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r/tea•
exploding_chemist

[Question] Brewing in milk/heavy cream, brewing ratios & temperature help

Question/Help

UPDATE: I ended up using loose leaf tea (30g per (1+2) cups of milk and heavy cream) and steeped for 5 minutes while heating the milk and cream at around 140F. I then strained with a french press, really squeezing out the milk from the leaves the first time, then re-adding ~100g of the milk back in to try and squeeze out more. The tea flavor actually was very apparent in the ice cream - I had a control sample of Earl Grey ice cream from Ici's (local gourmet shop) and the flavor was more apparent. The second batch I also used tea bags in the custard making stage and it turned out good too. I think the flavor was a bit too strong with both added together.

I also made taro coconut milk ice cream instead of the matcha - the texture was incredibly creamy and thick. Unfortunately this thickness was too much for the motor in my hand mixer, and the poor thing gave out halfway. :(

If anyone is interested I can post the recipe links and how I kind of tweaked the processes! Thanks for the responses!

Hi r/tea community,

I am trying to make flash frozen ice cream for a friend's birthday this weekend. I want to make a matcha based and an Earl Grey based ice creams, but I had some concerns in mind:

  1. I wanted to know if there was a preferred ratio of water:tea leaves that was best for both of these. Also, would you all think that brewing something that is not water reduce the amount of tea that can be extracted? Should I increase the ratio from the usual to compensate?

  2. I know that matchas should generally be brewed at a lower temperature (~175ºF for more umami) and black tea is much more forgiving (~108ºF). However, I fear that if I bring the temperature of the milk up too high I'll scorch the milk. Should I just aim for ~175-185ºF for both of them? Are there steps I should take (i.e. brew the Earl Grey for longer) to compensate for the lower temperature?

I come from a coffee background where brewing ratios and temperatures are king for a properly extracted cup, so I was wondering if I could get some help with tea. I'd be happy to answer any coffee questions in return (or just in general). :)

Cheers!

Posted Mar 8, 2016, 7:17 AM UTC · edited

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Drakeman800•

You may be looking for some more specific advice, but personally I would try cold brewing it by just putting a bunch of tea in the milk for a couple hours or up to a day or so (common rule of thumb is 1 tsp leaf/cup of water). Cold brew in milk seems to work really well for me when I make coffee ice cream, and just like with coffee, cold brew tea with water is a great way to make tea in its own right. If you do try to brew it hot (not sure it's possible with milk) I would probably aim for over-extraction so you don't lose the flavors to the milk and sugar (like with thai-iced tea). Because of the milk and sugar content, I wouldn't think the brewing parameters are super critical, but watch out for too much bergamot flavor depending on your taste for it.

Let us know how it turns out! I love to make ice cream and am now intrigued by the idea of making tea flavored versions (puerh ice cream... hmmm).

Edit: My advice was aimed at the earl grey ice cream. For matcha, I would follow one of the recipes online. Since matcha is a powder that's mixed in, it likely has different rules and considerations, but luckily it is also the most common tea ice cream flavor and there's bound to be good recipes for it out there.

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exploding_chemistOP•

Update above!

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exploding_chemistOP•

I don't think I'll have the patience for cold brew this week so I'll try hot. I think I might just up the dosage as I'm worried that over-extraction will just lead to too many tannins. I'll definitely post an update though!

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AwfulWaffleWalkermmm Lapsang Souchong•

When I brew with milk I actually use teabags instead of loose leaf. I always have difficulty getting a strong flavor from loose leaf teas even when upping the amount when I brew in milk, but if I use a teabag tea it comes out fine. For example, I love london fogs, but anytime I use loose leaf earl grey it comes out weak so I keep a box of twinings earl grey specifically for london fogs. I'd go with the normal recommended amount and then add a few extra teaspoons just in case. I think matcha is more forgiving to cook with than Earl Grey though so you may not have as much trouble with it.

Also when using loose leaf Earl Grey DO NOT brew it for longer. You'll end up with a very bitter tea even at lower temperatures in my experience. It always seems to be one of the more temperamental teas. If you want a stronger flavor you add more tea and still steep for the normal amount of time. It should brew fine at lower temperatures as long as it's not a huge difference. If you're combining the teas though, you want to go with the temperature that's the lowest.

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exploding_chemistOP•

I was planning to buy some Earl Grey + Rose from a local tea house; if that fails my last resort will probably just be some grocery store bought tea bags. Maybe for what I'm doing, quality of tea doesn't matter as much.

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AwfulWaffleWalkermmm Lapsang Souchong•

Yeah. I'd honestly not waste money and good tea on baking. You can make a concentrate with the tea for mixing with stuff, but that normally takes a lot of tea. I just have bad experiences with trying to cook with Earl Grey that I just go to tea bags. All the flavor without the pain in the ass of dealing with loose leaf.

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mingus-dew•

Ive made tea ice creams before, and since most of them require heating the cream it's the perfect time to add/brew the tea. Don't worry if the temp seems low, just use plenty of tea. I also crush tea leaves into a fine powder and add them after straining the brewed leaves out. Tons of recipes out there too, try them out.

For matcha, you could skip the brewing part and just incorporate the powder.

Edit: I've always brewed the tea directly into the cream. Definitely don't add water, it will ruin the ice cream texture.

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exploding_chemistOP•

Hmm, I never thought about crushing leaves, good idea. I was thinking of using ~45g of tea per 2 cups heavy cream + 1 cup whole milk. Does that seem reasonable?

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mingus-dew•

Hmm, hard to say... I'd say start off with something and taste it as you go until you have a strong but pleasant flavor.

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saltyteabagお茶をください•

u/iammike27 did a great earl grey ice cream a while back. Pinging him to see if he'll share his recipe.

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irritable_sophistSolarized! And Paleozoic!•

I have made tea-flavored ganaches for use as candy centers, using white chocolate and either Earl Grey or jasmine teas. Add the tea, about an oz/cup of cream, bring to boil, let stand until lukewarm, and strain. You'll need to press the cream out of the leaf.

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BundleOfHiss•

This would be a good question for r/askculinary as well.

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