How to Cold Brew Green Tea and Why You Should Do It

Want to learn how to brew green tea? Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you out!

Guide Contents:

• What Is Cold Brewing and What Are Its Benefits?
• What Kinds of Green Tea Can Be Cold Brewed?
• What is Needed for Cold Brewing Green Tea?
• How Do You Make Cold-Brewed Tea?
• Quick Guide for Cold-Brewing Sugimoto Teas
  • Matcha Cold Brew Preparation 
  • Sencha Cold Brew Preparation
  • Genmaicha Cold Brew Preparation
  • Kukicha Cold Brew Preparation
  • Hojicha Cold Brew Preparation
  • Gyokuro Cold Brew Preparation
  • Kabusecha Cold Brew Preparation
  • Bancha Cold Brew Preparation 
  • Konacha Cold Brew Preparation 

How to Cold Brew Green Tea in 3 Easy Steps

What Is Cold Brewing and What Are The Benefits?

Cold brewing is a method of extracting flavor from tea leaves or coffee beans by steeping them in cold water. Compared to hot brewing, which uses heat to extract flavor, cold brewing relies on time. This is why cold brewing typically requires a longer amount of time compared to hot brewing. While this may be inconvenient for some, cold brewing also has several benefits that make up for the longer brewing time.

Benefits of Cold Brewing Green Tea

• Cold brewing tea extracts less caffeine into the tea — Using cold water extracts less caffeine overall into the brew.
• Less bitter than hot-brewed tea — Aside from caffeine, cold brewing tea also releases less catechins and tannins into the brew, which makes the tea less bitter.
• Extremely easy to prepare, making it perfect for beginners — Cold brewing has an easier preparation method than hot brewing. One of the risks with hot brewing is using temperatures that are too high, which can scald the delicate tea leaves and negatively affect the quality of the tea (making it taste bitter). This risk is eliminated with cold brewing.

What Kinds of Green Tea Can Be Cold Brewed?

Any tea can be cold brewed, but unfermented teas, like Japanese green tea, are ideal for cold brewing. They have a mild flavor that tastes great as iced tea. Moreover, Japanese teas cold brew much more quickly than other teas. It takes 15-20 minutes of brewing for a Japanese tea to become flavorful, whereas most other teas take 6-8 hours.

If you’re not sure where to start, here are some of our favorites:

• Fukamushi Sencha & Matcha Cold Brew Green Tea: 1 Tbsp Fukamushi Sencha + 1 tsp. Matcha (for a 750 ml bottle)
• Sakura Sencha: 2 Tbsps Sakura Sencha (for a 750 ml bottle)

What Is Needed for Cold Brewing Green Tea?

Cold brewing green tea doesn’t require a lot of items and you can easily do it with what you have available at home. All you’ll really need in terms of tools is a clean pitcher, bottle, or jar. For this, we recommend the Hario Cold Brew Bottle. t’s perfect for brewing Japanese green teas.

Shaped like a wine bottle, it is classy and also scores aesthetic points for its hidden strainer. Its design allows the leaves to steep freely in the vessel for quick cold-brewing and strong flavors.

For the ingredients, you’ll need:

• Tea – For this, you can use loose leaf tea, powdered green teas like matcha and matcha blends like Lemon Matcha or Hibiscus Matcha, or teabags.
• Water
• Ice (if you’re doing a quick cold brew)

How Do You Make Cold-Brewed Tea?

Step 1: Add Tea Leaves

The proportions for tea and water vary based on what type of tea and what format (whether loose leaf, teabags, or powdered tea) you’re planning to use.

• For tea leaves, you’ll need 2 Tbsp of tea leaves for a 750ml bottle and 1 Tbsp for a 300ml bottle.
• If adding matcha to the mix of tea leaves, use1 tsp for a 750ml bottle.
• For matcha blends like our Lemon Matcha and Hibiscus Matcha, use 1 Tbsp for a 750ml bottle (1 tsp for every 8 oz. of water).
• For teabags, the proportions vary based on the type of tea you’re using. You can check the quick guide below.

Step 2: Add Water and Ice

Fill your container or bottle with room-temperature or cold water.

• If you’re brewing on-the-go, fill ¾ of the container with ice, then fill up the remaining with water.
• If you’re willing to wait, fill all the way with cold or room-temperature water and then let brew in the refrigerator.

Step 3: Swirl and Steep

Once the tea leaves and water are in the bottle, put the cap on, then lightly swirl or shake to stir up the leaves.

For quick brewing with Japanese green teas, you only need to wait around 15 minutes before serving (matcha cold brews are ready instantly). When your tea is ready, turn the bottle upside down a couple of times before serving to get the full flavor.

You can also leave your tea in the fridge overnight to enjoy it the next morning. Cold-brewed tea stays fresh for up to three days in the fridge. Additionally, cold-brewed tea can be enjoyed with fruits or mint to create your own cold brew green tea infusions.

Note: Steeping times vary for different varieties, so there’s no standard on how to cold brew all green tea varieties. Fukamushi Sencha requires as little as five minutes, while Hojicha may need up to an hour to fully steep.

Quick Guide for Cold-Brewing Sugimoto Teas

Matcha Cold Brew Preparation

Here's a video walkthrough on how to cold brew matcha. 

■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■

Sencha Cold Brew Preparation

■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■

Genmaicha Cold Brew Preparation

■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■

Kukicha Cold Brew Preparation

■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■

Hojicha Cold Brew Preparation

■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■

Gyokuro Cold Brew Preparation

■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■

Kabusecha Cold Brew Preparation

■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■

Bancha Cold Brew Preparation

■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■

Konacha Cold Brew Preparation

Note: If you want to get a taste of different teas or are still undecided on which one to get, you can try samples of some of our most popular bulk loose leaf teas first.

READ NEXT: How to Whisk Matcha