What’s brewing? Tea, coffee off the boil
Print Edition
COLD brews may conjure up a frosty beer to some, but the term actually extends to the non-alcoholic realm of summer coffees and teas. Anything cold is welcome during the August heat in Shanghai.
Cold brews served in cafés and teahouses take longer to make and cost a bit more than traditional espressos and fresh brewed teas. They shouldn’t be confused with standard iced coffee or tea.
When making the brews at home, there’s no need to even boil water. Cold brews are made by slow infusion of tea leaves or ground coffee. The method of letting ingredients sit for more than 10 hours boosts the intense flavors and releases aromas to their fullest.
The best part about cold brews is they are very convenient to store and take along on travel. You can prepare a few bottles of tea or coffee before going to bed and wake up to enjoy the drinks with a quick breakfast.
Before cold brew tea found its way onto the summer beverage menu, sun tea was the most popular way of making tea the slow way.
To do that, tea leaves or tea bags were put in a pitcher of water and then left to stand out in the strong sun. After three to five hours on a hot day, the water was infused with the tea, and the container was stored in the fridge until it cooled. Or, sometimes the sun tea was served straight from the outdoors with ice cubes.
Cold brew tea is the opposite to sun tea. Instead of using heat to help the tea infuse, cold brew tea achieves the same result in way that doesn’t require a hot day’s sun or run the risk of bacterial growth lurking in the warm environment.
Making cold brew tea requires two steps. First, place the tea leaves or tea bags in glass bottles or containers of purified water. Use more tea leaves than you normally would in standard tea making. Seal the container to prevent air or bacteria from entering. Let steep three to four hours at room temperature or overnight in the fridge.
Most varieties of teas lend themselves nicely to this method, from light and fresh green, oolong and white teas to the herbal and floral blends. The long steeping time reduces bitterness. It’s probably a waste of money to use a premium tea in a cold brew. Longjing tea, for example, is best prepared in the traditional way, with water that’s about 80 to 90 degrees Celsius.
However, black teas don’t seem to complement the cold-brewing process. Their rich, bold flavors cannot be released, and the golden, ripe taste is lost. The high level of tannins also makes cold brewed black tea quite dry.
Sometimes when brewing tea with hot water, it’s easy to over-steep the tea and end up with bitter drinks. With cold brews, one can adjust the intensity through the time the tea is allowed to steep and the amount of tea leaves used. It’s hard to go wrong with this method.
Compared with hot tea chilled down with ice, cold brew tea has the advantage of not diluting the drink, thus preserving optimum flavors from the tea itself.
Cold brew coffee can now be found in most chain and boutique cafés.
It is made by steeping ground coffee in water for 12 hours or more, and then filtering out the grounds.
Cold brew coffee may look just like a cup of chilled Americano or normal black coffee. It’s very smooth to drink because the level of tannin in the coffee is reduced when the coffee is not “cooked” in high heat.
But don’t be fooled. Cold brew coffee is a very strong drink because the caffeine is extracted thoroughly during the long steeping time.
Without oxidation at elevated temperatures, cold brew coffee also lasts much longer than other coffees — up to two months. That’s why many shops sell cold brew coffee in glass bottles.
Ice-drip coffee is another technique of cold brew, using water and ice to steep the coffee grounds. That results in a beverage less acidic and mellower.
But ice-drip coffee requires an expensive, professional ice-drip coffee tower, a cold dripper device that turns the coffee-making process into a “chemistry experiment.”
Cold brew coffee, on the other hand, is perfect for the home kitchen. One needs only to master the right water-to-coffee ratio and then have a bit of patience.
If you are planning to pour cold brew coffee over ice cubes, use one cup of ground coffee powder to four cups of water. If you prefer coffee served with milk, reduce the amount of coffee grounds by half.
In a large glass jar, combine ground coffee and water at room temperature, stir a bit and cover. Let the mixture steep in the fridge overnight. If you are using less coffee, steep for 18 to 24 hours to extract all the flavors.
To filter the coffee grounds, use gauze, a coffee filter or even a French press. The cold brew can be served with ice, milk and syrup. It’s great for entertaining guests at family gatherings because one can easily make a large batch.
If you like your coffee extra strong and don’t want ice cubes to dilute the drink, you can make a tray of ice cubes using cold brew coffee and use them to chill subsequent brews.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
