I remember, before I got seriously into tea, when iced tea meant super sweetened bottled tea or mixing some instant tea powder with cold water. At the time I enjoyed them but clearly times have changed and thankfully my tastes have changed too.
When I began properly drinking loose leaf I used to make iced tea by brewing up a batch of hot tea and then waiting hours as it cooled in the fridge. The tea was ok but it had lost its aromatics and vibrancy as it slowly oxidised and grew cloudy.
It was when we opened the Mei Leaf teahouse (then called chinalife) that I was forced to innovate ways to serve high quality iced tea at our bar. I wanted to capture the taste of a hot brewed tea and be able to serve it up quickly to our clients. It may seem obvious, but at the time it was a revelation when we came up with flash chilling.
If you brew a tea hot (and a little stronger than your usual taste) and shake with ice, it creates an iced tea without any compromises. The colour, flavour and health benefits of the tea are locked into the brew and you can serve it immediately - no more waiting 5 hours for an oxidised iced tea!
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Temperatures: 90 = 195 Fahrenheit, 95 = 203 Fahrenheit
To find out more about Tracie: http://www.elementalresonance.com/
