Emma JING Tea’s tips for making the perfect Iced Tea this summer
JING Tea, champions of single garden tea, have tips and suggestions on how to make the perfect iced tea as a refreshing, zero-sugar alternative to soft drinks this summer. (We wrote about their sparkling afternoon tea here)
You’ll find JING Tea served in some of the most iconic hotels and restaurants including Sketch, Claridge’s, The Dorchester and The Savoy.
How to make the perfect iced tea.
It starts with a cold infusion
Cold infusions are a method of making tea that uses time instead of heat to extract flavour from tea. This method of infusing tea as it typically creates a lighter and more refreshing flavour.
This is because cold water brings out less of the structure – including tannin – from your leaves. Less structure means more space in your drink for the lighter flavours and high notes or aromas to reveal themselves.
Best served long, straight from the fridge, cold infusions offer a delightful way to experience how exceptional the flavour of tea can be.
JING’s top tips for making cold infusions at home:
It’s as simple as adding cold water to your tea leaves and leaving them in the fridge for two to eight hours.
Make sure you have an optimum tea to water ratio and infusion time for maximum flavour. As a rule of thumb, use twice the amount of tea leaves as you would if you were making it hot.
To ensure the best flavour and complexity, opt for high-quality, whole leaf teas and choose highly aromatic teas such as JING Darjeeling 2nd Flush or Jasmine Pearls for the best flavour experience
Try making ice-cubes with cold infused tea, so you don’t dilute the flavour intensity of drinks with frozen water alone.
A slice of cucumber pairs perfectly with JING’s Jasmine Silver Needle iced tea, or perhaps add edible flowers to iced tea for summer entertaining.
JING’s Cold Infusion Suggestions:
JING Organic Wuyi Oolong (50g) £19.90
Surprisingly refreshing when cold, this tea offers complex aromas of pine and honey, with a chocolatey, milky texture.
Recipe: 5g of Wuyi Oolong, 250ml cold water, 4-hour infusion.
JING Organic Darjeeling 2nd Flush (100g) £17.30
Made hot, this tea is smooth, fruity and has a hay-like quality. Cold infusing brings out the aromatic notes of honey with a bright floral note and extracts the meadow grassiness in the finish to balance it all.
Recipe: 4g Darjeeling 1st Flush, 250ml cold water, 6 hour infusion
JING Organic Yunnan Breakfast Tea (100g) £14.70
Made hot, Organic Yunnan Breakfast tea carries flavours of sweet red berries, cinnamon, ginger and honeyed malt. When cold infused, all of these come through with prominent sweetness. The drink has hints of smooth malt as well.
Recipe: 8g Yunnan Breakfast, 250ml cold water, 2 hour infusion.
Jasmine Spritz White Tea Mocktail
This mocktail marries delicately floral jasmine scented white tea with elderflower for a refreshing non-alcoholic version of this delicious drink.
Ingredients
18g JING Jasmine Silver Needle Tea
5ml elderflower cordial
Rosemary sprig, for garnish
Flute glass
Method
Infuse 18g JING Jasmine Silver Needle Tea in 1 ltr cold water for four hours in the fridge. Add the gin and elderflower cordial to a flute glass. Top up with cold infused Jasmine Silver Needle Tea. Garnish with a rosemary sprig.
