tea and mead?

[Strawberry Wizard]

So, an experiment has been bouncing around in my head for a while, but I'm sorta unsure about its execution. I wanna make a mead that's flavored with tea. I have a ton of oolong tea bags, and thought it'd be pretty good to add, but how should I do it? Option A is just make a gallon of tea, add the honey and ferment as is, or option B is make a small batch of tea and just add it to the honey and water. Are there any extra options I'm overlooking, and what would be preferable?

 

[MoonCrazed]

From what I've read it seems fine. I'd been thinking something similar to get an even flavor. Many people have talked about putting dried flowers in the fermenter with the rest, which would be like a cold brew. Perhaps do the same for oolong?

 

[CKuhns]

I have used Tea Hibiscus (My fave), Black, Orange Peko tried them in various combinations and applications. (Unfortunately have not tried Oolong)
- Steeped (not boiled) for no more than 10 - 15 minutes in some of the water for primary. Usually about half the volume. This kind of rounds the flavor out and allows the tea to come through front to back. (Primary Fermentation will blow off some of the lighter tea flavors.)
- Just thrown in as-is in a muslin bag in Primary or Secondary. (Not really effective.)
- Boiled for a half hour or more to make a very strong tea and added to secondary to taste. (Lots of tannens that took a long time to age out. But good after 12 to 18 months).

The biggest problem I have found with tea is that you really have to be careful with what honey you pair it with and then if you are adding spices or fruit. Think about the flavor profile of the tea, honey and other ingredients and what makes sense for you.
Examples that worked well for me
- Bakers honey and Black Tea - Adding Apple Cider, Vanilla, Cinnamon and Cloves in secondary.
- Wildflower Honey and Hibiscus Tea - Adding Blackberries, Blueberries or Cherries in secondary.
- Orange Blossom, Orange Peko - Of course adding oranges without the skin or pith in secondary.

You get the idea - Experiment a bit. (Do what feels right)

I would recommend you start with - Steeped (not boiled) for no more than 10 - 15 minutes in some of the water for primary. Once in secondary you can experiment with other additions, including adding back some tea if need be for flavor. IMO "less is better". Too much tea or vanilla etc will overpower everything else and you get some pretty weird flavors until they age out due to the synergy between them.

Let us know how it turns out.

 

[bernardsmith]

I think CKuhns is right on the money. And I would add you need to decide how much of the honey flavor vs the flavors from the tea you want in this mead. You can drown the honey flavor with the tea quite easily so as CKuhns suggests less is more.. and you can always add more tea to the secondary if the tea is drowned out by the honey or is simply not intense enough for your taste. But that said, I made a Lapsang Souchong mead (2 gallons) about 18 months ago and I used a scant 70 g (2.5 oz ) with 3 lbs of honey (local raw wildflower) and we thought it was very drinkable (but before bottling I added home made extracts of star anise, grains of paradise, and lemon.

 

[wildmazer]

i've done relatively strong steeped tea for the entirety of the (non-honey) liquid in all of the tea-meads i've done (11) amnd have liked the results and gotten good reactions from others on them, too.

 

[piojo]

I have an overly sweet mead, but without having any great tannin sources, I brewed some strong black tea for 10-15 minutes, and found that about 15 mL tea added to each glass was an improvement. I would never add it in primary, because it would take serious talent to know whether the flavors will not only match, but give the right balance. In my case, I know that into 180 mL of mead, I put 15-20 mL of strong tea (2 big tea bags of the brand I chose in 500 mL simmering water for 10 minutes). To apply this to 5 gallons, google for "15 ml / 180 ml to liters / 5 gallons": the result is that I should add 1.5 liters of this particular tea to a full batch of mead.

In addition to the above test, I should have left the cup and returned after half an hour to see if I still liked it (in case of palate fatigue).

 

[bernardsmith]

But piojo, Are you not talking about tea in light of its use as a source of tannin. The OP is talking about tea as a source of flavor - so the tea may be herbal or be made with spices and not be a source of tannin but the key source of flavor.