Tea bag wine

[ManseMasher]

I'm sure my mum used to make wine from teabags - anyone tried this? From what I remember it wasn't a bad drop of wallop.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Here - http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1503&highlight=wine

 

[ManseMasher]

Here - http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1503&highlight=wine

Not from fruit tea bags - just plain tea! I think she might have put raisins in it as well. Racking my brains.

http://www.grapestompers.com/recipes.aspx#teabag

Found one.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Looks like you are going to be the forum Guinea pig, let us know how it turns out.

 

[Frognostic]

I've used tea but not teabags, I boiled and diffused free red tea leaves and let it diffuse before straining the leaves. I added raisins, lemon and... marrow (it was my first real attempt and that was the immediate produce at hand).

Later I added some left over blackberry wine. It's still in the demijohn now, the same demijohn I started it in around August 2013, and yes it's been sitting on a thick bed of lees.

It is probably disgusting now but I tried it before I added the blackberry and it wasn't too bad. I tried it a bit later and there was a fair amount of volatile acidity, maybe a little bit of aging has improved it but the autolysis has probably turned it to rot.

I hear that tea adds tannins, which could be a good thing, and at some point I might use it when making mead.

 

[Oldhippydude]

In my really poor student days I came across a recipe in a country wine book and as far as I can remember it was just tea and sugar.
This in my experience does not make a tasty wine.

 

[ManseMasher]

That's how I remember it too, but it did have the desired effect!!

In my really poor student days I came across a recipe in a country wine book and as far as I can remember it was just tea and sugar.
This in my experience does not make a tasty wine.

 

[Cwrw666]

My Aunt used to make tea wine - it was basically just normal leaf tea, sugar, raisins and lemons. And it was gorgeous. I've tried making it several times in the past and it has always been awful muck.

 

[FatDad]

I'm sure my mum used to make wine from teabags - anyone tried this? From what I remember it wasn't a bad drop of wallop.

Coincidentally I made some earlier this week from a recipe on this very forum. It's been bubbling away like a good 'un ever since (real lava lamp effect, loads of hissing noises but it has been well behaved and not crept into the airlock once). Dead easy to make and people say it is good to drink so I'll let you know when I find out with my batch.

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=53795&page=2

BTW - in my wine recipe book I have from the 1970's it has a recipe for tea wine and it suggests collecting all the unused tea in the household until you have enough to make a batch of wine (from the pot using loose or bagged tea I guess). I suppose the old recipe harks back to those days when every house made pots of tea over and over and over again and instead of chucking out the tea left in the pot you could keep it and make wine.

 

[Tony1951]

My Aunt used to make tea wine - it was basically just normal leaf tea, sugar, raisins and lemons. And it was gorgeous. I've tried making it several times in the past and it has always been awful muck.

Yes - but back then we got an orange for Christmas and a pair of socks and we thought that was great too.... :)

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Yes - but back then we got an orange for Christmas and a pair of socks and we thought that was great too....

You lucky sod, there were 3 of us, one got the orange the other two got a sock each. :wink:

 

[FatDad]

You lucky sod, there were 3 of us, one got the orange the other two got a sock each. :wink:

All I wanted for Christmas was some clothes and something to play with.

I got a pair of trousers with the pockets cut out!

(old ones are the best)

 

[ManseMasher]

Looks like you are going to be the forum Guinea pig, let us know how it turns out.

That's the one and only time I'll be attempting this. Gipping......

 

[brumbrew]

I have an old book with this simple recipe. Although it says age for 2-5 years !