I am a tea person.  I have never been a coffee person, so I typically pay attention to new tea gadgets when I see them.  Fortunately, I happen to live with a “coffee” person so between the two of us, we’re covered across hot beverage accessories.

I have my fair share of tea pots and contraptions to brew loose leaf tea.  However, when I came across the Filter-in-Bottle Cold Tea Brewer that Hario  (Countlan Issue 02- King of Glass- V60 + syphon coffee maker) just launched, I decided this sophisticated gadget just might have a spot at my next dinner party.

What makes this a cool and useful conversation piece pour la table you ask?

01 It pours like a wine bottle (tres sophisticated)

02 It has a filter embedded in the top cap (also quite sophisticated) so tea leaves cannot find their way into your cup when you pour.

03 It fits right into your tablescape like a bottle of wine (or along with your bottles of wine)!

Now for the cold brew explanation: I can’t talk about one half of the name and leave out the second half can I?

The Filter-in Bottle is a cold brewing tea mechanism, which means you use cold water to steep your  tea leaves instead of hot water. I haven’t done a lot of cold brewing myself, but I know it is gaining popularity in the coffee world.  So why not the tea world too?  I am always open to trying new methods of preparation; at least once :).

Apparently, when you brew tea cold, the tea infuses more slowly and can develop an umami taste (we mentioned the effervescent or umami taste in our Kimchi article in Issue 02), not to mention retains more vitamin C. I guess if you are like me and don’t monitor your hot water temperature like the baristas do, you risk scalding your tea leaves and burning your tea.  No one likes the taste of burnt or flavourless tea.  Oops! It happens from time to time.

Brewing cold completely eliminates this situation.  Score!

Photo Sources: Hario

Thoughts? Have you tried brewing cold?

Is this a worthy conversation piece for a table?