Should You Ice Brew Green Tea?

[@dr.chihab]

I think ypur math at 4:30 is slightly off unless I'm mistaken, 92g of ice is still 92g of liquid water when it melts, but the volume of 92g of ice is 100ml but goes back to 92ml when melted. Hence why you should not fill a bottle to the top when you want to freeze it because it will expand.

[@MeiLeaf]

Ah OK my mistake

[@richlaue]

Actually liquid water at 0C contains .4×1022 more molecules than the same volume of water ice. So yes with volume a gram of ice when melted will not be a gram of water. The video is correct since frozen water expands. Now if you talking weight then a gram of ice will be larger than a gram of water.

[@wanderingteaapprentice]

Good point.

[@dr.chihab]

@@richlaue i think that the point is that if the final state of the beverage is supposed to be 100% liquid it makes more sense to work with weight rather than volume so that when the iceَ melts you get the same concentration. That being said trying to balance 8g with icecubes is a pain and not really worth worrying about in the grand scheme of things, too much work for minimal difference. The easiest way to get them at the same amount of water is to first put the one with ice, then fill the water one with the same weight.

[@nternalPractice]

@@richlaue What you are saying makes no sense. You aren't brewing tea in ice, you are brewing it in the water that is produced as the ice melts. That means the volume difference of the ice (compared to water) is completely irrelevant. In order for a fair comparison of the two methods you need to start with the same MASS of ice and water (not the same volume). IMO Chihabeddine is correct.

[@lukethibodaux790]

I hate to say it but 92gr of ice will not melt into a 100gr of water that is not how it works, if you were measuring volume that is where the density of ice would make a difference.

[@air8961]

I know you wanted to compare ice and cold brew, but it could be nice to also include a regular brew in the experiment, as tasting the regular hot brew first might give you a good anchor point to compare all brews to each other.

[@zakerymizell8838]

Still waiting for the hot brew to ice bath video!!! Excited for weeks technique too

[@Susanne171062]

You always make such interesting videos. Very informative. I agree with you about the aftertaste of ice cube water. Will watch the next video on the subject with great anticipation.

[@reubenk1615]

To me melted ice water is salty and unpleasant

[@Susanne171062]

Totally agree. I have an ice maker and the ice is ok if in flavoured drinks which mask it but drinking the melted ice water is truly yucky. I’ve tried with tap water, bottled spring water and filtered tap water and it’s all the same. I’ve not tried with boiled cooled water but I assume that will be the same though will give that a go when my ice machine has emptied of the current fill. At first I thought the taste was down to the machine not being 100% clean so cleaned and bleached it followed by rinsing with plenty of fresh running water and still it was disgusting.

[@reubenk1615]

@@Susanne171062 interesting to know that the water itself is flavorless and non conductive. The flavour profile we taste is actually down to what minerals are dissolved in it. This I learned from a science show where they tated truly pure H2O which on it's own might rob minerals from the body. The whole water side of tea or the quest for perfect water is very complicated when you want to try to control all factors. Best I can do is put my tap through a Brita which removes the lime buildup in my kettle and teaware and improves the water flavor. If you have any other insights please do let me know

[@Susanne171062]

The way I do cold brews now, be that teas or coffees, is with cold filtered water that I then brew in the fridge thus avoiding any ice.

[@reubenk1615]

@@Susanne171062 will need to try that

[@petra.andersen]

I like to do ice brew for gyokuro, my favorite way is ice cubes, gyokuro (plenty leaf) and cold water combination - kind of top up with the water. I wonder what Don's perfect way will be...

[@mariannefleur6671]

Petra Andersen this is also my favorite, Petra, works beautifully.

[@ridemater]

can you oversteep cold brew tea? sometimes i forget it in the frudge for more thab 24hra

[@LeMeccerino]

Yeah. You can and it's bitter as hell because high temperatures destroys some of the catechins. If you let it fully extract in cold water, you get way more concentrated and it'll be one hell of a sucker punch to your gut.

[@adamsvetlik6636]

Thank you so much for these videos. Very imformative! ❤

[@3QuaNiMiTyy]

If you use Kooridashi, is a single infusion? Or is it possible to rebrew the tea using ice again, or perhaps using heat?

[@3QuaNiMiTyy]

To answer my own question after two days of test, with an average ice infusion time of 3 hours. There is nothing good left in the tea for a subsequent hot infusion.

[@AndreaCuiuli]

You should try the ice brew with clear ice, it is used when drinking spirits on the rocks because it should be more neutral in flavor than normal ice. Also it's really easy to make using a cooler box (like the one used for beers :) )

[@MeiLeaf]

I actually did try this afterwards and I still tasted that flat quality (although less than the cloudy ice cubes). The cooler method is excellent to make the clear cubes.

