How to Cold Brew Tea: The Ultimate Guide

 

When most people picture tea, they picture something hot. That's changing. Tea is infinitely versatile, with flavour, tannins, and structure that few other standalone botanicals can match, and as drinking habits shift away from alcohol and sugar, it's earning a well-deserved place in the glass. Cold brew tea is where a lot of that is happening.

Cold brewing tea also easier than you think to make. Cold water, time, and whatever vessel you have to hand. This guide covers the questions we get asked most about cold brew tea: what it is, how it works, which teas to try it with and, ultimately, how to make it in your own stylish way. 

 

 

How does cold brew tea taste? 

 

Cold water extracts more slowly and more selectively than hot. It pulls flavour from the leaf gradually, leaving behind much of the tannin and astringency that hot water draws out in minutes. The result is a smoother texture, a cleaner finish, and greater clarity in floral, vegetal, and fruit notes that tannin can otherwise obscure. A green tea that carries a hint of astringency when brewed hot will often taste gently sweet cold. A floral oolong becomes more defined. A black tea loses its grip but keeps its character. It is not a diluted version of the same drink. The flavour is simply easier.

 

 

What's the difference between cold brew and iced tea?

 

The two methods are related but produce different results, and it's worth understanding why.

Iced tea is brewed with hot water at a higher concentration than usual, then poured over ice or chilled. It carries the full extraction profile of a hot brew: the tannins, the structure, the quick intensity. Cooling it changes the temperature but not what was drawn from the leaf. People often like to add syrups to an iced tea to balance the astringency, and to add sweetness. 

Cold brew starts cold and stays cold. The leaf goes into cold or room-temperature water and infuses slowly, usually in the fridge, over anything from 45 minutes to overnight depending on the tea. The extraction is gradual from the beginning, which is precisely why the result tastes different. Less grip. More clarity. A longer, softer finish.

 

 

What tools do you need to cold brew tea?

 

Very little. A vessel with a lid, cold water, and time.

For teabags, any glass, bottle, or jug works. For loose leaf, you'll need either a vessel you can strain from (like our glass teapot range with filters built into the lids), a built-in infuser (like our Luna Teapot for finer leaves), or one of our self-filling teabags. These are made from unbleached, corn-starch-based PLA and are suitable for composting. They give loose leaf enough room to open fully, which matters for larger whole-leaf teas that don't yield much in a tight infuser.

According to the recipe, ratio and duration provided, add the leaves or teabag, fill with cold water, seal, refrigerate. That's the process.

If you must, ice is best added at the point of serving, not during brewing. Adding it too early dilutes the infusion before it's finished developing. We personally prefer to enjoy cold brew tea without ice. 

 

 

What kind of water should you use for cold brewing tea?

 

Cold tap water works. Filtered or still bottled water is better if your tap water is heavily chlorinated, since chlorine can blunt finer aromatic notes. Similarly, bottled water with heavy minerals or anything too pure with adulterate the flavour. Our preferred easy-to-find bottled water choice is Highland Spring, which is nicely balanced. 

There is no target temperature. Cold or room temperature are both valid starting points, though room-temperature brewing moves slightly faster and can produce a marginally fuller result. For most purposes, fridge brewing is simpler and keeps the infusion stable throughout.

 

 

How long does cold brew tea keep?

 

A finished cold brew will keep in the fridge for up to three days. After that, the flavour begins to flatten. Green teas and whites are most sensitive to this and are best drunk within 24–48 hours of finishing the brew. Black teas and oolongs hold a little longer without significant flavour loss.

 

Can you re-steep cold brew tea?

 

With loose leaf, yes, you could try this once. The second steep will be significantly lighter though and the flavour definition will be less sharp. For teabags, a second cold steep is generally too thin to be worth the wait.

 

 

Tea by Type: A Guide to Cold Brewing

 

The approach is broadly the same across all teas (cold water, time, fridge), but the ratios and durations shift depending on what you're working with. Below is how to think about each category, with specific timings from our range.

 

 

Green Teas

 

Green teas are where cold brewing earns the most converts. The vegetal intensity that can tip into bitterness under hot water becomes clean and gently sweet when extracted cold. Grassy notes soften. The finish lengthens without astringency cutting it short.

Japanese greens in particular change character considerably. A gyokuro brewed hot at 60°C delivers umami depth and weight. The same leaf brewed cold produces something more transparent: a fine, savoury sweetness with a long finish. They are the shorter-steeping greens in our range (Organic Japanese Sencha, Organic Japanese Gyokuro, and Japanese Kuki Hojicha) are ready in 45 minutes. Hojicha, roasted rather than steamed, gives a cold brew that is soft and lightly smoky with an unusually clean finish for a roasted tea. 

