Tea Cocktail Recipes for National Hot Tea Month

January is National Hot Tea Month and January 12th is National Hot Tea Day. Mark this double-hitter of tea celebrations with some cocktail recipes that incorporate tea!



‘Tis the Tea-son

Ingredients:

1.5 oz Ketel One Vodka

3 oz Earl Grey Tea 

.5 oz Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice

.25 oz Lemon Juice

1 pinch Nutmeg

Garnish: Lemon Wheels and Orange Peels

1 oz Dark Brown Sugar Syrup:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup warm water

Directions:

For the Dark Brown Sugar Syrup:

1. Combine 1 cup brown sugar with 1 cup of warm or hot water. 
2. Stir until dissolved and store in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.

For the cocktail:

1. Heat up and prep the tea first. For every 12 oz of water, use two Earl Grey tea bags. Create the tea and allow the tea bags to oversteep for about 10 minutes.
2. In a pot, add all of the ingredients (including the nutmeg) and allow it to sit on low for 5 - 10 minutes until hot. 
3. Serve in a mug and place the lemon wheel and orange peel into the glass for garnish. 

 

Boozy Sweet Tea

Ingredients:

6 cups water, divided

2 tablespoons Sweet’N Low®

4 black tea bags (such as Earl Grey or English Breakfast)

6 oz bourbon or other whisky

⅓ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

Lemon wheel or slices for garnish

Fresh mint leaves for garnish

Directions:

1. In a saucepan over high heat, bring 2 cups water and sweetener to a boil.
2. Turn off heat, add tea bags, and allow to steep for 5 minutes.
3. Remove tea bags and pour into a heat-safe pitcher.
4. Stir in 4 cups water, bourbon, and lemon juice.
5. Refrigerate until cold.
6. Pour into glasses filled with ice, and garnish with a lemon wheel and fresh mint.

 

Mare Island Cherry Smash

Ingredients:

3 Muddled Cherries

1 oz Savage & Cooke Bourbon

1 oz Amaretto Liqueur

3/4 oz Lemon Juice

3/4 oz Chai Tea Syrup

Garnish: Cherry & Lemon Peel

Directions:

1. Muddle cherries in a shaker.
2. Then combine fresh lemon juice, chai tea syrup, Savage & Cooke bourbon, and amaretto liqueur into the shaker and fill it with ice.
3. Shake vigorously for 8 to 12 seconds.
4. Strain into an Old-Fashioned glass filled with fresh ice.
5. Garnish with a cherry and/or lemon peel.

 

The Blaze

Ingredients:

1 ½ oz Ketel One Vodka

¾ oz Orange Curacao

Garnish: Torched Rosemary Sprig 

Glassware: Old Fashioned Glass

Ice: Large Format Ice Cube (2" x 2")

¾ oz Blood Orange & Lime Juice Blend: 

• 50% Natalie's Blood Orange Juice
• 50% Fresh Lime Juice

¾ oz Spiced Hibiscus Tea

• 16 oz Water
• 65g Cane Sugar
• 10g Dried Hibiscus Flowers
• 1 Cinnamon Stick
• 3 Whole Clove Buds
• Pinch Dried Lavender Buds

Directions:

For the spiced hibiscus tea:

1. Combine all ingredients except cane sugar in a small pot over low heat.
2. Bring to a boil for five minutes and remove from heat.
3. Stir in cane sugar until completely dissolved and allow to cool.
4. Store in an airtight vessel and keep refrigerated for up to five days.

For the cocktail:

1. Combine Ketel One Vodka, Cointreau, Citrus Blend, and Spiced Hibiscus Tea in a mixing tin.
2. Shake with cubed ice until cold.
3. Double strain into old fashioned glass over a large format ice cube.
4. Garnish with a torched sprig of rosemary.

 

Chamomile Collins

Ingredients: 

1 1⁄2 oz Empress 1908 Indigo Gin 

1 oz Lemon Juice

1 oz Chamomile Tea Syrup 

Soda Water to top and a Lemon Wheel 

Directions:

1. Shake the gin, lemon juice, and chamomile syrup on ice
2. Strain into a chilled Collins glass on fresh ice
3. Top with soda water
4. Garnish with a lemon wheel and/or dried chamomile flowers

 

Zapotec Sour

Ingredients:

1 1/2 oz. Del Maguey Mezcal Vida

1 oz. The Perfect Purée Blackberry Puree, thawed

1 oz. Earl Grey syrup (1 part Earl Grey tea mixed with 1 part simple syrup)

1 oz. fresh lime juice

3/4 oz. egg white

Edible flower (optional)

Directions:

1. In a cocktail shaker, combine the mezcal, Blackberry Puree, Earl Grey syrup, lime juice and egg white
2. Shake well
3. Add ice and shake hard a second time
4. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with the edible flower
5. Serve

 

Moonraker

Ingredients: 

1 1⁄2 oz Gin 

3⁄4 oz Amante 1530

3⁄4 oz fresh lemon juice

(3) 1⁄4” cucumber rounds

1⁄2 oz green tea simple syrup:

• Ito En Unsweetened Green Tea
• White sugar

Directions:

For the Green Tea Syrup:

1. Combine equal parts room temperature Ito En Unsweetened Green Tea (or home brewed tea of your choice) and white sugar.
2. Shake well to combine, let sit and reshake until fully dissolved

For the cocktail:

1. Quarter two of the three cucumber wheels and muddle with the lemon juice in a shaker tin.
2. Add the other ingredients and shake well with ice.
3. Double strain into a chilled coupe glass.
4. Float the last cucumber wheel as a garnish.

 

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