Green tea beer, am i crazy?!?!

[mattpullin]

Has anyone on this site ever brewed a beer with tea in it? specifically green tea?

Iv got this from my brother-in-law who has family in Hong Kong there is no way im ever going to drink all this, can i brew with it?



I was thinking i could putting some of it in with the flame out hops. was a bit unsure about how much though.

Any thoughts?

 

[PawsOfEvil]

Green tea is a very delicate flavour, I doubt that it would be detectable in most beers tbh. There are a few cooking recipes that use it though, I have had chocolate and green tea cookies before that were very nice.

 

[mattpullin]

iv just cracked it open and made some, its not green tea but some kind of Chinese tea its tastes a bit earthy. Still delicate though i doubt you could taste it through malt and hops. I might just chuck it in anyway see what happens :-)

 

[GavH]

I suppose the ease with which one can experiment is part of the delight of this hobby. I personally cannot see any advantage flavour-wise to putting tea in beer. :hmm: Would be interested to know how this turns out nonetheless.

 

[graysalchemy]

Tea = tannin, tannin is what you try to avoid when mashing (gram the grain husks). Why would you want to introduce it in you beer?

Just a thought but I wouldn't. Just because you have doesn't mean you need to use it and potentially ruin your beer.

 

[mattpullin]

Tea = tannin, tannin is what you try to avoid when mashing (gram the grain husks). Why would you want to introduce it in you beer?

That is a good point, what effect does the addition of to much tannin do to a brew? i would imagine it would make it bitter. But is that not why we add hops to the sweet wort?

 

[RobWalker]

you could easily make a wine with your teabags...

 

[mattpullin]

They are whole dried leaves this is what they look like after a quick soak. how could i make wine out of these then? just a standard WOW recipe? i would imagine the tannin issue would still remain.


image

 

[PawsOfEvil]

Last night I had a beer in wagamammas I think it was called Ike Ike that used green tea in it. Looked a bit like a wheat beer and tasted very clean and citrusy. It reminded me of this thread, if I could brew something half as good as that beer I would be a very happy man!