Did I steep my tea for too long?

[stout12]

Hello,

The short: Oops I steeped my loose leaf black tea for an hour! Should I start again?


The long: I have made a few batches of Kombucha which have turned out well. I started a new batch and poured 750ml boiled water into my teapot with 1/2 cup sugar, 4 teaspoons loose leaf black tea (English Breakfast blend) and intended to steep for 10 minutes. I forgot to remove the tea and about 1 hour later I realised and removed the tea.

Should I brew a new batch of sweet tea or do you think it will be ok?

I guess the main issue is tannins & bitterness but not sure whether or not this will be an issue? I’m guessing loose leaf tea may be more forgiving then cheap tea bags.

Normally I remove the tea after 10 minutes, let it cool and then add 750ml water and 1 cup starter liquid from the previous batch.

I have seen various different recipes that suggest anything from 5-15 minutes and even up to 30 minutes steeping for black tea.

Look forward to hearing your thoughts and suggestions.
Many thanks!

 

[FatDragon]

Taste the tea. Is it too bitter or astringent? No? You're good. Yes? Try again.

 

[hottpeper13]

When stuff like that happens to me I tend to roll with it. Depending on your secondary flavoring fermentation that tanic quality might help balance it out. Who knows you might be steeping longer all the time now. I also steep first then add the sugar,I kinda treat it like hops utilization and GU.

 

[stout12]

When stuff like that happens to me I tend to roll with it. Depending on your secondary flavoring fermentation that tanic quality might help balance it out. Who knows you might be steeping longer all the time now. I also steep first then add the sugar,I kinda treat it like hops utilization and GU.

Thanks for the replies. I will see how it goes.

By the way what is your reason for steeping the tea first and then adding sugar? It has been a while since I have brewed beer.

Thanks

 

[hottpeper13]

The concentration of sugars in wort hamper the hops utilization , so I figure that might happen with the tea.

 

[WoodHokie4]

I tend to leave the tea bags steeping until it's at room temp.... So, several hours. I haven't had any adverse effects so far. There's a point where you can't extract anything more from the leaves anyway

 

[Man0fsteel]

New kombucha brewer here. I also steep until tea is at room temp...and longer! No issues so far. I have noticed that using green tea doesn't get sour nearly has fast as using black tea. My next batch is mostly green tea with one bag of black tea. I read that black tea has more nutrients for the scoby than just green tea.

 

[stout12]

New kombucha brewer here. I also steep until tea is at room temp...and longer! No issues so far. I have noticed that using green tea doesn't get sour nearly has fast as using black tea. My next batch is mostly green tea with one bag of black tea. I read that black tea has more nutrients for the scoby than just green tea.

I also find green tea Kombucha takes much longer to ferment and sour than black tea. I won’t attempt making green tea kombucha again until the weather warms up.

When brewing the green tea I steep at a lower temperature and for a much shorter time than black tea, but because I don’t have a thermometer I just boil the kettle then let it cool for a bit before steeping the tea. So it is a very rough guess and perhaps I am steeping at a temperature that is too low (I doubt it though) which may also be slowing the ferment down.