I’ve been on a bit of a tea kick.
After writing this piece in January about the versatility of tea in cocktails, I've got two more drink recipes to share that incorporate the herbal, floral, citrus and everything-in-between flavors of tea. One hails from Austin's Juliet, an Italian restaurant on Barton Springs Road that often gets attention for its food or its beautiful design — with less of a spotlight, sadly, on the drinks. The cocktails there are always top-notch.
Take the Golden Fiore as an example. The standout cocktail features tropical green tea-infused Scotch, a combination that softens the whisky’s harsher notes while contributing a slightly fruity aroma. In equal parts to the Scotch is chamomile grappa, which adds its own herbal flavor to the overall drink. It’s light, floral and refreshing.
So is the All’s Well, also on the spring cocktail menu, with rye whiskey, Cocchi Rosa, apricot liqueur, honey, lime juice, Belgian wheat beer and tiki bitters, but I’ll refrain on waxing rhapsodic about this one. We’re talking about tea.
To that end, I’d also recommend the Silk Journey. With both gin and tea — two heavily herbal elements — I wondered about the cocktail’s balance, but it’s also an easy-drinking spring drink.
The Golden Fiore
1 oz. tropical green tea-infused Scotch
1 oz. Milla Chamomile Grappa
1 1/2 oz. Dolin Rouge
2 dashes Regan’s Orange Bitters
Stir and serve in a Nick and Nora glass. Garnish with chamomile flower.
— Juliet’s Jeramy Campbell
The Silk Journey
2 oz. Bombay Sapphire East Gin
3/4 oz. fresh lime juice
1/2 oz. pomegranate syrup
2 oz. oolong and mandarin tea
Ginger beer
Shake well and serve over ice. Top with ginger beer. Garnish with large orange zest and either candied ginger or pomegranate seeds.
— Bombay Sapphire ambassador Gary Hayward
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