According to one study, yes! The researchers compared hot and cold steeped teas at either 90 degrees C for 7 minutes or room temperature for two hours. The measure of antioxidant activity was the ability of the tea to delay oxidation of LDL cholestorol. For some reason, cold steeping performed better than hot steeping for black, oolong and esp white tea and was even for green tea. Earlier researchers reported that cold steeping also reduced caffeine and bitterness of the tea. The researcher hypthosize that the reason cold does better than hot is that the hot steeping destroys some of the catechins in the tea. Heat destroy nutrients? Who's have thought??

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[il.youtube.com] this is an excerpt from Dr. Michael Greger's "Latest in Clinical Nutrition" DVD. Greger is a vegan MD who works for the Humane Society of the US. Discussion on cold steeping starts at 2.51 of the Youtube video.

Apparently cold steeping is quite popular in Taiwan. I don't know how cold steeping compares to sun tea though. I may ask Dr. Greger.

Paul

Ive always prefered the taste of cold steeped tea as well, but I steep it for 2 days in the fridge, in a large batch... mmmm, sometimes I just want hot though... usually prefer it cold though

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Interesting info, Paul. Thanks for posting.

My sweetie likes his green tea hot and will be glad to hear about this.


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THeSt0rm Wrote:
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> well I heard it only does that for white tea.

I thought so to until I watched the Greger presentation. It's true also for black and oolong. And the antioxidant activity is the same for cold and hot steeping for green tea. The part of the Youtube link that shows the graph of the results of the study starts around 2 minutes and 21 seconds.

Paul

I have heard this in reference to white tea and green tea, and been told that boiling or sub-boiling water destroys their beneficial chemicals, but I am surprised to hear this in reference to black tea: I was always taught that the beneficial chemicals remain inactive unless the black tea leaves are exposed to water of at least 190 degrees F. Interesting.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/23/2011 01:12PM by Tamukha.

Some herbs need to be simmered or steeped in boiling temp water to release their beneficial properties, it's true. Particularly roots and heavy seeds like fenugreek.

This is true and many of the beneficial compounds in certain herbal teas such as sterols and jiaogulan are heat resistant.

Although heating will obviously cause a loss to the vitamin content of any teas. Good research none the less.

Being dried out will cause a loss in vitamins, it's easy to get vitamins though, minerals etc that are not affected by heat are often the things we can't get so readily. I'm find with tender herbs being used for cold tea but for anything medicinal etc I'll use hot water as usual.

140 is way above the max of 115 for keeping things raw. Even the sun shining through a glass jar can heat above 115 though.

black tea gets plenty dark steeped in cold water for 2-3 days... not as dark as boiling water... but still fairly dark... I love a few different varieties for a light iced tea...mmmmm... Never met a tea that even needed a sweetener at all if cold steeped... actually, i seldom use any sweetener in hot tea either... mint being the only exception to that...

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Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Black tea isn't bitter after steeped for so long?

actually some of the prior Taiwanese research indicates that cold steeping draws out less of the tannins (bitter) than hot steeping does. The comparison times seem to be 7 minutes hot steeping and 2 hours of cold steeping (room temperature actually)

hmmm, my black tea even after 2-3 days doesnt get bitter at all... could be the specific tea I usually use though...could be that its 30-40 degrees colder than average air conditioned temps, probably far colder than average room temp in Taiwan...

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Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

What about the microbiological factor of cold brewed tea? Microorganisms are only killed by hot water. And tea is growing on plants, not in a sterile environment...
By the way: what do you think is the reason for cold brewed tea don't get cloudy? Perhaps this is a result of the lower content of antioxidative active catechines?
And has anybody read the whole study?There are four assays according the antioxidative activity of tea. Only one of them has the result that cold steeped tea is better in this point. The other three say,hot brewed tea has a better antioxidative activity.

karlheinz Wrote:
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> What about the microbiological factor of cold
> brewed tea? Microorganisms are only killed by hot
> water. And tea is growing on plants, not in a
> sterile environment...
> By the way: what do you think is the reason for
> cold brewed tea don't get cloudy? Perhaps this is
> a result of the lower content of antioxidative
> active catechines?
> And has anybody read the whole study?There are
> four assays according the antioxidative activity
> of tea. Only one of them has the result that cold
> steeped tea is better in this point. The other
> three say,hot brewed tea has a better
> antioxidative activity.

Look again, [nutritionfacts.org] black, oolong and white had higher antioxidant activity when steeped cold. Green was about the same hot or cold.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/03/2011 03:17AM by pborst.

I don't always cold steep tea,sometimes it just takes too much planning and for thought to do it all the time. I do like the taste of teas that are cold steeped better, less better, smoother tasting. My partner thought I was nuts, he never thought there was any real difference in doing it either way other than taste.

The last time I got a green tea at a Starbucks it was SOO bitter. He always said they know nothing about tea. They seeped it in steaming hot water, it took an hour of cooling till I could drink any of it. Green tea is supposed to be steeped a bit cooler than oolongs or black.

I also like to make Roobios tea, which really should be considered an herbal. My favorite is this hummingbird brand, which for whatever reason I can't find anymore. It has this wonderful slight sweetness to it. And of course I prefered it to be steeped at least overnight for the best flavor. Hot steeping is more intense, but it changes it.

Mislu Wrote:
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> I also like to make Roobios tea, which really
> should be considered an herbal. My favorite is
> this hummingbird brand, which for whatever reason
> I can't find anymore. It has this wonderful slight
> sweetness to it. And of course I prefered it to be
> steeped at least overnight for the best flavor.
> Hot steeping is more intense, but it changes it.

Rooibos is great and is very healthy also, around 30 times the antioxidants of green tea. Also big plus in that its caffeine free and low in tannins so doesnt effect the absorption of other nutrients or medications.

Im with you on the places that use the steaming hot water and it ends up taking you an hour to be able to drink it.

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