Why is ginger iced tea more harsh than hot tea?

[repoman]

I have been making iced tea by brewing many of the teas I have at home in advance and chilling in the fridge. Most of them have been subtly different as iced tea compared to being hot tea.

But the ginger tea (Tazo Green Ginger to be exact) is really damn harsh as iced tea, painful even.

Why is this?

 

[Malintent]

I would have guessed that ginger would be harsher hot than cold, due to more volatile compounds being released into your palet... hot sake versus cold sake, for example. Perhaps your process "burns off" enough of those when prepared hot, though.

 

[doubtingt]

Does the tea bag stay in the water for longer when you make it into iced tea?

Longer time in the water might leach out more astringent and bitter compounds of the ginger root rather than just the aromatics that you want.

If the only difference in process is that the iced tea is chilled before drinking, then my best guess would be that its a matter of the ratio of nasal to tongue receptors that are generating the taste experience. The hot tea releases more airbourne aromatics that enter your nose and drive the taste experience. When cold, it is more your tongue receptors driving the experience, which means you'll pick up more on bitterness of the ginger and less on the aromatics.

I'm really just spitballin' but those would be my best educated but out of my wheelhouse guesses.

 

[Under the Rose]

I rather suspect the sharper taste comes about because of the length of time that the ginger is exposed to heat. Many spices used in cooking are added at the end because heat causes them to become more sharp or bitter, depending on their chemical make-up.

The pungent taste of ginger is due to nonvolatile phenylpropanoid-derived compounds, particularly gingerols and shogaols, which form from gingerols when ginger is dried or cooked.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginger

 

[Underseer]

Iced ginger tea?

Hot ginger tea (with a generous helping of honey) is awesome for clearing up a runny nose and soothing your throat when you have a cold, but why would you want cold ginger tea?

For anyone reading this, making ginger tea is stupidly easy. Just slice up fresh ginger and boil it in water.