I hope in this sweltering weather you’ve been able to stay cool, and drink lots of water, an iced matcha latte and some iced tea! I’ve been talking to my mother in Japan every week, and she says, unfortunately, summers are getting hotter every year there too. These days we have to think carefully how to enjoy ourselves in the summer heat.
I can recommend a couple of cold teas to drink during these hot days:
Cold brew green tea
Green tea is made from unfermented tea leaves, so it is the most cooling of all teas. If you drink it when the heat is making you feel dizzy, it will blow the heat away and make you feel refreshed. Also, it prevents heatstroke and cools down hot heads and helps burning eyes caused by heat.
How to brew cold green tea
1. Put 2-3 teaspoons of leaf green tea into a 500ml jar. (If you add some ice cubes, you can make a stronger brew of tea.)
2. Fill up the 500ml jar with cold water and put it in the fridge for 1 hour.
Cold Mugicha (Barley tea)
This is the most traditional cold summer drink in Japan. The tea is made by roasting barley, which has the effect of helping regulate the actions of the stomach and intestines, as well as removing excess heat and quenching thirst. Mugicha tea is naturally caffeine free, so it is popular with almost everyone, from school children to the elderly, and every Japanese family has a jar of Mugichi in the fridge in summer.
How to brew cold Mugicha
Our Mugicha tea from Ippodo is available in large tea bags, which means you can add one tea bag to a litre of hot water, wait for 10 minutes while it brews, and then enjoy it with ice. Alternatively you can put one tea bag in a 1 litre jar, add a litre of cold water, wait for 1 hour for it to brew, and then enjoy it.
