Fix My Drink: Have your tea and drink it, too — with booze
Adam McDowell
Each week in this space, we satisfy your curiosity about wine, beer, cocktails and spirits, tea and coffee. Got a topic you’d like to see? Send a message to amcdowell@postmedia.com.
“I’m wondering if you can share a refreshing tea cocktail recipe with me. I’m cottaging and looking for yummy drink recipes.” Kate Bojin, who enjoys a nice Pinot Noir in the winter months and a crisp IPA while the sun shines
An energizing tea drink sounds like a fine idea if you’re desperate, as so many Canadians are, to cling to the last rays of sort-of-summer. Since we’re in the business of maximizing our waning warm-weather time this week, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the lazy option, namely Owl’s Brew mixers. For a mere — OK, arguably excessive — $20 or so a bottle, you get a concoction of tea, sugar and other flavours, to be blended in the ratio “2 parts brew + 1 part booze,” thus creating an instant caffeinated cocktail. Vodka added to the black tea-and-citrus flavour of the “Classic” yielded me a cocktail that lacked the vivid zip of a freshly made drink but was refreshing enough. I preferred the spicy “Pink & Black” variety with Alberta Premium rye whisky. It could almost pass for a handmade drink.
If you’re unafraid of the cocktail shaker, try an Earl Grey marteani, which has become enough of a classic that you can easily find it by Googling “Audrey Saunders marteani.” Saunders is the owner of New York’s Pegu Club, and deserves our gratitude for the fact that cocktails got much tastier everywhere after her influential gin joint opened on West Houston Street in 2005. Thirsty for a twist to her original recipe, my instincts steered me toward experiments with Sloane Heavenly Cream and David’s Tea’s Cream of Earl Grey flavour (both Canadian products) instead of the plain Earl Grey tea originally prescribed. To say this worked out well would be an understatement. For all the many times my instincts were wrong, I forgive them.
Finally, what about green tea? If you’re feeling ambitious, try the Awesome Johnny, a new creation by Stephen Stewart, bar manager at Calgary’s Korean resto Anju. If you’re scratching your head over shiso leaf, it’s a freshly aromatic herb available from some Asian grocers; at Korean stores it’s often called “perilla.”
AWESOME JOHNNY1 shiso leaf, julienned½ oz. demerara sugar syrupquality green tea2 oz. CognacMethod At least one hour ahead of time, prepare sugar syrup by adding two parts demerara sugar to one part water, simmering and stirring until all the sugar is dissolved. Prepare a pot of tea, and cool both the tea and the syrup in the fridge. To prepare cocktail, add shiso and syrup to the bottom of a Collins glass and gently press with muddler or spoon to express the oils from the shiso. Fill glass with halfway with crushed ice. Add Cognac and tea. Swizzle (stir) the ice with a stick until ice settles, then add more ice and keep stirring; repeat until glass is full, and serve.
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