Sanctuary T Restaurant

With spring in full swing, it’s time to jazz up your happy hour beer time with a splash of loose leaf tea. We know it sounds like a strange pairing; but if you enjoy a nice, cold, golden beer and you also love loose leaf tea then try adding the two together.

Our favorite recipe is to add our loose leaf Watermelon blend to a glass of beer (a light summer beer like corona pairs well). All you have to do is pour 1 tablespoon of our Watermelon fruit blend to your beer and let it sit for about 4 minutes while stirring occasionally.

After 4 minutes you can either scoop out the fruit bits or simply enjoy them with the beer. We like the added goodness of the dried fruit in the beer, so we keep the bits in  while enjoying our glass.

We love this recipe because it’s a perfect way to make a simple beer a bit more summery and special. Also, if you enjoy a little fruit flavor but don’t want anything that ruins the integrity of your beer, then this recipe is for you! You can even slice up a lime to garnish.

Last week we kicked off our Thanksgiving Dishes & Tea Pairing series with Apple Pie and a strong brew of loose leaf Assam. For the second pairing, we’re featuring something a little less conventional, but still a perfect tea pairing for Thanksgiving: Gin and Earl Grey.

Curious? Well, read on!

Out of the various alcohols that are consumed during the Thanksgiving holiday season, Gin is one of the best spirits to “pair” (or rather infuse) with tea. Since Gin is predominantly made with  juniper berries and often has scents of citrus botanicals such as lemon and bitter orange,  it infuses wonderfully with the bergamot flavor and bold black tea leaves in Earl Grey.

So next time you say cheers over a turkey dinner, try raising up an Earl Grey Martini to jazz up your holiday toast. Check out the recipe below for instructions on how to infuse and shake up your Earl Grey Martini.

Just remember when infusing any alcohol with tea that you must use good loose leaf tea for the flavor of the tea to translate into the spirit; and plan on infusing your alcohol 2 hours before you make the cocktails.

Ingredients for Infusion:

• 1.5 Table Spoons of high quality loose leaf Earl Grey
• 16 oz of Gin

Directions for Infusion:

1. When making cocktails for the holidays it is nice to have a larger amount of alcohol pre-infused so you can make multiple cocktails at once. So we’ve decide to infuse 16 oz of Gin, but feel free to double the amount if needed.
2. Simply pour the gin into a large empty bottle or pitcher.
3. Add in the Earl Grey
4. Stir or shake every 15 minutes or until the tea leaves settle again.
5. The agitation will allow the gin to strip off the flavor from the tea and go into the alcohol.
6. Continue for about 2 hours and up to 4 for a strong flavor. Never infuse overnight–the alcohol will get bitter, just like oversteeped tea.

Ingredients for Earl Grey Martini (1 cocktail)

• 2 oz of Earl Grey Gin
• 1 oz simple syrup
• 1/2 oz of lemon juice
• 1 egg white (yup, good old egg whites for froth!)
• Sugar
• VIGOR

Directions:

1. Separate egg white from yolk.
2. Pour Earl Grey gin, simple syrup, lemon juice and egg white into shaker.
3. Add ice to shaker and shake with vigor.
4. Shake until there is a froth.
5. Rim your glass with sugar.
6. Strain into rimmed glass.
7. Garnish with lemon.