Last week I came across some Lipton Cold Brew teabags (for brewing iced
tea with cold tap water) in the back of my cupboard. I had never tried
them. They were purchased for guests and I had forgotten about them.
They had been there for probably two or three years.

I decided to try them and was pleasantly surprised that the tea was
quite good. I usually don't like Lipton's products, but finally they
came up with something that I liked. It was not as good iced tea that
was orginally made with boiling water, but it would definitely do in a
pinch if one wanted to make some iced tea quickly. An added bonus was
that it didn't become cloudy when refrigerated.

The bags that I had were pitcher-sized. During the week I bought some
regular cup-sized Cold Brew bags for the office. I like my iced tea
unsweetened, and it is difficult to find a ready-to-drink tea that
isn't overly laden with sugar or artificial sweetener. I made a glass
of Cold Brew from the water cooler. It had an odd aftertaste, which I
attributed.

In the meantime, the supply of pitcher-sized bags that I had at home
ran out, so I bought some more at the supermarket today. I made a
pitcher when I got home, only to find that it had that same peculiar
aftertaste I'd noticed at the office a few days earlier. Darn! Just
when Lipton finally came up with something I liked, they went and
changed the formula. That or they improve with age. I should have
known it was too good to be true.

BTW, does anybody know how it is possible for this stuff to brew so
quickly in cold water?


Rob

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.


--
Randy
(To reply by e-mail, remove DeLeTe and SPAMFREE from my address)

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.

"Rob" > wrote:

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

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.


--
Randy
(To reply by e-mail, remove DeLeTe and SPAMFREE from my address)

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.

"Rob" > wrote in message


> How many hours do you recommend letting the tea steep in the
> refrigerator?

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

> Will it get bitter if left too long?

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

Melinda
"Rob" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> 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.
>

kuri wrote:

> 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.

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

"RJP" > wrote in message

> 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.

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

Kuri

> Last week I came across some Lipton Cold Brew teabags (for brewing iced
> tea with cold tap water) in the back of my cupboard. I had never tried
> them. They were purchased for guests and I had forgotten about them.
> They had been there for probably two or three years.
>
> I decided to try them and was pleasantly surprised that the tea was
> quite good.

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.

> 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.

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

>>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. <<

I'm thinking it might be just as easy to bring a Thermos of iced tea to
work with me.

> with a packet of Stevia

where to buy this stuff?

On Mon, 27 Jun 2005 13:57:11 -0500
wrote:

> > with a packet of Stevia
>
> where to buy this stuff?


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

"Marlene Wood" > wrote in
:

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

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.

--
fD
"God's not on our side 'cause he hates idiots also."
-- Clint Eastwood as Blondie (_The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly_)

Mixed replies:


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

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.



<< I'm thinking it might be just as easy to bring a Thermos of iced tea
to work with me. >>

That would work, except for me I'm too absent minded to remember to
bring it, plus a thermos probably wouldn't be enough on many days. I
have all my ingredients at work for emergency iced tea fixes. And it's
a lot cheaper than bottles and bottles of Arizona or Sobe or whatever,
plus no sugar.



<< where to buy this stuff? >>

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:
http://www.stevitastevia.com
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.
http://www.nunaturals.com/products/stevia.html
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))
Lorraine wrote:
> Mixed replies:
> << where to buy this stuff? >>
>
> 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:
> http://www.stevitastevia.com
> 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.
>http://www.nunaturals.com/products/stevia.html
>i use this product and have no problems with it. it was sold at my local
>health food store.

ok

but what is advantage to stevia?

is it no cal?

Lorraine > wrote:
>Mixed replies:
>
><< Baking soda? Does it work for already brewed tea that sat a little
>too long and got bitter? >>
>
>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.

That would be tannic acid. I could see it doing a little good, but I
could also see it making things taste very soapy if you overdo it even
a little bit.
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

I don't think stevia has any carbs ( or less than one, anyway). I just
mentioned LIQUID stevia because it mixes so easily with liquids (such as tea
and coffee) rather than a powder.
This company has packets, liquid and a pill form of stevia.
I use stevia, splenda, sweet and low--or a combination of lo-calorie
sweeteners in drinks that I want sweetened (I try to be carb conscious when
I can ) and have no problems with aftertaste. I drink my oriental teas
straight--no milk or sweeteners.
Some people dislike stevia, splenda and all artificial sweeteners....so just
don't use it if it's not your thing.

wrote:
>> check out the liquid stevia from this company. very convenient,
>> mixable, and portable.
>> http://www.nunaturals.com/products/stevia.html
>> i use this product and have no problems with it. it was sold at my
>> local health food store.
>
> ok
>
> but what is advantage to stevia?
>
> is it no cal?

> but what is advantage to stevia?

Just avoiding sugar, but without the heinous aftertaste that artificial
sweeteners have (plus whatever else they do to your body). No sugar is
better for your teeth and blood sugar.