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:

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
iced tea refresher on cutting board with gold coins and shamrocks

Pina Colada Punch


Needed:


Directions:

  • Brew 3/4 cup of Lotta Colada tea
  • Add 1/2 cup of Pinot grigio
  • Pour over ice

Blackberry Sage Noir


Needed:


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

Top-down view of Blackberry Sage Noir

Cucumber Melon Sake


Needed:


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

Cucumber Melon Sake

BONUS: Alcohol Free Cocktail


Needed:


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

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