I dry hopped a keg of beer this morning and had a 1/2oz of Citra left over. I put it back in the freezer and went to make some green tea. On the way upstairs, I wondered what it might be like to throw some hops in the tea. I've heard of doing this so thought I'd try it. I did a quick mental calculation based on a gallon of cider I dry hopped with 1/4oz of Citra a couple months back. It wasn't overpowering, I couldn't taste it, but two friends could so decided to try an 1/8oz of citra in 12 cups of tea. Wayy to bitter to drink. Tried again, but cut the hops back to 1 gram. Much less bitter (to me anyway) but notably, still bitter. I wondered why.. I use the coffee maker to make tea, just throw the hops and a couple tea bags in the filter basket. The water temp hitting the hops was 190F. Hopstand temp (for some recipes). Not boiling, but close. Hops were in the tea maybe 10 mins.
From what I've gathered about hops in terms of boiling, bittering, aroma and flavor is that adding them under boiling temp doesn't contribute to the overall bitterness. This does not seem to be the case. Is the bittering that occurrs just more intense since there isn't a lot in the water compared to wort?
l'm curious now about adding the hops after letting the tea cool for a bit. I have a teaball around here somewhere....