Cold brew – Mizudashi

Cooling drink in the summer heat

Our old favorite; cold-brewed tea is one of the easiest tea-making methods and it has a really good cooling effect.

A dose of water, some tea leaves, one night in the fridge and the magic happens by itself; round and a bit of smoother tastes we get. We recommend it as a morning drink or afternoon freshener even with lemon and herbs. You can have some nice cold brew tea in the teashop after our holiday break will be finished, until then you can try it at home as well.

How to prepare

The first and maybe the most exciting step is the choice of tea. Worth trying with more tea types. The Japanese Sencha is greener, dynamic while the Chinese Green Pearl and Long Jing are rounded and creamy in taste. The Himalayan Spring gives a nice winey, champagne-like world of taste which is even a great experience in a wineglass.

If you are looking for the well-known ‘Ice tea’ mood, some characterized black tea is the best choice. Bachan Gyawali – the Jun Chiyabari tea garden owner – told us once that they usually use Himalayan Imperial Black for cold brews. We tried it and it became one of our favorites.

The old white teas are given really interesting tastes in cold brews also. We recommend the Mengsong Moonlight White from 100-120-year-old bushes. That was a big surprise for us when Agnes left this tea in the refrigerator for two days by accident. While working, we started sipping it and soon realized it was incredibly smooth, uplifting. The leaves even after such long steeping did not show signs of bitterness or astringency. It seems like the cold brew is cannot be spoiled.

The best choice is the spring water, but if you can’t get it some still mineral water with low dissolved mineral content will do also. We always put the water in the fridge and use this cold water to steep the leaves, in this method the cold brew will be elegant and smooth. Some people usually use room temperature water to get more intense tastes. You can modify the length of the steep by your mood, 8-12 hours is the general.

Cold-brewed tea is less bitter than warm/hot teas and has lower caffeine content, but tea has all the other antioxidant, invigorating, energizing, refreshing effects.