Thirst-Quenching Delight
It's summertime and a good time to take a lighter approach to tea drinking. Iced tea is always a favorite, but tea can also be used in combination with alcoholic beverages to create unique, enjoyable and TASTY summer cocktails.
This article will focus on non-distilled beverages like wine as the alcohol source. This is also ideal for cafes who want to offer interesting alternative cocktails without needing a liquor license. Plus, the alcohol levels are lower so that everyone can enjoy one or two without getting hammered.
Planning a summer gathering? Mojitos are a nice summer cocktail, but if you have a lot of people, muddling the mint and preparing everything can be labor intensive. The great thing about these tea cocktails is that they are easy to scale up in large quantities with minimal work. Plus, your guests will be blown away by the great taste, and the fact that tea is a major ingredient.
Regarding the alcohol, most wine stores will carry small individual or half bottle sizes. You don't need anything fancy. You can keep frozen lemonade concentrate on-hand and use as much as you need. The recipes below are all single serving proportions, but just double, triple the amounts for how much you want.
Garnishes like lemons, oranges, mint are optional. When called for, simple syrup is a 50/50 sugar water mixture.
Tea Sangria
Servings: 2-4 servings
Needed:
- Blood Orange loose-leaf tea
- Lemonade
- Sparkling White Wine
- Infuser
Directions:
- Steep 1/3 cup of blood orange tea
- Pour in 1/3 cup of sparkling wine
- Add 1/2 cup lemonade
- Pour over ice and garnish with citrus
Pina Colada Punch
Needed:
- Pina Colada style fruit tisane
- Pinot Grigio
Directions:
- Brew 3/4 cup of Lotta Colada tea
- Add 1/2 cup of Pinot grigio
- Pour over ice
Blackberry Sage Noir
Needed:
- Blackberry Sage tea or other dark berry flavored tea
- Pinot Noir
Directions:
- Brew 1/4 cup of berry-flavored tea
- Add in 1/3 cup lemonade
- Add 1/2 cup Pinot Noir
- Supplement with 1 oz simple syrup
- Pour over ice and garnish with berries
Cucumber Melon Sake
Needed:
- Cucumber Melon Green tea
- Sake
- Lemon
Directions:
- Brew 1/2 cup cucumber melon tea
- Pour in 1/4 cup sake
- Add 1 oz simple syrup
- Squeeze juice from a slice of lemon
- Pour over ice and garnish with cucumber slice
BONUS: Alcohol Free Cocktail
Needed:
- Lavender Raspberry Tea or other Floral Tea
- Lemonade
Directions:
- Brew 8 ounces of tea according to directions
- Add about 1/4 cup lemonade
- Slowly pour tea over ice
- Top off with additional ice
