Peach Oolong Cold Brew Tea | A Rock Sugar Syrup Glass for Summer

Cold brew rewards patience. Left in the fridge for a few hours, oolong gives up its aroma slowly and never turns bitter, the way a hot, rushed steep can. Add fresh peach and a fragrant lemon and you have a glass built for a long summer afternoon.

The sweetener matters more than it looks. A cold drink is unforgiving to granulated sugar, which sinks and grits at the bottom. Ship Brand Rock Sugar Syrup is already liquid, so it folds straight in and stays there.

The sugar

Rock sugar syrup is our 冰糖漿 in pourable form, made from traditional Chinese rock sugar. Its sweetness is clean and mild, without the sharp edge of white sugar, which is exactly what a delicate cold-brew tea needs. Because it is a syrup, there is nothing to dissolve and nothing to stir up from the bottom of the glass. It rounds off the peach's acidity and lets the oolong stay in the foreground.

Made with Ship Brand Rock Sugar Syrup 冰糖漿 380g. A ready-to-use liquid sweetener crafted from heritage Chinese rock sugar. Shop it here.

Recipe

Serves: 1 tall glass Prep: 5 minutes, plus 4 hours cold brew Total: 4 hours 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 4g oolong tea leaves
• 400g water, cold
• 1 fragrant lemon (香水柠檬)
• Fresh peach flesh, to taste
• Ship Brand Rock Sugar Syrup 冰糖漿, to taste
• Ice, to fill

Directions

1. Stir 4g oolong into 400g cold water. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours, so the leaf brews slowly with no bitterness.
2. Press the fragrant lemon into a glass to release its juice and oils.
3. Add fresh peach flesh and press for juice.
4. Pour in the chilled oolong, then add a little rock sugar syrup and stir to combine.
5. Fill the glass with ice, garnish with a lemon slice and a piece of peach, and serve cold.

Notes

• No fragrant lemon? A regular lemon or lime works; use a little less so it does not overpower the peach.
• Brew the oolong the night before for an even smoother cup.

To finish

This is a build-your-own kind of drink. Keep a jar of cold-brew oolong in the fridge and a bottle of rock sugar syrup on the counter, and a fresh glass is a two-minute job whenever the heat sets in. Swap peach for lychee or white grape as the season turns.

Ship Brand (帆船牌) is the retail line of Yuen Tung Sugar Factory Industrial Company Limited. Sugar refined in Hong Kong since 1948. Shop the collection.