Most of the northern hemisphere is still in the peak heat of summer. In some places — like subtropical Florida, where I live — we still have at least a few more months of sticky, sweltering weather before the air starts to cool off. Cold brew tea gets me through times like these.

Regular iced tea is brewed hot, then cooled down and served over ice. But the preparation of cold brew tea doesn’t require hot water at all — just cold water, tea leaves, and time. The cold brew method releases different tastes for each tea, often described as smoother or sweeter than the result of brewing the same tea with hot water. 

Summer has been especially hot this year, so I’ve been preparing a batch of cold brew tea right before I go to bed each night. I let it steep overnight in the fridge, and then in the morning I remove the leaves and have a refreshing glass of cold tea to start my day. If you’d like to do the same, here are some guidelines.

Setup and method

Infuser bottles are available specifically for the purpose of making cold brew tea. Just measure the loose-leaf tea into the bottle’s strainer, fill the bottle with water, let it steep, and remove the strainer. Then you can sip directly from the bottle.

But if you don’t have an infuser bottle, it’s still easy to make cold brew tea. I measure loose-leaf tea into a mason jar, fill the jar with water, close the lid tightly, and leave it in the fridge to steep. When it’s ready, I use a fine mesh sieve to strain the tea into a drinking glass.

I’ve found it’s better to use enough water to fill the jar completely, because trapped air in a partially empty jar can oxidize the tea and degrade the taste.

To extract the full flavor of the tea, let your cold brew steep in the fridge for at least 6 hours, up to 12 hours. 

Tea types

Almost all types of Camellia sinensis tea can be brewed cold (white, green, yellow, wulong, or black). Some pu’ers can be brewed cold, but others need to come in contact with hot water in order to be safe to drink. I suggest contacting the seller of your pu’er to ask.

Herbal infusions such as peppermint, chamomile, hibiscus, and others do not work very well as cold brew because the herbs really do require heat to extract the full flavor. 

With the cold brew method, you’ll need to increase the amount of loose-leaf tea per unit of water, compared with the ratio you’d usually use for brewing tea with hot water. A baseline estimate is about 1.5 to 2 times as much leaf for cold brew. You can adjust for your personal taste.