Cold-brew teas are all the rage right now, and tons of companies are marketing their own cold-brew blends. These big name brands (rhymes with “vinings” and “Tavid’s” if you catch our drift…) claim these blends make the best iced tea – less bitter, smoother, and more flavorful than regular tea blends. In fact, one brand even goes as far as to say that you cannot use their other blends for making cold brew tea. But here at Moody Teas we believe in honesty and education, not exploiting our customers with marketing tricks. So today, we want to set the record straight. These “specialty” cold-brew blends are a total scam.
What is Cold Brew?
To explain this, let’s take a look at what cold-brew is. Cold-brew is actually a brewing method, popular with coffee and tea enthusiasts. Cold-brew is simply tea or coffee brewed with more leaves or beans and cold water over a longer period of time to produce coffee or tea with a smoother and less bitter taste. Typically, cold-brew methods have a similar taste and caffeine content, but there are a few key differences.
What Makes Cold-Brew Different?
Cold-brewing is a new process, but there is some research on the differences between cold and hot brewed coffee. There isn’t much research on these differences in tea, so we’ve found this study from Scientific Reports useful to understand the differences between brewing methods with coffee. It’s safe to assume that these differences may be found in tea as well.
Difference in Antioxidants
Many people claim that cold-brewed coffee has more antioxidants that hot brewed coffee, but this is not the case. Chemically, cold-brew coffee showed less antioxidant activity than hot brewed coffee. This means hot coffee is the “healthier” choice between the two. Similarly, while tea has many health benefits, the antioxidant levels in cold-brew tea may be lower than it’s hot brewed counterpart. However, given the many health benefits of various teas, this is less of an indicator of the blends health value.
Difference in Acidity
Other claims about cold-brewed coffee claim that cold brew is less acidic. Scientifically, acidic and basic liquids are measured using the PH scale, and this study showed minimal differences between cold-brewed and hot brewed coffee. This means that neither is really “less acidic” than the other. However, researchers are still working to understand what makes coffee taste bitter. While cold-brew coffee is not actually less acidic, it definitely does taste smoother and less bitter. Tea naturally ranges in acidity (some being more or less acidic than coffee) so cold-brew tea may not be “less acidic.” However, you can certainly cold-brew a blend to give it a less bitter taste!
Cold Brewing and Tannins
One compound in tea is generally the culprit when it comes to bitterness and astringency – the tannins. Tannins are an antioxidant compound in tea, so it makes sense that cold-brew tea, which has less antioxidants such as these tannins and therefore tastes less astringent.
What’s the Deal with Cold Brew Blends?
As you’ve learned, cold-brew teas aren’t a type of tea, it’s a brewing method. That means any tea can be cold-brew tea! You heard us – ANY TEA! There are some blends that turn out better cold-brewed than others, but companies that claim only their “Cold-Brew Teas” can be used with the cold brewing method are just straight up lying, and that’s the tea.
Now, some blends may claim to make cold-brew teas faster, in minutes instead of hours. That makes them ideal, right? Well, many of the cold-brew blends that produce results in minutes have added flavors. Whether natural or otherwise, these flavors aren’t coming entirely from the tea itself, so it’s a bit of a stretch to call it cold-brew tea. Why drink something with flavoring when you can keep your own cold-brew in your fridge, using all your favorite blends? Plus, “Cold-Brew Tea Blends” often come with a steep markup. Use any old blend to save some money (or buy more tea) without the price increase.
Making Cold-Brew Tea
How do you make you own cold-brew tea? Easy. The proportions may vary by recipe, use, or taste, but the basics are simple.
Super simple, refreshing cold brew iced tea lacks bitter flavors found in regular tea and stays fresh in your fridge for days so you can have tea anytime!
- 1 tsp/tbsp loose-leaf tea (depending on desired strength)
- 8 ounces of water
- Optional: sliced lemon, sweetener of choice, fresh mint leaves
- Add your tea leaves into a pitcher or jar.
- Pour in room temperature or cold water.
- Cover the pitcher and refrigerate.
- Steep white or green tea for 6 to 8 hours; steep black or oolong tea for 8 to 12 hours.
- Once your time is up, strain the loose-leaf tea out of the pitcher and discard the tea.
- Serve tea as is or with any add-ins of your choice.
Cold-brewed tea will stay fresh for 3-5 days stored (covered) in your fridge!
Let us know which Moody Blend is your favorite cold-brew in the comments below, and show us your chilled creations by tagging us in your pics on social!