MIZUDASHI (COLD-INFUSED) TEA

In Japan, we drink hot tea ingot weather to cool down. I know this sounds counterintuitive, but trust me, science proves it ( as do the millions of tea drinkers in South, SE, and East Asia.)
But temperatures in the Seattle area hit 95 F (35 C) this past weekend, and I was doing some traveling where it was not convenient to stop and make tea. It was time for some Mizudashi-cha.

Mizudashi (cold-infused, literally "cold-extracted") is so easy to make. It's just tea and cold water. Depending on the tea, I usually use 10 to 15 grams of tea (about 1 to 2 heaping tablespoons) and 1 liter (about 4 cups) of cold water. Combine these in a glass jar, cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. Strain thoroughly (but don't squeeze the tea leaves) and enjoy. You can get an additional infusion out of this, and when I want to make a large batch I just repeat the process and mix the infusions to make 2 liters worth of mizudashi-cha.

This works well with almost any Sencha, Gyokuro, or Kukicha (Stem Tea.) One of my favorite teas to use in the method is Karigane, the stems of Gyokuro. It has that slight Gyokuro sweetness to it, as well as the mild woodsiness of stem teas.

So, hot tea or cold tea, we have you covered this summer! Charaku Fine Japanese Tea.