I used to think tea had to be hot.
There was something about the ritual of it. Boiling water, warming the pot, watching the leaves open. A proper cup of tea seemed to require steam.
Then I tried cold brew tea, and I had to admit something slightly uncomfortable.
I liked it.
More than I expected.
Cold brew tea does not have the drama of hot tea. There is no kettle singing in the kitchen or steam curling above the cup. You simply add tea leaves to cold water and let time do the work.
That simplicity is probably part of why some tea lovers are suspicious of it.
There is a certain idea that if tea is not prepared hot, we are somehow doing it wrong. Tea has traditions, after all, and many of those traditions place great importance on hot water and careful preparation.
But does that mean every good cup has to follow the same rules?
I am not convinced.
Cold brewing changes the experience. Without the heat, the tea can taste softer and less aggressive. Some teas reveal gentle floral or fruity notes that might be harder to notice when brewed quickly with hot water.
It can also be wonderfully refreshing, especially in Singapore.
On a humid afternoon, I sometimes want a cold glass of tea more than I want to sit beside a steaming cup. That does not make me appreciate tea any less. If anything, it makes me notice how adaptable tea really is.
And perhaps that is what I find most interesting about cold brew tea.
It challenges the idea that there is only one proper way to enjoy something.
We have already adapted tea in countless ways. We add milk. We add sugar. We serve it over ice. We turn it into lattes and desserts. We drink it in tea rooms, cafés, homes, and hawker centres.
So why should cold brewing be treated as a betrayal of tradition?
Maybe tradition is not about keeping tea frozen in time.
Maybe it is about allowing tea to continue finding its way into people’s lives.
I still love hot tea. I probably always will. There is something comforting about holding a warm cup between your hands when the day feels long.
But on certain afternoons, I want something cold, bright, and uncomplicated.
And if that makes me a tea purist’s least favourite person, I suppose I can live with that.
— Maria Tan
On tea, culture, and everyday rituals.
Temperature Rules Are Overblown: The Real Brewing Variable Nobody Mentions
I used to think making tea required a thermometer. Not literally, perhaps, but almost. Every tea seemed to have a number attached to it. Green tea at this temperature. Oolong at another. Black tea a little hotter. Too hot and you had apparently ruined everything. For a while, I took these rules quite seriously. Then…
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Afternoon Tea at Prada Caffè ION Orchard: A Green Room, a Pale-Blue Cup
Afternoon tea has always been about the pause for me. Not the tiers or the silverware. Just the moment when the cup is set down, the steam rises, and everything outside seems to slow a little. So I wondered what a pause would feel like inside a fashion house. One floor above Orchard Road, past…
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A Love Letter to Oolong: The In-Between That Changed My Mind
I did not understand oolong when I first encountered it. It seemed unnecessarily complicated. Green tea was green tea. Black tea was black tea. I understood where they stood. Oolong seemed determined to remain somewhere in between. Perhaps that was what initially kept me from appreciating it. Over time, however, I began to realise that…
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Tea from Assam: The Geography, Craft, and Character Behind the Brew
The colour arrives first. A deep amber that darkens towards red as the tea leaves give up their strength. Then comes the aroma. It is warm and rounded, often compared to malt or the crust of fresh bread. The first sip has weight. It fills the mouth with a rich body and leaves a slight,…
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Why “No Bitterness” Is a Terrible Goal (And Makes Tea Boring)
I used to think a good tea was supposed to be smooth. No bitterness. No sharp edges. Nothing that made me pause and wonder whether I was doing something wrong. It seemed logical. We naturally gravitate toward things that are easy to enjoy. A tea that is sweet, gentle, and immediately comforting feels like a…
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Best Tea Brands Singapore: 10 Names Worth Knowing
There’s a small sound I’ve always liked. It’s the soft knock of a teapot lid settling back into place, just before the first pour. It happens at home. It happens in old shophouses and in bright mall boutiques like those in Suntec City. The setting changes, but the pause stays the same. This list is…
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“Rare” Tea Is Often Manufactured Scarcity: Here’s How to Tell
There is a word in tea that carries unusual power. Rare. It immediately creates curiosity. A rare harvest. A rare batch. A rare tree. A tea that may never return. The suggestion is simple: if something is difficult to obtain, it must be more valuable. Sometimes, this is true. Some teas are genuinely limited because…
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LiHO Tea Singapore: A Greeting You Can Drink
Some words carry a whole childhood inside them. Li ho. I heard it at kopitiam tables, across corridors, from uncles who never waited for a real answer. It meant “how are you,” but it also meant I see you. So when I saw that name on a tea shop sign, somewhere in the middle of…
The Myth of “Perfect” Tea: What I Stopped Chasing
For a long time, I thought I was looking for the perfect tea. I imagined there would be a moment when I found the one. The tea that made every other tea feel unnecessary. The tea I would recommend to everyone. The tea that would finally make me understand what true appreciation was supposed to…
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Teh O: Understanding the Tea Order Behind the Name
There is a stall near where I grew up that has changed hands twice, but the tea has stayed the same. I still remember the first time I ordered teh o on my own, sometime in my early teens, mumbling the words at the counter and half-expecting to get them wrong. The uncle didn’t blink….
