I brewed an English Pale Ale the other day, and intend on dry hopping with 2oz of Fuggles. I want to achieve a nice tea aroma and flavor with this beer, and I thought instead of using earthy tea like hops to achieve this why not use tea leaves themselves. I was thinking of picking up some tea leaves to dry hop with the Fuggles or maybe in place of them all together. Does anyone have any experience with this, or tea leaves in general? Anyone recommend a type of tea leaf or amount to use?
Tea leaves are going to add a huge amount of astringency if you soak them very long. You're probably better off making tea and pouring it in if that's what you're going for.
wouldn't it depend on the amount used? tea leaves really dont make water that astringent if you control the amount so i can't imagine it would overpower certain beers provided you don't go overboard. this is something i am curious about as well though, would love to try some sort of saison with tea leaves...
Are you planning to bottle or are you dry hopping/teaing in the keg? I've found tea aroma/favors to be quite volatile so I would recommend short bursts in the keg.
