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.
Recipe #1: Tea Sangria
Ingredients:
Blood Orange or other citrus tisane.
Lemonade
Sparkling White Wine
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
Recipe #2: Pina Colada Punch
Ingredients:
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
Recipe #3 Blackberry Sage Noir
Ingredients:
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
Recipe #4: Cucumber Melon Sake
Ingredients:
Cucumber Melon Green tea or other melon flavored tea (lychee is another idea)
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 Recipe
Ingredients:
Lavender Raspberry Tea or other Floral Tea
Lemonade
Directions:
Brew 8 ounces of tea according to direction
Add about 1/4 lemonade
Slowly pour tea over ice
Top off with additional ice