Part of mastering day operations is putting together the right cocktail menu. Refreshing libations intended for slow sipping are ideal for enticing day-part customers. So why not jump on a cocktail trend that’s hot in the streets right now? Try teatails.
Iced tea is a well-known refresher; hot days basically beg for a tall, cold glass of tea. Add spirits and you can create cocktails – or teatails – with complex and sophisticated flavor profiles that will have your guests singing your praises to their friends, family and followers.
There are 4 “true” styles and hundreds of flavors of tea available. The possible combinations should get excited and inspired to create your own teatails. If you’ve hired the right bartenders, they’ll jump at the chance to put their stamp on your new teatail menu.
Numi Organic Tea has teamed up with Allison Evanow, the founder of Square One Organic Vodka, to create several “Marteanis.” Evanow steeps the tea bags into her vodka bottles to create an organic tonic. One need only take a look at the flavors of tea Evanow uses in her recipes to understand the diversity of teatails. For example, Evanow’s Marteanis include Numi White Rose, Berried Tresures, Mate Lemon, Decaf Ginger Lemon, Moroccan Mint, Chocolate Pu-erh, Chamomile Lemon, and Decaf Black Vanilla.
Tea, it turns out, plays very well with pisco. The Desert Lime Rickey combines Numi Desert Lime and Ginger Lemon teas with Pisco Alcholado, soda, lime and bitters. Another teatail, the Moroccan Mint Daisy, calls for Numi Moroccan Mint tea, Pisco Torantel, lemon juice, cherry liqueur, honey, and creole bitters.
Tea cocktails aren’t exactly new to the scene. Nobody seems to be exactly sure when it was first created but British Army soldiers were known to mix a teatail known as Gunfire as far back as the 1890s. The story goes that higher ranking British soldiers would serve Gunfire to lower ranks before morning attacks. It is also said that the British Army serves this teatail to soldiers on Christmas Day if they’re deployed during the holiday. The recipe is really rather simple: one shot of rum is stirred into one cup of black tea. Clearly that recipe is begging for experimentation (hint, hint).
Once you’ve figured out which flavors of tea work best for your concept and customers you’ll be on your way to creating teatails they’ll want to enjoy during the day. As with coffee cocktails, decaffeinated teas can be used to help customers transition into the evening.