Love making cocktails? Want to expand your flavor palette? Add tea! A plethora of easy cocktail recipes will be at your disposal. 

7 Tips for Making Great Tea-Centered Cocktails | Easy Cocktail Recipes

When it comes to the world of highfalutin, historic and trendy cocktails, it seems like even the sky isn’t the limit. While imbibing in alcohol has always been a favorite American pastime, the reintroduction of Prohibition-style cocktails and speakeasies into mainstream drinking culture over the past two decades has arguably transformed the way many Americans take — and think about — their liquor.

The addition of tea has lately become part of this transformation as well as pioneering barkeeps and at-home mavens seek to continually expand the palette of the drinking public. If you love a memorable cocktail so much, you routinely work at creating the masterpieces at home.

If this describes you, it’s time to add tea to your favorite cocktail and expand your flavor horizons. Here are seven tips to help ensure your tea-based cocktails are top-notch:

SEE ALSO: How To Make Herbal Tea

 1. Quality Tea

As with almost everything, the sum of a cocktail can never truly rise above its parts. Because of this reality, it’s essential that you start with very high-quality tea. Just as ice, ratios, liquor and other ingredients must be stellar in order to produce an outstanding cocktail, so too must the tea you’re using truly shine.

Choose organic tea from a reputable company like Buddha Teas. Doing so will set you up so well to succeed on your quest of making fabulous tea-based cocktails that you may find it necessary to become a Buddha Teas wholesaler in order to properly spread the gospel of putting unbelievable tea in unbelievable cocktails.

2. Ratio Magic

Once you have an amazing tea to work with, the next step in crafting a great cocktail relies on utilizing the proper ratio of tea to alcohol. In general, start with a batch of double-strength brewed tea, regardless of whether you’re using Earl Gray or Hibiscus Flower. From there, keep to a ratio of four parts double-strength tea to one part alcohol. Whether you’re using vodka or bourbon, stick to this formula at the start. Eventually, you may find you want to deviate from it in order to pull off more subtle or more robust flavors.

3. The Not-Hot Water Brew

Another aspect of using tea in your cocktails that you’ll need to negotiate is water temperature. For green tea, boiling water will actually turn the tea bitter, so make sure you keep a hot water brew below 190 degrees Fahrenheit.

Other types of tea can benefit from a gentler approach as well. Simply pour cold or room temperature water over the tea leaves or tea bags, and let them sit between 10 minutes and a half hour until the flavor and color suit you.

4. Get the Sweet Right

There are many ways to sweeten cocktails, and getting creative when you’re incorporating tea into a drink can bring about some memorable experiences. Don’t be afraid to try honey, molasses, or maple syrup. Just be sure to start on the low-end when it comes to adding the sweetener. Because tea has so many nuances, an overwhelming experience of “sweet” can overshadow them yielding a cocktail that’s duller than it should be.

It’s…tea time!

via GIPHY

5. Get the Booze Right

While almost every type of liquor can be used when you’re making a tea-based cocktail, when you’re first starting out you may want to choose a more neutral spirit. Vodka and gin make great mixers, because they tend to take up less space than, say, Scotch or Tequila.

That being said, the main rule to follow is not to use cheap or low-quality alcohol. For cocktails that sing, the booze must be worth singing over, and bottom shelf simply won’t do.

6. Oh, the Infusion

Another way to enjoy tea-centered cocktails is to create an infusion. While mixing with brewed tea provides ample opportunities to create an ideal drink, an infusion will provide you with the opportunity to make those straight booze cocktails speakeasies were known for. Simply soak tea leaves or tea bags inside a lidded mason jar filled with your favorite alcohol. Infuse it for a couple of days or a couple of months.

Tea’s complexity will change the taste, color, and aroma over time, so whichever length of time you choose, be sure to taste it every couple of days or so. When it hits notes you’re excited to work with, strain out the tea, and craft a cocktail.

7. Be Patient

Above all else, be patient. Making tea-centered cocktails is just like any other drink-related craft: Trial and error are a part of the process. Take some chances, take good notes, and get ready for everything you thought about alcohol to shift. Once you dive into the world of tea-based cocktails, you may never want to emerge again.

Love our post on tea cocktails? Want more easy cocktail recipes? Let us know in the comments below! We’d love to hear from you. 

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