Cold Brew Winners VII
Mountain Stream Teas Teaducation Subscription Service
August, 2026
As we have returned to this year’s smoldering Taiwanese summer from our trip home to Canada, we have been looking forward to this month’s 7th annual cold brew contest. This month’s box is the winners of that contest and we recommend trying them all at least once as a cold brew!
What are the teas we will look at this month?
After a week of testing, these were the winners of the cold brew contest. Included this month are:
1. Alpine Honey red, 1600m elevation, 80% Oxidization, hand picked in June, 2026, Chi Lai, Nantou, Qinxin
Cold Brew Tasting notes: Dark red fruit, smooth malt, touch of honey
2.Spring Pear Mountain , 2000m elevation, 25% Oxidized, hand picked in May 2026, Lishan, Nantou, Qinxin
Cold Brew Tasting notes: Subtle vegetal, sweet fruit, florals
3. Alpine Black, 1600m elevation, 100% Oxidization, hand picked in June, 2026, Chi Lai, Nantou County, Qinxin
Cold Brew Tasting notes: Dark red fruit, smooth strong malt
4. Old Master Dong Ding, 700m elevation, hand picked in April, 2026, Dong Ding, Nantou, Qinxin Oolong Cultivar,
Tasting notes: Roasted fruit, sweet buttery mouthfeel, caramel
5. Gardenia Flower Oolong, 400m elevation, 25% Oxidization, machine picked in spring 2024, Taoyuan, Taoyuan County, Jinxuan
Cold Brew Tasting notes: Rich, sweet fruity gardenia
How were these teas chosen?
We had very simple contest rules. 2g of tea in a 600ml water bottle placed in a fridge overnight. The soakings lasted from 12-24 hours and then the teas were sampled by the Mountain Stream Teas Family. The teas that everyone agreed had the ‘wow’ factor in the cold brew won. This contest is always a fun day for all of us here!
How to Cold Brew Tea
What we did was outlined above but a quick google search will bring up hundreds of methods and recipes. We tend to skew to the simple side of things but hot water first, tea concentrates, other ingredients and many other variables are fair game for cold brewing these teas. Experiment! We do recommend trying the 3g/500-600ml of water in the fridge overnight at least once. It is easy, refreshing and a lot of fun. If you do find a great way to cold brew these teas we would love to hear it as well!
There is a large difference in taste when brewing teas cold and hot. In general, cold brewed teas are smoother, more subtle and have sweeter/floral fragrances become dominant. Hot brewed teas are more intense, complex and generally have longer lasting aftertaste.
Tea Gardens In The Summer Months
Not much happens in most tea gardens during the hottest days of the Taiwanese summer. In the lower and mid elevations, the teas made in the summer can be too bitter and astringent for many palates, leaving most farmers to rest their plants and hope for enough rain. It is also a time for experimentation for some gardens, with the lower quality leaves used for styles of tea not ‘famous’ for an area, or teas that are put into tea bags. Exceptions to this are the strong black teas of the Sun Moon Lake area like Ruby 18 which benefit from the warm weather oxidization and the Fall Teas of the regions above 1500m in elevation which are high enough to avoid the strong bitterness of the lower elevation heat.
The Mystery Tea
This month’s mystery was too easy so we didn’t make it a blind tasting, namely the two Alpine teas, Black and Honey Red. Both picked only a couple days apart and made from he same material try to see if you can pull out the differences between the black and red oolong natures of the tea.
The September Box
We are hoping that next month’s box will be filled with some of this year’s freshly fall picked high mountain oolongs! Look for info on the Instagram feed about our travels.
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