Anyone tried using tea to flavour the beer?

[BarleyAndApple]

I actually found a patent on someone using white tea to do so but the variety tea that I intend to use is called 'Pu-er' tea

Pu-erh tea - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Basically it is a fermented tea, but it has that note of roasted flavour with much less bitterness than other teas although it does retain it.


I'm thinking it'll go great with something like dunkel, but would the chemistry of the tea mess with the fermentation process?


Thanks in advance.

 

[brewt00l]

Yes, I steeped tea bags after flame out for five minutes and it worked quite nice.

 

[AnOldUR]

I've used chamomile tea in a wit.


Edit:
For me it was 4 tea bags for the last 5 minutes of the boil.

 

[BarleyAndApple]

few questions,

did you use the tea bag soley or with hop?

what variety of tea did you use?


Thanks

 

[brewerburgundy]

In an extract and steeping grain porter I made a couple weeks ago I boiled four large black tea tea bags in 2 gallons of water and let it cool while a 3 gallon boil went on. Then I mixed them in the fermenter. It isn't bottle quite yet and I haven't tasted it. I'll let you know when I do. Oh, and I added one ounce of Columbus at 60 min. 13.9 AA I believe.

 

[homebrewer_99]

Educate me...Why tea bags in beer?

What were the results you were looking for?

And, finally, what were the results?

 

[brewerburgundy]

I was curious how tea would manifest itself in beer, as opposed to coffee, was my point of comparison. I'm looking for an extra and different bitterness.

Like I said, it hasn't been bottled yet. There is a physical distance between me and this beer at the moment otherwise I probably would have tasted and bottled today.

 

[ChillyP]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Bengal spice. That's my favorite spice for a nice Orange Mead.

 

[Edcculus]

Mmm, I love pu-erh tea! Its technically not fermented in the sense that brewers would associate with the term. I'm sure you know that, but I just wanted to point it out to the less tea savvy people here.

It would be interesting to say the least. Pu-erh has a very unique taste. I'd almost say the profound earthiness would go well in a stout, porter or even brown ale. Who knows, it could play off the maltiness in a dunkelweizen. I know I've gotten some "malt" flavor in different varieties of pu-erh I've had.

How would you plan on adding it? I would think the best method would be to add it when fermentation is complete. Brew it with the traditonal yixing pot (very small), or even Guywan to make a small amount of very concentrated tea. Add it to taste, then bottle or keg.

 

[Daddymem]

I just brewed up an Earl Grey Cinnamon Braggot and it smells and tastes fantastic (still in the fermenter). I think the orange from the Bergamot oil would lend itself very well to some beers.

 

[moti_mo]

I've brewed a yerba mate' amber and it turned out great. Steeped a 1/4 pound, let it cool and put it into the primary. Really earthy, interesting flavor, but mild and didn't overpower the beer at all - it went over very well with light beer drinkers. There are some South American commercial versions, but I've never had one.

 

[BarleyAndApple]

I've put the pu-erh tea in boiled wort at about 85 Celcius.

I put very little hop in it by the way.

It's an oatmeal stout that I made. I figured Pu-erh would go great with stout-ish beer.

 

[brewerburgundy]

I just had the first taste of my tea porter. It has only been in the bottle 6 days; naughty me. My report is that at this time I cannot distinguish any clear tea flavors or bitterness. I do think that a different method of delivery or at least twice as much as I used would be something to try in the future. I also got some very unexpected banana smell/flavor. I suspect the yeast got pitched at too high a temp by my uncle.

 

[BarleyAndApple]

how much tea (and what kind) did you put?

 

[brewerburgundy]

4 large bags of black tea is what I'm remembering. It was boiled with the extra water for a partial boil extract batch.

 

[Grinder12000]

Man - I can not think of a worse flavor in a brew. You can guess I'm not a big tea fan LOL

Coffee though - THAT is wonderful.