66 replies to this topic

[2010]

Mar'tea'nis, Tea-nis, Tea cocktails, Tea-infused Vodka etc. How good are they? Has anyone tried any? Does anyone have recipes? Alcoholic or non-alcoholic.
Thanks!

[slkinsey]

Audrey's Earl Gray MarTEAni has been a popular drink for several years. It's essentially a silver gin sour made with Earl Gray-infused Tanqueray.

[JAZ]

I wasn't sure I'd like the Earl Gray MarTEAni, but it works really well. I think tea is like any other potential ingredient -- you can't use it indiscriminately, but it works in some recipes. The tannins make it pretty astringent, so you particularly have to watch that aspect of it.

[eje]

I will just point out that tea isn't a new ingredient in cocktails; but, actually one of the oldest.

In fact, it is often cited, as one of the original ingredients in "punch" dating back in recipes as far as the 1500s!

In any case, yeah, there are lots of flavors in teas and infusions that have yet to be explored (or perhaps have been forgotten) in cocktails. Go for it and let us know!

[2010]

Alright, I'll bite. Does anyone have a tea cocktail recipe they like worth posting?
Thanks!

[slkinsey]

Audrey's Earl Gray MarTEAni.

I had once thought that Lapsang Souchong would make an interesting infusion into alcohol for a cocktail - but after trying it, it turns out that smoky-tea-infused-liquor is just as hard to mix with as scotch.

[2010]

^^^Thanks for the link. I'd like to give it a try but oh, gin, not one of my favorite spirits. I prefer vodka martinis. I'll give it a try anyway. Thanks!

[Megan Blocker]

Audrey's Earl Gray MarTEAni has been a popular drink for several years.  It's essentially a silver gin sour made with Earl Gray-infused Tanqueray.

And it is soooo tasty.

[Sneakeater]

They have a Green Tea Collins at Chinatown Brasserie.

[Carolyn Tillie]

I had a Green Tea Peach Martini at Campton Place just last evening... Quite nice!

I don't have an exact recipe, but the description included Fris Vodka (I thought Pear flavored, but there is nothing like that on their website), green tea in some flavor component, and pear juice. They floated a thin sliver of dried pear on top and all was quite nice.

[slkinsey]

The only real tea cocktail I've had is the Earl Gray MarTEAni, and tannin is fairly prominent in that one (albeit tempered by the egg whites). I'm interested to hear the extent to which tannin is present in other tea-infused-liquor cocktails. I'm not surprised, for example, to hear of more green tea-infused-liquor cocktails than black tea-infused-liquor cocktails, because green tea is substantially lower in tannin.

[Sneakeater]

You can really -- I mean, REALLY -- taste the difference in tannins between the Earl Grey MarTEAni and the Green Tea Collins.

[phlip]

Julie Riener at the flatiron lounge has been working with tea for years. the hibiscus swizzle is one of the most popular cocktails in the house made with gin youngberry juice lemon and a house made hibiscus tea syrup. Also very popular now is the bejing peach featuring jasmine infused vodka. tea is really a wonderful ingriediant it can even give vodka flavor. There is also a jasmine infused gin cocktail currently on the pegu club menu. I would expect to see more tea cocktails or cocktails with tea in the future.

[slkinsey]

Thanks for the info, phlip.

There are several meanings of the word "tea" and I wonder if there isn't a small confusion of terms here. Tea can mean not only refer to the tea bush Camellia sinensis and a beverage made from its leaves, buds, etc., but can also refer to beverages made in a similar manner using other herbs, buds, flowers, whatever. We might refer to these preparations loosely as "herbal teas." When I think of tea-infused-liquor for the purposes of this discussion, I'm specifically thinking of liquor that has been infused with tea leaves. As I noted above, tea leaf infusions have the somewhat unique challenge of tannin. Something like hibiscus-infused syrup I would consider a herb-infusion rather than a tea-infusion, despite the fact that we call hibiscus flowers steeped in water "hibiscus tea."

Phlip: do you know whether the jasmine-infused gin used in the cocktail at Pegu is infused with jasmine flowers or whether it is infused with jasmine tea consisting of (usually) green tea that has been perfumed with jasmine flowers?

[Kent Wang]

Slkinsey, I agree with that distinction though I like to use the term 'tisane' instead of 'herbal tea'.

Green and white teas should have the least tannins and be more workable.

All these tea-infused liquors are done in quite a different method from the typical method of boiling water. Does the tea produce a different taste when cold-infused versus being plunged in boiling water? How about just using plain old tea -- sure, there's no alcohol, but maybe you're trying to keep the ABV of your cocktail low.

[Kent Wang]

Or, holy cow, what if you brought the gin to a near boil and poured it on the tea leaves? There seems something wrong with heating liquor but I'm not sure of the science behind it.

[bethpageblack]

Mar'tea'nis, Tea-nis, Tea cocktails, Tea-infused Vodka etc. How good are they? Has anyone tried any? Does anyone have recipes? Alcoholic or non-alcoholic.
Thanks!

This is all they drink in China, and sometimes in Hong Kong. They mix either sweetened chilled green or chrysanthemum tea with Black Label or Chivas with ice, stir it, and then pour the contents into a small pitcher so you don't get a diluted drink. You can add as much liquor as you want, but it's usually in a 4-5:1 ratio. Very weak drink, but it can eventually pack a whallop if you're not careful.

