ICED TEA: sodas and cocktails

In the summertime, the hydrating and refreshing qualities of tea are unmatched. Here’s a few ideas around upping your iced tea game!

FIRST OF ALL, HOW DO I MAKE TEA COLD?

There are two ways - cold brew, or cooling down a hot brew.

Cold brew takes time, about 4 or 5 hours (or overnight while you sleep). This method involves steeping 4 to 5 teaspoons of your selected blend in a litre of cold water. It’s slow, but more economic.

Cooling down a hot brew is much faster - you essentially brew a tea two to three times as strong as you normally would, then pour it over ice. It’s faster, but less economic.

FROM ICED TEA TO TEA SODA

A little carbonation goes a long way! An easy way to spruce up an iced tea is to add a dash of soda water. Simply add up to 50% soda water to your brew and you’ll be enjoying a sparkling tea soda. So easy!

SPIKE IT!

Gin or vodka usually work best with the flavour profiles of most tea blends. Gin tends to be made with various botanicals, so its aromatic nature melts nicely into tea and herbal blends - you might even find there’s a significant amount of crossover between their ingredients. Depending on the vodka you use (and how much of it you add!), the iced tea might simply overpower its flavour.

AN ELEVATED COCKTAIL EXPERIENCE

Cold brewing tea is, in my opinion, the best way to get all the flavour notes in a chilled context from your leaves. Because of this, preparation is key. Gin, in my opinion, is the best spirit to compliment tea leaves - especially our blends because we use so many native botanicals which you will often find in Australian made gins.

SHINCHA MARTINI

This is a complex, umami and bright tea based take on the classic gin martini.

You will need:  

Cold brew shincha (4 teaspoons in 1 litre of cold water overnight)

Gin

Sweet white vermouth

Lemon peel

Olives in brine

A martini glass

A mixing glass full of ice

A bar spoon

A jigger

A julep strainer

To your mixing glass full of ice, add:

30ml of gin

15ml of sweet white vermouth

60ml of cold brew shincha

A bar spoon of olive brain (optional, if you like it savoury)

Stir all these ingredients with your bar spoon for between 20 and 60 seconds. The longer you stir, the less sharp the concoction will be (as the melting ice will dilute the intensity of the flavour).

Pour into your martini glass via your julep strainer (this will seperate the cocktail from the ice). Garnish with a lemon twist, or with olives (or both!).