashimi, special cheeses, and cold meats.