# black tea wine



## bloomd (Dec 4, 2013)

hey all.. havent been around in a while but im back to share what ive got going on.... currently i have a batch of black tea wine finishing up... first the recipe...(my own recipe off the cuff)

16 regular lipton tea bags
3qt water (to start then water to make up 1 gallon)
2lb sugar
1tsp yeast nutrient
handful of rasins
1 campden tab
redstar cuvee yeast..

the process

steeped the tea bags in 3qt hot water for about 2 hours till it was DARK
added the sugar and rasins and put in a 1 gallon glass jug as the fermenter
added 1 campden tab
after 24 hours i hydrated the yeast 
added the yeast nutrient and pitched the yeast

this stuff bubbled like mad for a week when i decided to rack it...
racked into another glass jug and necked with water...
bubbled on for another week/10 days until it was down to less than a bubble a minute... racked and necked again and added potassium sorbate to stabilize... it smells good and im looking forward to drinking it dry because i like my tea (both iced and hot) unsweetened although im thinking it wont taste like tea.... im going to bottle it in about a week (and probably a taste then) and if its grody (like my batch of water sugar and home grown dried mint leaves) into the still it goes...


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## Bossbaby (Feb 6, 2021)

How did this wine turn out 4 you 8 yrs ago? I'm thinking of trying a tea wine to blend with a skeeter pee..


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## wpt-me (Feb 6, 2021)

I made a raspberry tea wine, a few years ago, came out pretty good.

I used Celesrial Raspberry Zinger. Using 32 tea bags.

Bill


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## Bossbaby (Feb 6, 2021)

how many gal ?


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## swv (Feb 7, 2021)

I also made a Raspberry Zinger Herbal Wine using Jack Keller's recipe. It used 16 tea bags for a 1 gallon batch. If I did it again, I would probably use more. At the time, there were 20 bags in a box so I would at least use that many.


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## David Violante (Feb 7, 2021)

I'm interested in making an Earl Grey wine, would you suggest the same? 20 bags / gallon steeped for 10 mins then cooled and add the remaining ingredients? So, the Raisins add body and (some) sugar and nutrients, I've read that bananas will help with body as well. Will this have any kind of banana taste? I'm not so sure about Earl Grey and bananas... LOL


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## swv (Feb 7, 2021)

For Earl Grey, I would probably use at least 20 bags. I like my tea full strength. The recipe I used from Jack used white grape frozen concentrate for yeast food. For Earl Grey I think dark raisins or Concord grape concentrate would be better. I did add some Acacia Gum for mouthfeel.


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## wpt-me (Feb 8, 2021)

My brew was a 2 gal. batch. Used 3 medium bananas and 24 0z. bag of frozen raspberries.
yeast was 71b and starting s.g. was 1.080.

Bill


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## hounddawg (Feb 14, 2021)

bloomd said:


> hey all.. havent been around in a while but im back to share what ive got going on.... currently i have a batch of black tea wine finishing up... first the recipe...(my own recipe off the cuff)
> 
> 16 regular lipton tea bags
> 3qt water (to start then water to make up 1 gallon)
> ...


hey i only mention this in case you bring it up again,, (into the still it goes) that and politics are both major no-no's,,, 
Skoal
Dawg


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## Bossbaby (Feb 20, 2021)

Hey gang my experiment with black tea/sour cherry is now clearing, its very a interesting wine. my s.g. got away from me at 1.112 but I let it ride hoping it would die out early but EC1118 ate it all up with that said I'm impressed with the combination of flavors that come through. It's a 5 gal batch steeped 100 tea bags, 8 lbs sour cherry and 2 lbs raisins and 1 can frozen grape concentrate. I will be making another batch to blend and reduce alcohol. I would definitely recommend trying this one, over ice or mixed with skeeter pee will be money.


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## babak.vandad (Mar 3, 2021)

Hi,
This is my first post in the forum! And black tea is what I've recently done some experiments with.
Tea bags have flavor and color additives in them, so I suggest using natural black tea leaves.
I've tested two batches:
1- 30gr of tea leaves in hot (not boiling) water for 15 minutes and then pouring the hot water in 4 liters mead. (Filtering the leaves)
2- 20gr of tea leaves directly in the same amount of same mead. (honey only)

First of all, this amount of tea was way too much. Too astringent and a bit bitter. Maybe 15 grams for 5 gals should be enough. (It's not aged yet. Fermentation is just done.)
Second: putting tea leaves directly in the must, makes it some how more clear and better tasting. It was more clear than the first one and even the simple mead itself.
Third: If used moderately it tastes good!

I've used high quality organic tea leaves from Iran.

Hope this helps


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## Bossbaby (Mar 3, 2021)

babak.vandad said:


> Hi,
> This is my first post in the forum! And black tea is what I've recently done some experiments with.
> Tea bags have flavor and color additives in them, so I suggest using natural black tea leaves.
> I've tested two batches:
> ...


Very interesting to hear of your findings of fermenting with tea, the 5 gal I have going right now has been extremely active under airlock for a couple weeks now, there was no activity after primary at .992 , I degassed, added kieselsol and chitosan 2 weeks ago and it's been cloudy and giving off tons of little bubbles up the sides of the carboy since. I put it into the basement after primary so the temp has been around 55 degrees F, not a good temp for degassing but the flavor is not so appealing anymore hard to explain but wondering if the tea bags themselves have added a strange flavor. I will sweeten once it clears in Hope's of a better flavor?


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## swv (Mar 4, 2021)

"Tea bags have flavor and color additives in them, so I suggest using natural black tea leaves." seems like a over-reaching statement. Have you researched them all? And I would ask, where in Minnesota can I find tea leaves from Iran which probably have an embargo against imports? If you are in Iran, making, drinking or having alcohol is a crime,


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