In my head, I know that I should be reviewing the last two ‘new teas’ that I bought recently, but I’ve just not been in the right headspace to sit with a tea. Instead, I’ve been drawn to a cocktail recipe from The Book of Afternoon Tea that involves Earl Grey.
Here’s the thing about Earl Grey: I’m extremely picky about it. Too much bergamot or too much artificial bergamot is going to put me off the tea. And if there’s a non-Earl Grey alternative around, I’m probably going to reach for that. This is why the tin of Mariage Freres Earl Grey has been sitting in my tea cabinet for ages despite the fact that I like it more than most other Earl Greys (the only two that I think I might like more is the one by Rare Tea Company and the Timeless Earl Grey by The 1872 Clipper Tea Co.).
This Earl Grey Gin & Tonic though, hits the spot. The bergamot notes go well with the gin and everything is lightened by the tonic water. The actual recipe called for things like a sugar syrup and crushed peaches, but I kept things extremely simple:
Step 1: Cold-brew earl grey in the gin
Step 2: Strain the leaves out
Step 3: Add tonic water to taste
I could see myself making this regularly, if not for the fact that the gin I used is the one my sister left behind and we’re almost out. I’m not a huge drinker so I wouldn’t know where to buy more, but I think I can make a couple more glasses of this before we run out (my other sister also drinks G&T so I don’t actually have a monopoly on it).
I’m also curious about what other teas and tonic would taste like without any gin. I’ve got a huge bottle of tonic water, bought because I thought we were out (we were not) so I may cold brew a few teas and add tonic water to all of them and see what works for me.
So I am the opposite of you, Earl Grey is pretty much the only tea I always like and I am not picky about it 🤣🤣 But I have never tried it with Gin!! That sounds awesome! (Too bad I don’t have Gin or Tonic Water at the house haha)
Oooh, then I think you’d really like Earl Grey G&T! Hopefully you can get some after the quarantine is over! It’s pretty easy to make (:
For some reason, I just can’t get into Earl Grey, even the fancy ones people offer that have an added citrus flavor and so forth. But I think maybe I am just not a fan of black tea in general? Somehow, though, I keep trying like one day the perfect black tea will find me!
It may be the bergamot! The actual fruit is pretty pricey so a lot of people use synthetic flavourings instead. Have you tried a plain black tea, like Ying Hong No. 9? It’s pretty sweet, not too malty and delicious on its own!
Interesting! I have not tried a plain black tea! I guess I don’t consider myself a “serious” tea drinker so I don’t know a lot about it. I just like trying different teas as they come my way. So far red tea is probably my favorite in any form.
I don’t have access to my Ying Hong supplier now, but would you like me to send you some teas after my circuit breaker is lifted? I love giving people teas to try 😊 (And I’ll be getting some Japanese teas soon, if you want to try some of that too!)
I love Earl Grey team, but I will admit I don’t think I could tell you the difference between real and fake bergamot at this point in ym tea consumption! I’m still working on my appreciation of tea.
What sort of gin did you use? I have a few different kinds and I think a juniper-forward gin would be great, but less so a cucumber or floral forward one.
Tea appreciation takes time (and many cups of tea)! I couldn’t tell the difference between artificial and natural flavourings at first, but it’s getting easier now.
I’m afraid I’m not very knowledgeable about gin – that’s more for my sister! But I checked and the label says that it’s a “handcrafted dry gin” inspired by the flavours of Africa. Does that helped?
The biggest difference between “distilled gin” and “dry gin” is that distilled gin will have flavorings added after the distillation process. Dry gin mean all flavors are natrual botanicals from the distilling process. So, not really. XD But I have a handful of different botanically forward gins in my home. I’ll run some experiments!
Ah, I see! Sounds fun – please update on the experiment on which is better!