Fermenting Tea into Mead??

So, I was discussing mead-making to a guy at work, and he gave me an idea that I'm rather curious about, though hesitant to try.

He suggested trying to make a "Green Tea Mead". Throughout the rest of the night I formulated a basic plan for such a thing. I would boil the water for the tea, cool it to about 150 degrees, and steep the tea. I would do this several times until I reach the ideal flavor (I will conduct tests to determine how many steepings are required for this, for those of you that are not avid tea drinkers, the flavors of tea differ each time the leaves are steeped). I figure to get a strong enough flavor, I will need a great deal of leaves. Once I reach the desired flavor (and removing the leaves, they get bitter if you steep them too long), I would dissolve my honey and pitch the yeast and all that fun stuff (nutrient as well, of course).

Now, my hesitation come from this. I am not sure where the flavor of the tea comes from, and I am not sure what effect the yeast will have on said unknown flavoring. I know where are antioxidants in the tea; might they affect the growth of the yeast? What if the tea flavor is vastly overpowered by the honey? If I were to try tweaking the flavor slightly with a lemon, should i do so in primary (and risk throwing off the pH) for a subtle lemon hint, or a stronger lemon edge by adding it in secondary?

Or should I just man up and try this crazy scheme?

Have you tried kombucha? Might want to head over to the Kombucha subforum and try that first, much less cash outlay to try fermented tea.

Hmmm... well, after doing a slight bit of research on what Kombucha is, I have determined that is exactly what I NEVER want to make.

I read up on how Kombucha is made (basics only) so I think I understand how to avoid such a thing.

You have created another fear.

Ababa kombucha is not for the light of heart I've heard of people doing tea meads before. You should probably be okay.

I say do it, especially if you think it's something you might like. As for the additional flavors, remember you can always add lemon or whatever to taste to the finished product, so you won't have to risk messing with ph or the happiness of the yeasties (although there are chemicals to control ph and other aspects of your mead during and before fermentation, should you decide you put lemons and what not in the primary). I think it's a great idea, but I like green tea. Do it!

You're basically going to make a metheglin - a spiced mead - just in this case the "spice" is green tea. I was actually just mentioning in another thread that I've been thinking about making a metheglin with one of the tea blends from Teavana... In general, you will loose some of the tea aromatics during primary, and you will get some tannins from the tea (but not as much as from black tea), making this potentially a somewhat bitter/sharp mead. I'm imagining that this mead would be best with a little back sweetening...it could be pretty intense as a dry mead, and I think the flavors will round out more, and be more like what I personally think tea should be like. (I pretty much always add honey to tea...) If you need more aroma after primary is finished, you could always steep some additional tea in the mead later before bottling.

Don't worry about accidentally making kombucha...what makes kombucha is the SCOBY, and you're going to add yeast! (And FWIW, kombucha is quite tasty...I had some for the first time last fall at our local Oktoberfest...)

I would definitely add lemon after primary if you're going to do it...I think you could ferment it with lemon (just look at skeeter pee for example...) but I don't see any reason to do it when you can just add it later if you want that quality. I doubt that anything in the tea itself (antioxidants, whatever...) would inhibit fermentation.

Whip it up, and let 'er rip! (post updates...)

I recently bottled a spiced hydromel with tea. Its one of my best batches actually, and multiple people have offered to buy some. Unfortunately the strong arm of the tax man won't let me.

Anyways, Most loose leaf teas (the best teas, not that pre-bagged stuff) steep right below boiling 200-209 degrees F, not 150 like beer malts and grains.

You can also brew your tea cold, You will get significantly less tannins and bitterness (yes even with black tea!) However make sure to start your tea in the fridge the day before as this process takes much longer.

Black teas brew at near boiling temperatures best, but green tea yields the most flavor and antioxidants when brewed at about 165-175 (it was late last night and I wrote the wrong number).
Thank you guys. You have reinforced my hope for the batch. As soon as I have money (tax return soon, and first paycheck of new job), I will start it and keep you guys updated.

I make tea wine all the time no worries it's one of the easiest things there is to make and I slice two lemons and pit them in the primary and the yeast are happy as can be

I use tea in wine and mead all the time. But I do not make the tea and ferment it but rather add the tea leaves to the primary and let the yeast do there thing. I get a nice subtle taste from the tea but it never gets to bitter. I usually let primary go for a coupl months at least and then rack off the leese and tea. But all of this is usually in other wine/mead recipes rather than wholy a tea mead. I say make a few 1 gallon batches with diffrent steeping methodes to test out what you like so you can go big next time.