The Experimenter
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I've made mead a couple of times before, and while I love it I've always thought it wouldn't hurt to give it a little something extra. Then, just a few days ago, I bought a bag of Tealyra loose tea and was impressed by the flavor and immediately thought of putting it in a mead (I actually bought it with the intent of using it in brewing, but didn't know what kind of brew I should do... mead was the first thing to come to mind upon tasting it).
The type of "tea" I am talking about is not actually tea in the sense that it does not contain tea (camellia sinensis) leaves. Instead, it is a bunch of dehydrated fruits and herbs (no actual tea and no preservatives as far as I can tell). The specific one that I tried that made me want to put it in a mead is Tealyra's "Strawberry Orange Sunrise", which actually contains (in the order found on the ingredients list) Apple bits, hibiscus blossom, lemongrass, orange wedges, natural flavorings, strawberry bits, and tartaric acid. An image of the bag and what the loose mixture looks like can be found below. Also, here's the link to the product on their website: Strawberry Orange Sunrise - Fruity - Loose Tea - Tea Store The flavor is awesome and I feel like it would be really nice with the honey flavors, but the tea also gives a very vibrant reddish/magenta hue to the water when I make tea with it, which I think would also look really cool in the brew.
I've considered making a melomel and/or metheglin for a while now, but I don't really live in an area with a lot of good natural options near me (no apple orchards to go and pick your own at, no farmer's markets for fresh fruit right off the stand, etc.) and very little selection of good fruits and herbs in my local grocery store. So when I saw this "tea" composed of dehydrated fruit and herbs already mixed in proportions meant to produce pleasurable flavors, I couldn't help but wonder if it would work...
Anyway, these are my questions:
Thanks for any help. I really don't know what I'm doing, but I really wanna try to make a mead with this fruit/herb tea.
The type of "tea" I am talking about is not actually tea in the sense that it does not contain tea (camellia sinensis) leaves. Instead, it is a bunch of dehydrated fruits and herbs (no actual tea and no preservatives as far as I can tell). The specific one that I tried that made me want to put it in a mead is Tealyra's "Strawberry Orange Sunrise", which actually contains (in the order found on the ingredients list) Apple bits, hibiscus blossom, lemongrass, orange wedges, natural flavorings, strawberry bits, and tartaric acid. An image of the bag and what the loose mixture looks like can be found below. Also, here's the link to the product on their website: Strawberry Orange Sunrise - Fruity - Loose Tea - Tea Store The flavor is awesome and I feel like it would be really nice with the honey flavors, but the tea also gives a very vibrant reddish/magenta hue to the water when I make tea with it, which I think would also look really cool in the brew.
I've considered making a melomel and/or metheglin for a while now, but I don't really live in an area with a lot of good natural options near me (no apple orchards to go and pick your own at, no farmer's markets for fresh fruit right off the stand, etc.) and very little selection of good fruits and herbs in my local grocery store. So when I saw this "tea" composed of dehydrated fruit and herbs already mixed in proportions meant to produce pleasurable flavors, I couldn't help but wonder if it would work...
Anyway, these are my questions:
- Good idea or bad idea?
- Will this work as well as I am imagining it will or will it taste weird (or possibly just not work at all)? CAN this work at all or should I just use fresh fruit, even if I have to drive a ways to find quality stuff?
- How much should I use?
- The bag of loose tea says 1 to 1-1/2 Tsp per 8oz of hot water. It's actually a pretty powerful flavor and I'm more so thinking that I want this tea to be more of a subdued background flavor, so... 1/2 tsp per 8oz of must (8 tsp per gallon)? Or 1/4 tsp (4 tsp per gallon)? Or should I go with even less... or maybe more? I really don't know how much to do.
- How should I use it?
- Again, I've never made a melomel/metheglin, so I'm not sure how this works. Do I just add the dehydrated fruit/herbs to the fermenter during primary and/or secondary and let them mingle with the must directly during fermentation?
- Or should I make an infusion with it prior to brewing and then add the infusion to the must (no pieces of fruit/herbs in the fermenter)?
- Melomel or Metheglin?
- If it has fruit (apples, orange, and strawberry) AND traditional medicinal herbs (lemongrass and hibiscus), what do you call it? "Meloglin"? "Methemel"?
Thanks for any help. I really don't know what I'm doing, but I really wanna try to make a mead with this fruit/herb tea.
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