[@CatBat90s]

How do you make clear icecubes?

[@Flying-Bunny]

@@CatBat90s To make clear ice you need to freeze a large volume of water at a verry slow speed (the larger the volume, the slower the resulting speed will be). The easiest way to do that is to freeze the water in a box insulated on all sides but one (just put a regular lid of a film on top) and leave it undisturbed in the freezer. You'll get a block of clear ice to chop up and carve as you like.

[@kelborhal2576]

Cold water absorbs more C02 from the atmosphere than warm water. The water melted from ice may be more acidic than the water that started warmer and cooled.

[@wanderingteaapprentice]

Great work Don from Mei Leaf! Excellence!

[@denisevast2273]

That super-hot day, I cold brewed some Moonlight White. I thought the melony flavour would work well and it was amazing. Could have done with even longer than the 4 hours I gave it though.

[@thefluffyjezuz]

Do you get multiple infusions out of cold brewing?

[@slowmo56]

Do you think these methods would work the same with any type of green tea (say, long Jing)?

[@YaoiHoshi]

Andrew Schneider I was wondering too!

[@reubenk1615]

Only one way to find out!!!

[@TheClyde1993]

I just purchased the brand new fukumushi sencha. I don't have a kyusu but I do have a gaiwan and a glass gong fu tea Pot, what should I use for standard brewing?

[@MeiLeaf]

Either will be fine but I always tend to go with Gaiwan and a filter.

[@TheClyde1993]

@@MeiLeaf thank you, Don. I love the color of the tea so much. :)

[@jacktheripperVII]

How about you do a vid comparing bottled water and tap for tea

[@reubenk1615]

I used to use bottled water for a long time. Until I got a Brita filter. In my experience living in Israel where there is lime/scale in our water even in the bottled water my conclusions are the following. 1. Tap is cheaper than bottled water 2.There is lime in tap and bottled water (Builds up either way. Brita filtration removes lime) 3.Brita filter removes unsightly lime 4. I prefer the flavor of the filterd water 5. Tap is more convenient. Bottled much less. Hope this helps

[@jacktheripperVII]

@@reubenk1615 there are a lot of different brands here in Switzerland they al taste very different to each other have you tested something like that?

[@beneelohim6322]

I like to put spring water in the freezer to cool down but Not quite to the freezing point ~33-35 degrees. Then i put my tea into the water then store in the refrigerator to steep.

[@Kubatko]

What about using shaved ice? Instead of the cubes I wonder what brew that would make.

[@MrAqr2598]

I like doing my _kōri-dashi_ method with ice water, instead of straight-up ice to mitigate that flat, stale, deadness.

[@CatBat90s]

Can you teach me how thanks

[@MrAqr2598]

@@CatBat90s If it’s for a couple of servings, 10 grams(1/3 oz.) of tea to 100ml(little less than 1/2 cup) of ice water. For a larger scale, about 10g(1/3 oz) to 1 liter(little over 1 quart) of ice water, but you let it extract for 40~90 minutes in the fridge.

[@YaoiHoshi]

So interesting! Looking forward to next week’s video

[@adrianessig8188]

Hey Don for a while you mention having your water granderized. Why did you decide to install one of those grander devices and would you say you notice any difference? I've heared a lot of grander water but it really seems to be bogus. What's your opinion on it?

[@MeiLeaf]

I love the way it makes the water feel - rounder and smoother (not purer tasting but a better texture). I spent a while testing water systems and found that filter, softener and Grander was the best combination.

[@adrianessig8188]

@@MeiLeaf Thanks for answering. However, I'm still very sceptical about your assertions. There is no scientific prove that grander water is doing anything more than causing a placebo effect. They are using "Infromation Water" that should somehow revitalize your drinking water. It apparently has infomation saved in it, how it is created is a strong kept secret. However the tabwater and the Information Water never come in contact with each other. The tabwater is just flowing past it. At a court case in 2005 Johann Grander said that the development of the Grander Water was because of his good connections to god and that about 30 years ago Jesus Christ appeared to him. All of this seems very very dubious. I really like your videos and what you do in the tea community. You promoting Grander Water in many of your videos has left a bad aftertaste in my mouth. So I thought I needed to address this topic.