Generally though, for loose leaf greens, use 1g per 100ml i.e. 4g per 420ml (Solo Teapot) as a starting point, scaling to 7g for 700ml (Twin Teapot) and 14g for 1.4 litres (Grande Teapot) and cold brew for two hours. 

 

 

White Teas

 

White teas are among the most forgiving for cold brewing, and among the most rewarding. The flavour profile is already delicate (floral, honeyed, barely-there in the wrong hands), and cold extraction brings out exactly the clarity that hot water can sometimes overwhelm.

Bamboo Snow White and White Bud Silver Needle both want an overnight brew: 8–12 hours in the fridge to develop their full character. The result from Silver Needle brewed this way is luminous: a pale, floral liquor with a sweetness that doesn't need anything added to it. Rose White needs one hour, which makes it useful if you want something ready the same afternoon. Organic Lapsang Bai Mu Dan also brews overnight.

Use 1g per 100ml and an overnight steep as a rule of thumb for white teas across the range. Jasmine Silver Needle, where the jasmine flowers have been layered through the tea leaves during processing, develops a cold brew that is gentler and more diffuse than its hot counterpart: the jasmine doesn't spike, it carries. 

 

 

Oolong Teas 

 

Oolong teas are the most varied category in cold brew, because oolongs are the most varied category in tea. A lightly oxidised, floral Tie Guan Yin and a heavily roasted Da Hong Pao are processed so differently that they respond to cold brewing in almost opposite ways.

Use 1g per 100ml across the oolong range with a 4-hour brewing time for darker oolongs (Organic Dong Ding, Phoenix Dan Cong, Taiwan Oriental Beauty), and overnight for lighter oolongs (Nong Xiang Tie Guan Yin, Jin Guan Yin, and Magnolia Oolong). Their floral, orchid-like top notes become more pronounced when tannin is less dominant, and the extended infusion gives the full aromatic picture time to develop. 

Oriental Moments, the blended oolong, brews overnight. This one is worth leaving longer rather than shorter: under-steeped, it loses the layered quality that makes it interesting.

 

 

Black Teas

 

Cold-brewed black tea reads differently to its hot counterpart. Tannin structure softens considerably, and what comes forward instead is fruit, malt, and a warmth that makes cold brew black tea particularly well-suited to food.

Black tea is the most variable category for cold brewing in terms of timing, sitting between two and four hours. Organic English Breakfast, Assam English Breakfast, and Organic Darjeeling Summer Singell all brew in two hours. These are useful morning cold brews: mix them the evening before and they are ready when you are. Organic Royal Keemun and Organic Japanese Benifuuki both need around an hour to an hour and a half, and Benifuuki's distinctive character (a natural muscatel quality) is actually easier to identify when the tannin isn't competing with it. 

Use 1g per 100ml and brew for up to four hours, depending on the stated recipe. 

 

 

Herbal and Rooibos Teas

 

Herbal infusions and rooibos both benefit from cold brewing in a specific way: the natural sweetness comes forward without any bitterness at all, since neither contains tea-plant tannins to begin with.

Most of the herbals in our range want an overnight infusion. Organic Chamomile Blossoms needs six hours minimum, and overnight produces a rounder, more honeyed result. Organic Mint Duo brews overnight into something clean and deeply aromatic without the slight menthol edge that can come from hot water on fresh mint. Lemon Verbena Lavender, a longer infusion overnight, becomes fragrant and slightly earthy, with the lavender in the background rather than at the front.

Apple Elderflower Cocktail, Rush Hour Berry, and Tropical Rooibos all brew overnight and work particularly well as non-alcoholic long drinks served in tall glasses over ice with a slice of citrus. The fruit character in Rush Hour Berry becomes rounder cold than it does hot, without any of the tartness that comes from tannin interaction. 

Use 1g per 100ml for most herbals. Organic Chamomile Blossoms uses 0.5g per 100ml given the volume the blossoms occupy as they open.

 

 

Experimenting with Cold Brew Tea 

 

While cold brew tea is flavourful and quenching as it is, there's no stopping you adding your own flourish to the vessel. We've played with natural, whole fresh flowers, fruits, herbs, or spices. While these only impart a delicate essence, they help complement some of the other flavours and add a visual flair. For example, whole roses in a black tea, juicy fruits like fresh pineapple in a roasted oolong, or sprigs of thyme in an English breakfast tea. 

