Flavored Teas

[Bushman]

I found a thread in the Novice Graveyard from 2007 that dealt with flavoring with teas. Since we have so many new flavors I thought I would give it a go. Did two different types of infused drinks, (less than a 5th each as an experiment) one almond and the other tropical fruit. Since tea herbs are dried they are more concentrated so just added small amounts in a bag in each jar.

[bearriver]

Just knocked up a pint of chamomile lavender tea in neutral vodka. Started another with some strange tea mix my wife bought simply labeled as "Pina Colada" with a sharpie. The booze instantly turned pink...

[Bushman]

Yep pretty strong, I put very little in the alcohol and it instantly turned dark.

[bearriver]

Here is a pic of what I made up last night. I'm not thinking this takes very much time, if at all. They both taste exactly like the tea they were made from which is a good thing.

Unfortunately these teas aren't really my flavor, and I'll be recycling those two bottles. We got a nice little tea shop in town with hundreds of teas to sample. I'll try to take the wife later this week and get something more suitable to my taste.

[Odin]

Mixing the tea in at 40%? Or at a lower abv? I guess my question is ... is the goal a tea flavoured vodka ... or more of a spiced up tea with maybe 15% abv? I think I heard about a guy in the south doing the second thing professionally and with success. I have used tea in my gins, but only as maceration prior to distilling.

Regards, Odin.

[Bigbob]

I'm bringing to proof a sweet feed that I put 3constant comment tea bags in(1qt). It turned out nice but a little too much, next time I'll try 2. You all can decide!

[Bushman]

I am going on record as this did not work, BigBob brought some to our gathering that was better. Part of the problem is they stayed in the infusion way to long (4 days) but personally I will not try this again in the future.

[Odin]

From the tastings I have had on these experimental recipes ... I am not sold on it. Maybe a neutral with sugar and tea? Or honey might be even better. My take on it, if I would make it, would be like a lemonade kinda approach with low abv. 18, maybe 20%. With honey. And I'd go single fruit tea to see if it gives me anything like that specific fruit over.

Regards, Odin.

[kiwi Bruce]

I always wanted to use bergamot orange in a gin herb mix and could never find it. Would a bag or two of Earl Gray, in with the herbs do the trick? Kiwi Bruce

[InglisHill]

Yes Kiwibruce.

[kiwi Bruce]

That is too BLOODY Cool! Kiwi Bruce

[Bigbob]

So I was bottling some sweet feed today and had a little left over. The flask I brought to proof still had about a third of the tea infused sweet feed in it. The amount I had to bottle filled the flask nicely. The first taste is much better, with a little hint of the constant comment not the over powering taste that it had before. So that might be the answer if anyone else is interested. Next time I think one bag to a qt will be enough.