Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/26650
Joly notes that there’s an extraordinarily wide array of tea flavor profiles. “And there are a lot of ways you can introduce it, whether it’s brewed, infused or creating a tea syrup or making an aromatizing agent. We’ve done all of those things. I’ve got a punch on the menu right now that we’re using tea as the diluting ingredient.” Steep Curve: Infusing Spirits with Tea Brian Van Flandern, the CEO of Creative Cocktail Consultants and former head mixologist at Thomas Keller’s Per Se in New York City, says tea is almost exclusively used in infusions to flavor spirits. “To flavor a spirit, you can use compound- ing distillation, percolation, maceration or infu- sion,” says Van Flandern. “When it comes to teas, it’s almost exclusively done through infusion by steeping the tea in the alcohol at room temperature.” The trend is no longer to just infuse tea with vodka. Van Flandern encourages mixologists to take advantage of botanical-, agave- or grape- based spirits. These flavor notes can mask the tea, but it’s lovely when done right, Van Flandern says. “Just as with any tea, if you steep too long during infusion, it’ll become bitter and leave a poor finish,” he says. Xavier Herit, head mixologist/bartender for Daniel Boulud’s Daniel in New York City, loves infusing cognac with tea, adding that it gives a “great smoky flavor.” “I was infusing lapsang souchong tea with cognac. It added a smoky flavor to the cognac and broke the strength, too. It was the base of my Doctor Stormy creation, a play on the Dark’n’Stormy with homemade ginger beer and lemon juice [instead of lime],” Herit says. Herit has also infused cachaça with oolong tea and kaffir lime leaves. It was shaken with lime juice, simple syrup and a homemade coconut milk. “I believe that any alcohol can be infused with anything now,” he says. “Tea is definitively one of the most interesting ingredients to use.” Chai High: Tea in Cocktails In addition to being used to infuse spirits, tea is popping up on cocktail menus all over the country. Last summer, the Wynn Las Vegas offered a High Tea cocktail with Absolut Boston Vodka, St- Germain elderflower liqueur, black tea, lemon juice, Sence rose nectar and agave syrup. Seattle’s The Chapel maintains two tea cocktails on its menu, including the Carpenter & Walrus: whiskey, sweet tea and bitters. Portland’s Teardrop Lounge offers the Babaloo: Batavia Arrack, Smith & Cross rum, High Mountain green tea, Forbidden black rice horchata, Boston bitters and lime. Joly’s Guild Meeting punch serves 12 and is Charles Joly’s Guild Meeting punch, made with tea. made with vanilla sugar, muddled orange peel, chai tea (2 bags per 16 oz. of water), orange juice, lemon juice, Domaine de Canton, Drambuie and Rittenhouse rye whiskey. Joly says the resurgence of tea in cocktails comes from the profession’s creativity. “You can track tea back to punches being made hundreds of years ago. So, I definitely don’t think it’s a fad. It’s not anything new, either.” But the mixologist definitely notes a resurgence in this generation. “In the last decade,” he says, “we’ve seen people take chances and come up with some pretty spectacular and unexpected flavor combinations that are now standard. Twenty years ago, who was putting bacon and chocolate together?” march 201 1 / the tasting panel / 73