Alcohol-free with tea

Author: Layla Osberg

Have you ever heard the expression more is more? This can be true for many things like chocolate, for example, but generally not so much with alcohol. You may have noticed that we love putting tea in everything, that’s why we’re excited for the trend in low or no alcohol mocktails featuring tea as the star ingredient that has emerged and gained popularity during the pandemic.

Most of the cocktail recipes that we share can be easily modified to be low or no, if you so choose. This is because tea happens to be the
perfect way to satisfy our need for the punchy, acerbic characteristics that we usually look for in alcoholic beverages. Tea’s broad spectrum of flavours and also the tannins found in tea makes it an exciting ingredient at the bar. The key is learning how to extract the best flavour from the tea leaves so that it stands up to other big flavours that we may want to add to our mocktail and really satiates that need for a flavourful libation. Here’s an interesting new recipe to draw out some serious flavour from our favourite beverage that we think checks all the boxes.

Jasmine Tea Syrup

Ingredients:

• 1 cup water
• 4 tablespoons Jasmine Extra Choice Pure Loose Tea
• 1 cup white sugar
  
  

Directions:

Steep Jasmine loose tea in freshly boiled water for 3 minutes.

Strain the tea into a small pot or saucepan and add the sugar. Stir well until dissolved and bring to a boil.

Lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and let cool. Transfer to a clean bottle.

Frozen Peach Slush(Tea)

Grab some late summer peaches and slice them up to keep in the freezer for this delicious frozen peach slushy using Murchie’s Apricot Black Tea

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons of Jasmine syrup
• 3 cups of Apricot Black tea, chilled
• 4 cups sliced frozen peaches
• ½ cup ice cubes
  
  

Directions:

Steep Apricot Black Tea for 4 minutes and remove tea bags. Transfer to a jug and chill.

In a blender, combine frozen peaches, Jasmine syrup, half a cup of ice and cold Apricot Black tea. Blend until nice and slushy. If needed, add more ice tea to thin.

Top with a little more Jasmine syrup.