# Cold Brew: How to Make Tea with Cold Water

For cold brewing, add 5 g of tea per liter of cold filtered water and refrigerate for 4–8 hours, then strain. You get a clear, sweetish liquor with no bitterness — and noticeably less caffeine than hot-brewed tea.

Cold brew is the most forgiving method: cold water is poor at extracting the catechins and caffeine responsible for bitterness and astringency, but has time to draw out the amino acids and aromatics. Ruining tea this way is nearly impossible — there is no temperature to hit and no seconds you can't overshoot.

All you need is a carafe or a bottle with a lid, a strainer, and room in the refrigerator. From there the method works on its own.

1. **Choose a suitable tea.** Cold brewing shows greens, whites, and light oolongs at their best: Longjing gives nutty-grassy freshness, Biluochun fruity sweetness, Bai Mu Dan meadow honey and coolness. High-mountain Taiwanese oolongs sound good too. Dense dark teas like shu pu-erh release little in cold water — the method doesn't suit them.
2. **Measure the leaf and the water.** The ratio is roughly 5 g of leaf per liter: 3.5–4 g is enough for a 750 ml carafe. Use cold filtered or bottled water: in cold brew the taste of the water comes through more strongly than in hot tea, and tap chlorine will ruin everything.
3. **Pour and refrigerate.** Put the leaf straight into the carafe or bottle, cover with water, close, and refrigerate right away. Steeping at room temperature is unsafe: in warm water, bacteria have hours to multiply. Refrigerator only, 0–5°C.
4. **Wait for it to be ready.** Green and white teas need 4–6 hours, rolled oolongs 6–8: dense balls take time to open in cold water. It's convenient to set the tea up in the evening — ready by morning — or in the morning, ready when you come home from work. Don't go past 12 hours: extra astringency creeps in and the freshness fades.
5. **Strain the liquor.** Pour the tea through a strainer into a clean vessel and remove the leaf. Left in the carafe, the liquor keeps getting stronger and loses its freshness. The same leaf can be covered with water again — the second brew is softer, but still expressive with good teas.
6. **Drink within a day.** Keep the finished cold brew covered in the refrigerator and drink it within 24 hours: without boiling, the liquor is not sterile. Serve it cold, without ice — ice dilutes and mutes the flavor the method has so carefully gathered.

## Tips

- Don't add sugar: cold brewing itself pulls the leaf's natural sweetness, and it is plenty without additives.
- Try one tea both hot and cold — the difference in the liquor's character surprises even experienced drinkers.
- Cold brew has less caffeine than a hot infusion of the same tea — a good option for the second half of the day, though not zero.
- In a hurry? Brew the tea hot and strong and pour it over a full glass of ice: that's iced tea, a different drink, but it saves you in five minutes.

Source: https://www.dao-cha.info/en/guide/cold-brew