Tea from Teamaker, for drinking (not brewing beer)

[$bill]

Got a teamaker rhizome from Freshops, and I planted it in some Ocean Forest back in March.

It started slow, but made up for it, as I'm already harvesting pretty dried cones from it.

I tried making some tea, using a regular old tea infuser with hot water. It's not particularly tasty, though it smells really good. I've used three good-sized cones, or up to six smaller cones for a 12-oz cup, and let it steep for 1-2 minutes.

I'm posting this to see if any of you have done this, and if so, I have a few questions.

Have you made a tea from a blend of cones? I'm waiting for some of my higher-alpha hops to "ripen," wondering if adding a high-alpha cone will make the tea more palatable.

Have any of you brewed hot hop tea and made iced tea of it? If so, was it better hot or cold?

 

[PapaBearJay]

Got a teamaker rhizome from Freshops, and I planted it in some Ocean Forest back in March.

It started slow, but made up for it, as I'm already harvesting pretty dried cones from it.

I tried making some tea, using a regular old tea infuser with hot water. It's not particularly tasty, though it smells really good. I've used three good-sized cones, or up to six smaller cones for a 12-oz cup, and let it steep for 1-2 minutes.

I'm posting this to see if any of you have done this, and if so, I have a few questions.

Have you made a tea from a blend of cones? I'm waiting for some of my higher-alpha hops to "ripen," wondering if adding a high-alpha cone will make the tea more palatable.

Have any of you brewed hot hop tea and made iced tea of it? If so, was it better hot or cold?

I have only ever made hot tea from the hop cones, but I have enjoyed it every time. It may be that the plant is still in the first year of growth and establishment.

 

[$bill]

I have only ever made hot tea from the hop cones, but I have enjoyed it every time. It may be that the plant is still in the first year of growth and establishment.

I've heard that from others, that cones from the first year or two can have vegetal/grassy flavors which disappear as the plant becomes more established. But it seems to be the homebrewers who maintain this, whereas I've read that hop farmers dismiss this claim.

I understand that a professional-scale hop farmer, in all likelihood, is looking at such a volume that only a small percentage would be from young plants, so maybe if this is true, the grassy contributions of cones from young plants would be masked, but what do I know.