Cold Brewing: White Tea

Teas can be as colorful as rainbows not just in flavors but in colors as well. Today we’re focusing on the beginning of the prism itself- the White tea.  The flavors of white teas usually have delicate complexities. That’s why people leaning on stronger brews like coffees and black teas compare white teas to water on the first try. 

It is far lighter than its counterparts and takes a bit of soul-searching but once you know white teas inside out, you cannot miss the stories it weaves in every sip. 

In tea science, loose leaf white teas are used with the very first leaves signaling the arrival of spring. These leaves are the least processed and the most delicate and sought after leaves. The flavors are considered to be the purest gifts from nature and tea makers world wide try to do as little as possible to the leaves during the production process. Some of the white teas only have buds which can be found in limited quantities while others have just a leaf and a bud. This is one of the reasons why it’s so expensive.

Unlike darker teas, white tea cannot sustain faulty preparation techniques. The naturally delicate flavor of white tea is easily ruined by improper brewing.

In general, tea experts recommend brewers to use cooler water compared to what you use when preparing black teas. When you put boiling water on the white tea leaves, the leaves unfurl and are at danger of burning the flavors away. 

White Prakash has a light playfulness of the fruity aromas along with a finish of dry muscatel grape notes. It’s one of the purest flavors out there and has won many hearts. 

But as with all white teas, it’s a fine balance between teasing these flavors out and ruining them completely. This is why we’re looking at cold brewing one of our most delicate and awarded white tea- White Prakash, today. When we use cold brew techniques the leaves unfurl very slowly which not only releases the flavors but also the subtle and nuanced notes.

Things you Need to Make Cold Brew White Tea

Cold brewing and white teas make the perfect sense because it’s simply so easy! All you need (besides tea and water) are :

• A glass jar of normal size (16 oz)
• A fridge 

Recipe

1. Add about 5-8 gms of White Prakash (or any white tea from Nepal Tea Collective's collectiond) into the jar
2. Add fresh, cold water to the jar
3. Leave the concoction to unfurl in the fridge for a few hours
4. Check the flavors when you feel like 
5.  Strain the tea into your glass
6. And you have a perfect Cold brew White Prakash! 
7. Resteep the leaves more than once to explore the different taste it offers!

The great thing white tea is that within its subtle nuanced flavors, it offers amazingly diverse flavors. This is especially true with the exquisitely rare first flush teas. Nepal Tea Collective just launched TWO new first flush white tea which works wonder as cold brew too! 

Check the new reserve tea collection here!