As summer approaches our beverage preferences shift from hot to cold drinks. Lately there has been a revival for iced tea and cold brewed coffee. There are a few techniques that work particularity well.
Iced Tea
The best way to prepare iced tea ensuring the time to set it up, i.e. 12 hours before. Proportions are twice the tea to half the liquid. That means 2 tsp for 1/2 cup, instead of the usual 1 tsp for 1 cup. For fruit or herbal tea, I recommend using boiling water to start, then when cooled down enough, set tea in fridge for as long as possible. For black or green tea, a cold steep method is best, adding room temperature water to the leaves and letting steep for as long as possible. You're essentially making a concentrate so you can serve the drink over ice without it diluting too much. Another great tip is to make an ice block or ice cubes of the same tea for use in your cup or pitcher.
If you do not have the time, using the same proportions, let the tea steep as long as possible and pour over iced cubes. Sweetened as desired.
We do have the Hario Filter in a Bottle, a wine bottle shaped bottle that you can cold steep tea in, as well as iced tea pitchers that work really well.
Iced and Cold Brew Coffee
Cold brew coffee can be drunk cold or hot. This method produces a coffee that is less acidic and easier on the stomach than regular brewed coffee. (Acidity and acid are two different terms in coffee lingo: acidity is good, acid is bad.)
For cold brew coffee, time is the key element for making a good cold brew. Put 100 grams of regular grind coffee in a 1 litre covered pitcher and set in the fridge overnight. Pour over ice and enjoy. We have the perfect Hario Cold Brew Coffee Pot for this method.
Another system is the dramatic iced drip coffee. In this case ice water drips over approximately 100 grams of coffee over the course of about 8 hours through a filter. It produces a smooth coffee concentrate that is delicious over ice or made into an hot americano by adding hot water. Both systems work deliciously.
There are endless flavour possibilities for cold tea or coffee. Ideally, using loose leaves as opposed to bagged will produce a much bolder more flavourful tea. We recommend our dragonberry or tangerine ginger for a fruit based iced tea, the Marquis de Gris or strawberry lemon for the black tea, the cherry blaster or cranberry cosmos for green tea, and the raspberry fresh white tea. For iced coffee, a lighter roast coffee such as Intelligentsia's Tres Santo Colombia works best in the iced drip. For a cold brewed coffee we recommend a medium body coffee such as The Cornelia Bean, the Kenyan AA, or the Cubano.