How to turn tea into nonalcoholic cocktails with deep, complex flavors
His choice makes sense considering that tea, like wine, expresses terroir and, like wine, there are many types of tea. Even among the ordinary black teas, there is a fascinating variety. For example, high-altitude regions in Sri Lanka produce lively Ceylon, while Keemun teas from northern China are rich, chocolatey and heavy on the palate. Check out the other tea categories (green, oolong, white) and you have a dizzying array of distinctive flavors — and that’s before you think of fermented teas.
The point is that if chosen carefully, tea can do a similar job to wine, without the alcohol.
Of course, people around the world have been drinking tea with food for centuries. More recently, however, tea’s structure and complexity have made it a major player in non-alcoholic mixology. Not only can tea choices take non-alcoholic cocktails in different directions, but playing with steeping times can produce different refreshing results: bartenders, for example, can go longer to extract the bitterness of black teas, or lightly brew green teas to add ethereal, get nice flavors.
Today you can buy many non-alcoholic spirits, wines and appetizers, some of which are worth prices of $30 and up. The best wine alternatives — like Three Spirit’s Blurred Vines wine alternatives — tend to come from makers who recognize tea’s ability to add nuance and depth.
Unfortunately, not all products are made as carefully as Blurred Vines, so buying 750ml of one of these non-alcoholic bottles can be a gamble, and depending on where you live you may have to pay for costly shipping.
What, on the other hand, is available at your local grocery store? Many types of tea that you can manipulate to your taste.
All teas come from the same plant species, camellia sinensis, and its clonal variations. This means that chamomile, buckwheat, and hibiscus tea, among others, are herbal teas — and it’s important to note that unlike real teas, they typically don’t contain tannins (explained below) or caffeine. (No caffeine can be good or bad, depending on what you’re looking for in your drink.) A catch-all term that’s also correct is “infusion.” However, for the purposes of this article, we will call all botanical infusions “tea.”
Here are tips on how to start using tea (including infusions) to make complex, thoughtful, non-alcoholic beverages at home — no fancy equipment or special skills required.
If you’re not an aficionado, don’t worry about memorizing the teas just yet. “Pick your favorites,” says Robert Wemischner, author of Cooking with Tea. “That’s the starting point.” Once you’ve decided on a tea, taste it individually and then taste it with a different ingredient. Some combinations that will get your wheels turning: Keemun black tea blended with honeydew melon puree, a Darjeeling oolong blend combined with peach juice or matcha with coconut milk.
White teas are probably too subtle to mix, but Javelle Taft, head bartender at Death & Co. in New York, offers guidance and some flavor combinations to consider for black, green, and oolong.
Black: Their robust flavor and texture shine even when mixed with multiple ingredients. In the fall, Taft infuses black teas with chai spices like nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, allspice, and cardamom. He pours the flavored liquid into a mug and adds hot or cold apple cider, with an orange spiral for garnish.
Green: Most are delicate and should be brewed with care, Taft says, but hojicha is one of his favorites because the leaves are roasted at high heat, “giving it a barley-like, full-bodied flavor profile.” He recommends steeping 6 ounces of hot water with 1/2 teaspoon hojicha for 3 minutes before straining and refrigerating. Then he likes to pair this tea with Roots Divino Bianco, a non-alcoholic white vermouth infused with rosemary and thyme, for a martini drink with a lemon twist.
oolong: “Oolong teas remind me of amontillado sherries because of their amber color and nutty finish,” says Taft. “They’re marzipan-like with roasted plums” and pair well with stone fruit. For a warm drink, he mixes the tea with a ginger-sugar syrup and pomegranate juice and serves it with a hint of citrus.
Choose quality tea and water
High-quality loose leaf tea is not only more environmentally friendly (less packaging), but it also makes ratios easier to control and results in complex flavors.
Use filtered water when brewing tea for best results. Hard water high in calcium and magnesium, as well as soft water, can negatively affect flavor and clarity — but if it’s easiest to go straight from the tap, that’s fine.
Brewing hot or cold tea will produce different results. So keep that in mind when preparing tea-infused cocktails.
Brew it hot for freshness: If you’re looking for speed or mouthfeel, heat is key. The speed part is pretty obvious: tea brews faster in hot water. Wemischner says green teas prefer water between 160 and 170 degrees; oolongs between 170 and 180 degrees; and black teas 212 degrees. Since the optimum temperature and ratio of tea to tea varies, follow the directions on the packaging. Unless you end up making a warm drink, just remember to let the tea cool before mixing it with other ingredients.
When it comes to mouthfeel, the dry, pucky, astringent, tactile sensation you get from drinking some teas comes from their tannins, phenolic compounds also found in wine, the shells of nuts, and unripe fruit. For example, when you mix equal parts hot-brewed Lapsang Souchong, a smoky black tea, and tart cherry juice, you get an invigorating nightcap worthy of a sip.
Otherwise brew cold: While hot water is more effective at extracting tannins from tea leaves than cold water, you run the risk of extracting too much and ending up with a pungent liquid. If you have time and are preparing a chilled tea-based cocktail, Wemischner recommends cold brewing for the best flavor.
Combine your tea with cold water and let it steep in the fridge for 24 hours before straining. “Roundness and sweetness of flavor come from cold brewing for that time when proportions are 1 to 2 ounces of tea per 32 ounces of good quality cold water,” says Wemischner.
Make syrup carriers for flavor
If you want to flavor your drink with tea without adding a lot of bulk, an infused syrup is the way to go. The basic formula is the same as a simple syrup made with equal parts granulated sugar and water, but in this case your water is steeped tea.
While certain stronger tea leaves might be able to be simmered in the syrup, it’s safest to steep the leaves into just-boiled water, strain, and then mix in the sugar. When the tea has cooled enough for the sugar to no longer dissolve, after straining, gently heat the mixture on the stove and stir until no granules can be seen.
For powdered teas, like the matcha in the Zero Proof Basil-Matcha Fizz above, you can avoid the stove altogether and add all the ingredients to a blender and process until the sugar is dissolved.
You can vary the amount of tea to use in the syrup depending on the tea and whether you are looking for smooth or assertive flavors; but a good rule of thumb is 1 tablespoon of tea leaves per cup of sugar and water. Finally, remember that syrups stored in a container with a tight-fitting lid will keep in the fridge for a few weeks, unlike brewed tea, which loses its character in a day or two.
Once you are familiar with brewing and mixing beverages with your favorite teas, the door to experimentation is wide open. Curious what could go well with tart fuchsia hibiscus? How about some punchy hojicha? Or earthy, fermented pu-erh?
“Get a single-origin tea, brew it, and eat it,” says Piper Kristensen, beverage director at Oxalis and Places des Fêtes in Brooklyn. So he decided on nutty roasted buckwheat tea as a contrasting accompaniment to an early summer strawberry splash. “You just have to drink more tea!”
Bainbridge is the author of “Good Drinks: Non-Alcoholic Recipes for when you don’t drink for whatever reason(Ten Speed Press, 2020).