[@AaronFigFront]

The clear ice explanation is wrong though. The freezing process starts at the coldest point, at home it would be the surface of the water or the surface in contact with a cooling rod. Cold water can dissolve more gases, and generally gases dissolve in water at low temp is well below saturation. At the beginning, only part of the water is frozen, the water molecular would get “stuck” to the freezing surface when it bumps into it, and the frozen part grows. In this process, there is not gas trapped in the frozen part (unless it grows too fast). So the rest of the water has more and more dissolve gases, at some point, water would reach a critical point of maximum amount of gases it can solve and the gases would start to get out. [The gases do not leave the water unless it surpass the critical point.] Because many home freezers cool the water from all sides, the middle or the bottom part is the last part to be frozen, and the gases accumulate there. In industrial ice making, the water dissolve with lots of gases is discard. The principle is to let the ice grow in one direction, discarding the rest of the water. High temp is really just making sure when the ice grow, it does not grow out convex valleys thus enclosing some gases by accidents.

[@rvz77]

Omg, Don is now tasting water 💧 😅 We've gone too far!

[@myoape]

Might not be traditional, but would be interesting to see ice brew with water that’s fresh and cooled with ice rocks, like the ones used for whiskey. Then you’d not be compromising on water quality and still see the same temperature effect

[@myoape]

Also brew in a vessel that’s been in the freezer potentially?

[@Kidhuf]

Interesting comparison the kooridashi method could possibly be improved by perhaps shaving the ice increasing the melting process ? As the ice cube taste stale almost. I’d love to try this with gyokuro.

[@Paputsza]

I realize things have way too many tannins when i cold brew. It hurts my jaw.

[@grimcze]

How Is it you get this much flavor in less than hour and i can't get much taste after 12 hours (gunpowder golden temple) O.o (Three teaspoons of Tea to 450ml filtered water)

[@TerryPROorchids]

Barbara & I love our teas & use double filtered reverse osmosis water - first through a large RO machine making 21,000 gallons per day and then when that is pumped out of our outdoor storage tanks, the water goes through an under-sink RO unit. It is then pumped into a Hoshizaki ice maker (the same brand that most sushi bars use). The ice is kind of strange shaped - like an inverted hat with the center of the round ice "cube" indented. The ice maker does not freeze the ice once released from the freezing chamber - it naturally melts slowly throughout the day as it is stored in the insulated chamber. The ice is crystal clear and frozen or melted, tastes wonderful. There is no difference between melted or frozen flavor & is certainly never "flat" tasting. We use the same RO water for all our teas to bring out the true flavors of all our teas. You did not mention chlorine - is that in your tap water when you freeze into ice cubes? Cl is a killer for tea flavors. If we want to bring our own teas to restaurants (which we do all the time), we also bring our own water, tea pots, and tea cups. The restaurants find that so interesting & entertaining. Hope this is informative.

[@reubenk1615]

Why is water so complicated... That system probably cost you a fortune

[@TerryPROorchids]

@@reubenk1615 Used the system to provide best water for our commercial orchid nursery to grow millions of orchids over my 45 year career. Since I had the system w/ 50,000 gallons of storage tanks, I ran the same water to supply our home w/ RO water for everything in the house.

[@MoistHaggis]

I know this is an old video and a bit late to comment, but the reason why the melted ice water at 7:25 tastes sort of flat and gross is because it’s picking up all the damp, nasty smells and tastes from the freezer. Just like mixing cocktails you dint want to use smelly ice otherwise your beverage is just going to taste like smelly ice. Edit: he sort of touches on the topic slightly later at about 8:40 ish

[@Lau_rao]

Interesting video as usual 😀😀 now I need ice 😱

[@Barbassoblues]

Woow you are light yesrs ahead!

[@Surviving65]

I usually brew hot and strong and flash chill in a shaker. Or with gyro I'll do the 15 minute room temp then add ice. Have you guys ever tried quangzhou milk oolong? I wouldnt mind seeing a video on that and maybe a blind test on natural vs unnatural. Also I love the videos!

[@tcan4959]

Unrelated. Do you handle herbal teas. And are there any naturally decaffeinated teas?

[@reubenk1615]

Go to his site. They have plenty. Just play with the filters

[@tcan4959]

Thanks

[@starprice7389]

Sending love from Sydney Harbour❤

[@Farahfoodie]

Can I cold brew matcha?

[@fiona01k]

I do it. I prefer cold matcha.

[@sherry3099]

Yes, definitely. It makes a fantastic summer drink. I add ice to mine.

[@normalisgone]

I had flashbacks of Chemistry class while watching this video! lol It's ok though, it's nothing a good cup of tea won't fix!! Love all the videos, looking forward to the sequel! =) P.S. I know exactly what you mean about the ice taste. That's all I could think of when I first saw the ice and tea leaves. =|

[@jackkennard4539]

I would think ice from out in nature would taste completely different than ice from the fridge. Is that my own basis? yeah

[@TheHungryFerret]

Next test, water with ice mixed in.

