Tea time?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Brewby, my beer

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2006
Messages
46
Reaction score
0
Location
Connecticut
Has anybody tried or heard of anyone using tea to add flavor to beer.

It's just an idea I had. I wasn't sure if you would/could put it in a grain bag pre-boil or put it in, in secondary.

I'm not sure if it would taste good or bad, or how much to use.

Maybe an Earl Grey Amber or Chai Stout
 
Brewby said:
Has anybody tried or heard of anyone using tea to add flavor to beer.

It's just an idea I had. I wasn't sure if you would/could put it in a grain bag pre-boil or put it in, in secondary.

I'm not sure if it would taste good or bad, or how much to use.

Maybe an Earl Grey Amber or Chai Stout

I've been thinking about that too. I have a "Perfectly Pear White Tea" that would taste good in a beer, or probably even better in a mead.
 
I've thought about this as well but haven't tried it yet. I'm from South Carolina and drink copious amounts of sweet iced tea. Not really sure that I want to combine the two yet.

I'll wait and see what others have tried - if anything. The Chai Stout sounds interesting though.
 
Ya, I've given it some thought, but I think I remember reading somewhere that tea has a certain property that effects fermentation in some way. What if you tried boiling tea bags to sanitize and adding it (the bags and the tea) to the secondary?
 
SkewedAle said:
Ya, I've given it some thought, but I think I remember reading somewhere that tea has a certain property that effects fermentation in some way. What if you tried boiling tea bags to sanitize and adding it (the bags and the tea) to the secondary?

That sounds like when to do it. Like adding vanilla extract to secondary, or dry hopping, etc.
 
Try adding some instant tea to a lightly hopped megaswill? I'd think tea might substitute for hops, I'd try adding it to the boil?
 
I recall seeing a recipe in BYO not too long ago that included Chai. I forget what style. I'll try to find the issue once I get off work.
 
Cheesefood said:
I've been thinking about that too. I have a "Perfectly Pear White Tea" that would taste good in a beer, or probably even better in a mead.

that sounds like it'd be great in a mead!
 
ian said:
...I'm from South Carolina and drink copious amounts of sweet iced tea. Not really sure that I want to combine the two yet...

Oh you mean some of that ole southern sweet iced tea! Man that stuff can be SWEET for sure. Brings back memories.

Couldnt this be done the same way coffee is added?
 
Tony said:
Oh you mean some of that ole southern sweet iced tea! Man that stuff can be SWEET for sure. Brings back memories.

Mine isn't as sweet as some. But, I do put 1 cup of sugar to one gallon of tea. And that's plenty sweet for me!
 
It would seem to me that when boiling the tea bags to sanitize, you would lose a majority of the tea flavor.
 
Has anyone tried this yet? I have a box of Tazo Chai tea concentrate that I'd like to use in a brew, not sure what style of beer to match it with first of all, and secondly not sure when to try adding it -- it is pre-sweetened and very sweet. Thanks for any ideas, pointers, or feedback.
 
Ok, sorry in advance for going off-topic but... Brewby, my Beer, that is an awesome name! I can only assume you're a big Monk fan?
-Ben
 
Just saw that Portsmouth or Smuttynose (can't remember which) had a chai tea porter they served at the Boston Extreme Beer Fest last weekend -- did anyone go and better yet, remember tasting that offering?
 
I am actually drinking a tea brew as I write this reply. I planned on brewing an Octoberfest(extract) last month and realized the kit I purchased was short on the grains. Thus, after some consternation, I went through the cupboards, found some flavored teas and steeped those tea bags(10-12) for about 20-30 minutes inlieu of grains. The final product is basically flavored Lipton's with a kick; not my cup of "tea", but much better than a Budlite, or some other watered down crap. SWMBO wants me to run out and buy a lemon to plop on top of every glass, but I refuse to combine fruit and my homebrew..
 
Back
Top