In the summer we generally switch to cold or iced drinks. Unfortunately, the offer on the iced tea supermarket shelves is not appetising - these drinks have high sugar content. Even homemade iced teas at restaurants and cafes are in the same situation.

Unless you are a die-hard tea fan who insists on drinking hot tea even when the temperature reaches record highs, as a tea drinker, you may think you are out of options for the summer.

… on a side note, drinking tea hot in the summer (and in warmer climates) is actually a normal occurrence in Asia. You’ll find people, young and old alike, who pour warm tea into cups out of their thermoses, be they playing chess outdoors or sitting in an office. The saying goes that if you drink tea warm, your internal body will better adjust to the external heat. There is also actual scientific evidence behind the popularity of hot drinks in Asia even in hot weather.

Back to where I was… Tea drinkers, fear not! Cold brewing tea is a refreshing and healthy way of drinking tea even in stifling hot summers. In fact, cold brewing tea allows for a different type of extraction of the complex flavour profiles that you find in good quality tea. So when you compare the same tea that you cold brew and brew with hot water, you’ll taste varying nuances in the tea leaves.

What teas are best for cold brewing?

As a rule of thumb, you can actually cold brew any type of tea. Nonetheless, some teas, such as white, green and tisane, taste much more refreshing, clean-tasting and naturally sweet.

• White teas: For a very delicate and lightly floral taste, try brewing our Fuding Silver Needle
• Jasmine and Tisanes: For a more intense floral bouquet, you can try cold-brewing our Jasmine Silver Needle and caffeine-free Organic Honeybush.
• Green teas: For a refreshing light nuttiness and medium-bodied palette, try our High Mountain Dragonwell and Organic Sencha
• Black Teas: On the contrary, I have found that cold brewing black teas does not allow its full-bodied notes to shine through.

Our Kinto PLUG iced tea jug is ideal for cold brewing

Step by step guide

Cold brew tea sounds exotic and perhaps complicated. But, all you really need is a jug, water and tea. Our Kinto jug makes the brewing extra easy with the filter for the tea leaves. In fact, it is actually so simple that you can make your own cold brew tea in four easy steps.

1. Select your cold brew tea of choice. Weigh your tea. 8-10g is recommended per litre of water

2. Have your cold brew jug ready. Pour the weighed tea into the jug and fill your jug with filtered water at room temperature or already cold water.

3. Leave the jug in your fridge overnight for up to 12h for the tea to steep.

4. On the next day, strain the tea leaves. And voila - you have your very own homemade cold brew tea! Take a gulp and enjoy!*

*You can reuse the leaves for 2 more brews which brings out different nuances.