[@Fcon0]

Did you speed the video up?

[@briancarpenter3040]

The perfect way to cold brew fukamushi deep steam is 48 hours in fridge 👌

[@reubenk1615]

Is it better that Don's method of 50c/6grams/15min gyokuro? What are your ratios?

[@briancarpenter3040]

@@reubenk1615 800ml /7grams/48 hours in frigerator =)

[@reubenk1615]

Will absolutely make this soon. It's very hot here. Thank you

[@maximilianschlichtinger7365]

Maybe trying cold and ice brewing with destilled water might be interesting to? 🤔 but awesome video as usual .. very interesting

[@sexysupportgroup345]

Distilled water?? :D no i dont think that is a good idea, you need the minerals from the water and drinking distilled water is pretty dangerous acually.

[@Susanne171062]

Not with distilled water but I’ve tried freezing ice cubes with tap water filtered and unfiltered and with bottled spring water but defrosted ice whatever the water has a bit of an unpleasant taste.

[@gitmoholliday5764]

@@sexysupportgroup345 actually it is a meme that drinking distilled water is dangerous, you need an awful lot of distilled water to kill or hurt yourself just like drinking normal tapwater could be dangerous. ( there could be a problem considered bacteria, but if you use medical distilled water that would be a better option than buying it at the next door garage / car dealer. )

[@doc8125]

the clear ice thing is wrong BTW, the reason why natrual ice and ice used in bars is totally clear is due to directional freezing, not the temperature, you can make perfectly clear ice in a freezer if you use an insulated vessle, the only cloudy ice will be at the bottom

[@6122ula]

... I would think that regular heat brewing their green tea then letting it cool covered in the fridge would work nicely… Yes refrigerator freezer ice cubes have a terrible taste, probably because they are not covered…

[@YaoiHoshi]

Tony Allegretti you should try cold brewed sencha. It really is a different experience from regularly brewed sencha.

[@6122ula]

starcrossing ...Thanks... think🤔 I will

[@YaoiHoshi]

@@6122ula Just came across his older video that compares the two techniques, you might find it useful kzbin.info/www/bejne/gHK7mGOPocllocU

[@TheJim6226]

I know not everyone knows how it works BUT I fell asleep whilst you rambled on about the ice and the water differences 😴😴😴😴😴

[@DONTXBREAK]

Freezing water doesn’t make it weigh less 😮

[@gitmoholliday5764]

What about a cold brew, take out the tea-leaf and use them again for a hot brew, and make a mix of the cold and hot brew.. ( that way maybe the cold brew will extract and protect the subtle flavors and the hot brew will extract the bitter notes ) another experiment could be deep freeze some moist tea leaf take them out of the freezer and throw them in hot or boiling water, ( the ice crystals would open up the cells of the tea leaf and maybe releases more essential oils into the boiling water )

[@ShurikGi]

As always deeply informative ! in my opinion and as from other asian cultures that origins from deserts like kazahstan and so,there is no benefit of drinking cold liquid in hot weather, you only stress the body.

[@mwatts-riley2688]

45min? Ha! Any Midwestern girl would tell you that TRUE cold brew is let to stand at least 3 hours, a quart of water to 6 tea bags, high quality bags. 3-5hours at least.

[@Thisworldisdoomed]

You didn't get any notes of chlorine taste

[@mikjomringu3613]

Mei leaf I am a green tea producer from Arunachal pradesh, India. Would you like to taste my green tea?

[@mwatts-riley2688]

Since when did Brits like iced tea? I thought Brits think its an american sin? 🌸 Illinois

[@kucingizuru]

I can't believe you can differentiate taste of water. That is so weird.

[@JafuetTheSame]

tasting water channel

[@Rob-pq1bk]

Today I learned ice gets heavier when it melts into water

[@amb600cd0]

It gets denser but basically yeah

[@freedeeztallbikes82]

Idc about taste Im looking for the best way health wise

[@frostiesr345]

...just refrigerate the water first....

[@samueljohnson4806]

I am distracted by your excessive hand waving.

[@cornbread2u2]

Over technical!

[@FirozKhan-sq8sy]

Booooooorinh

[@hussaina2008]

You blabber over what the experience shows

[@vasunegi2395]

Try talking less. I got bored

[@cactuswren9771]

Repetitive hand gestures, bobbing and weaving your body and over and over voice emphasis are so annoying I can't stand to watch. Like some kind of a tweaker or something. Bye.

[@Rxamoxy]

There has been too much introduction since the Roman era, to the point where the content has become water, not substance.😁