 

 

Cold Brew Tea Alongside Food

 

Wine pairs with food through structure: tannin, acidity, alcohol. These elements push back against fat and richness, creating contrast. Cold brew tea works differently. Slow extraction keeps tannins low, and there is no alcohol. Rather than cutting through a dish, it aligns with it: extending flavour, keeping the palate clean between bites, carrying aromatic notes forward into the finish.

This makes it a considered non-alcoholic option at the table, and one that rewards some thought about which tea goes where.

 

 

Green and white teas pair well with lighter dishes: vegetables, seafood, chicken, anything where you want to extend rather than contrast the flavour. A cold-brewed Gyokuro alongside a delicate fish dish carries the meal's own umami thread forward.

Oolongs work with richer, fattier plates. The texture of a cold-brewed Tie Guan Yin sits softly on the palate without drying it, so it doesn't strip the dish of its character between bites. Da Hong Pao alongside roasted or cured food brings its mineral quality into dialogue with smoke and fat.

 

 

Black teas hold their own with spiced food, grains, and anything roasted. Cold-brewed, they retain enough presence to be interesting without the astringency that can clash with salt or spice.

Herbal infusions work best as aromatic mirrors: serve Lemon Verbena Lavender alongside a summery, herb-forward dish and it extends the aromatic note of the food into the glass.

Served in tall or interesting glasses rather than cups, cold brew tea integrates naturally into a dining setting without any explanation required.

 

 

Cold brew for complex teas & fine dining 

 

Cold brewing is a particularly useful approach for teas that reward attention like our single-origin, single-harvest teas in the Platinum Collection. Brewed hot, these teas lead with structure and intensity. Brewed cold, the balance shifts. Texture softens. Finer details (a specific floral character, an unexpected mineral note, a finish that changes as it warms in the glass) become easier to identify without the grip of tannin across the palate.

The platinum cold brew method works differently to the standard approach. Rather than a long, slow infusion in a large vessel, these teas are brewed in small quantities: 5g of leaf to 150ml of cold water, for as little as 1.5 minutes for the most delicate Japanese greens, and up to 10 minutes for whites and Chinese teas. More leaf, less water, much less time. The result is a concentrated, precise pour, closer in format to a wine glass serving than a casual cold drink.

This is the format that works best alongside food in a fine dining context. Served in small glasses at the table, the platinum cold brews function as a genuine wine alternative: structured enough to pair with a dish, specific enough to be interesting on their own terms.

If you're a fine dining establishment, contact us for more details on creating rare tea pairings with your menu. 

 

 

Western vs Japanese-style cold brewing

Not all cold brew is made the same way. The method shapes the character of what ends up in the glass as much as the tea itself.

Western cold brewing uses larger quantities of leaf and longer infusion times, producing something fuller, rounder, and more robust. 

Japanese cold brewing uses less leaf and much shorter infusion times. A good sencha or gyokuro brewed cold for a matter of minutes can produce something of remarkable clarity: sweet, fresh, and precise in a way the Western method does not aim for. The texture is lighter, the flavour cleaner, and where umami exists in the leaf, it comes through more directly.

As a starting point, use around 2 to 3g of tea per 300ml of water and infuse for anywhere from a few minutes to around an hour, depending on the tea. Since tea tends to sink once saturated, you might even just add the loose leaf to a water bottle and enjoy throughout the morning. 

Adjusting the ratio slightly higher or lower lets you explore different expressions of the same leaf without losing that balance and clarity. 

 

 

Cold Brew at a Glance

 

 

Where to start?

 

A teabag in a 350ml bottle of cold water, left in the fridge for the appropriate time, is the minimum viable cold brew. It works. For loose leaf, start with the gram-to-volume ratios above, use a vessel you can seal and refrigerate, and err on the side of slightly longer rather than slightly shorter. An under-extracted cold brew is thin and unrewarding. A slightly over-extracted one is rarely unpleasant, since the low-tannin method makes it forgiving in a way that hot over-brewing is not.

The easiest habit to build is to prepare cold brew the night before. Most teas in the range that benefit from longer infusions are overnight brews for exactly this reason: they are ready when you wake up, and they keep in the fridge until the following morning.

If you're new to cold brew, pick one tea from a category you already enjoy hot and try it cold. The difference is usually enough to make the method its own thing. From there, the range is wide and the method stays the same.

If you have questions about specific teas, brewing ratios, or how to use cold brew in a food or hospitality setting, we're happy to help. Get in touch.