At first, I was very hesitant to drink this, since I'm from NY , and always asked for my drinks with rocks, but now I've gotten used to it. Not bad, but I still prefer it on the rocks. However, with the way people drink here, I wouldn't be able to last one hour that way.

Edited by bethpageblack, 03 September 2006 - 08:38 AM.

[jmfangio]

I've been playing around with vodka infusions, and recently made some with Earl Grey, and jasmine tea with a dash of dried lavender.

With the Earl Grey, so far I've had it topped off with sparkling lemonade, and in a cocktail with lemon juice, and a dash of simple syrup.

I just made the jasmine/lavender infusion the other day. So far all that I've done is sip it straight from the freezer, and it's amazing. The jasmine flavor explodes in your mouth, followed by a hint of the lavender as you swallow. I only made a little over a cup as a test run; now I need to make some more and start experimenting with cocktails.

Edited by jmfangio, 03 September 2006 - 12:26 PM.

[marlena spieler]

Admin: Threads merged.

anyone know where i might find tea cocktails, perhaps in a fashionable trendy place? perhaps green tea based? or other unusual tea bases?

i love iced tea and am thinking that cocktails featuring them are a delectable thing and i aim to find me some.......

[slkinsey]

Hi Marlena.

Two questions:

1. Where are you looking for these cocktails? A city would be useful to know in making recommendations.

2. I assume you are interested in buying these cocktails at a bar and not making them yourself?

[Carolyn Tillie]

Marlena, when next you are in SanFran, I'm sure we can find a few places for you to visit. I had a lovely tea/pear cocktail at Campton's bar that should fit the bill!

[marlena spieler]

Hi Marlena.

Two questions:

1. Where are you looking for these cocktails?  A city would be useful to know in making recommendations.

2. I assume you are interested in buying these cocktails at a bar and not making them yourself?

thanks slkinsey, let me be clearer:

1. it can be anywhere, i'm just curious at this point.
2. both: i like the idea of buying them at a bar, but also perhaps a cafe if it is nonalcoholic, or making it ones self?

thanks for the advice, i'll post something in the cocktails forums too,

marlena

[marlena spieler]

Marlena, when next you are in SanFran, I'm sure we can find a few places for you to visit. I had a lovely tea/pear cocktail at Campton's bar that should fit the bill!

oooooh, sounds like just the thing i'm looking for. hope to see you soon,

x m

[Sneakeater]

Audrey Saunders's MarTEAni cocktail has been a big personal favorite for years, from her days at the Bemmelmans Bar in New York to her current tenure at Pegu Club, also in New York.

[marlena spieler]

Sneakeater, a million thanks!

I'm totally into tea cocktails now........and I am knowing I'm not alone!

[mukki]

I had a really nice tea cocktail at Eleven Madison Park recently. I can't remember all that was in it, but I had two and they were quite delicious and well-balanced.

[eje]

For what it is worth, old-fashioned recipes for punches often call for tea.

There are a couple pretty tasty examples in this topic:

Mixology Monday X

[Sneakeater]

I had a really nice tea cocktail at Eleven Madison Park recently. I can't remember all that was in it, but I had two and they were quite delicious and well-balanced.

I'd forgotten. I really liked it, too!

[KatieLoeb]

Inspired by this thread, tonight I fooled around with some previously tea-infused Ten Cane rum I'd had laying about for quite some time.

2 oz. Cyclone tea infused Ten Cane
.75 oz. Kassatly Ajyal Apricot syrup
.75 oz. fresh lemon juice
.5 oz Marie Brizard Poire William liqueur
.5 oz. Rhum Clement Creole Shrub
two dashes Fee Brothers Orange Flower syrup

Shake over ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a large lemon twist.

Here's what the finished product looked like:



It was attractive in the glass and relatively tasty. My problem was that the tannins in the tea were much too prominent. Although this might be from lying around too long, I seem to recall that even when the infusion was "fresh" this was an issue. So how to compensate?

When Pegu Club infuses the gin for the Smokin' Mar-tea-nis how big a batch are they making? Would it be wiser to perhaps infuse a simple syrup with the tea and use that in the cocktails to avoid the acrid flavors of too much tannin? Is it even possible to consider doing this on an a la minute basis? How long would people be willing to wait for a fresh artisinal cocktail? How's that going to work at 9PM on a Saturday night in a really busy bar? Is it the black tea vs white or green tea issue? What about that lovely loose Earl Grey with Violets I have in my cupboard? I'd love to do something with that, but I'm afeared from this experience to try.

I'd love for any of you professionals with experience in this to chime in. Sam? Audrey? Don? I await your advice with much anticipation because there's a whole world of stuff I could be doing if I could figure this out...

[cdh]

Katie-

Did you leave the tea leaves in the rum for months? I'd imagine the trick to controlling the tannins lies in choosing the right tea (I'd bet a malty Assam or a very tippy Yunnan would go best with rum) and controlling how long it infuses into the booze. The timing is going to have to be tailored to the form your tea is in... if it is big whole leaves it will take longer than if it is leaf pieces or the product of CTC processing. Color would be a good indicator to rely on at first, I think. Once it gets to light golden, start tasting.