Tea Cocktail Archives

Fall is in the horizon, which means apple season is just about here! Even though you can get delicious and ripe apples all year long, fall marks the season of apples, so it’s only fitting to spotlight Art of Tea’s growing selection of apple teas! The perfect balance of sweet and tart apple flavors were fused together to create signature blends: Apple Pie, AppleTEA’ni, and a newly launched fall inspired tea called Turkish Apple.

Apple pie is an all time American favorite served at holiday parties with the family or the Fourth of July BBQ. We wanted to create a tea to replicate the warm and comforting flavors of this classic and well-loved American dessert. This caffeine free tisane is a rooibos medley of honeybush, cinnamon, apple bits, coconut, ginger, pink peppercorn, black peppercorn and nutmeg. Art of Tea’s Apple Pie is a guilt free dessert tea that you can enjoy all day long. It smells like a homemade apple pie fresh out of the oven. Enjoy Apple Pie tea hot, cold or even make your own libation like an apple cider featured in a past blog article.

Along with Apple Pie, Art of Tea’s AppleTEA’ni made its debut last year. This is a tea version of an apple martini (appletini for short), a popular cocktail containing vodka and apple flavoring from juice, liqueur, etc. On the sweeter side, AppleTEA’ni is caffeinated with Yun Wu green tea, balanced with sweetness from green rooibos, apple bits, cinnamon and pinched with spice from ginger. This is the perfect mocktail (alcohol free beverage) because it’s also great over ice.

After a slew of requests, we were inspired to create our newest apple tea called Turkish Apple, which is based on Turkish tea, a popular tea among Persians and Turkish speaking cultures. Traditionally, Turkish tea is a strong brew of black tea served in small glasses. Accordingly, we matched the flavors with potent black teas coupled with cinnamon. This robust blend provides bold flavors that will uplift and comfort you throughout the day.

-MELISSA CHUA

Have you ever tried sangria with an herbal blend? Sangria has become so popular that everyone tends to have their own rendition of it, but two elements remain—typically red wine and fruits. This unique libation uses white wine, a dose of my favorite fruits and Art of Tea’s caffeine-free blend, Kauai Cocktail. Kauai Cocktail is a tropical tisane that contains organic hibiscus, currants, rooibos, pineapple, rosehips and natural fruit essence. This sweet and tarty blend will perfectly compliment the wine and fruits in the sangria. Toast to the new year with this delicious cocktail! Recipe makes about 50 oz.

You Will Need:

· 4 1/2 Cups of Art of Tea’s Kauai Cocktail, Over-steeped (10-12 minutes)

· 2 Cups of Chilled White Wine: Moscato, Riesling, Pinot Grigio or your favorite sweet white wine

I used Trader Joe’s Moscato D’Asti ($5.99)

· Assortment of fruits: blueberries, strawberries, pineapples, apples, oranges, lemons

· Pitcher such as Art of Tea’s Bodum Iced Tea Pitcher (50 oz.)

· 2 Tsp of Coconut Sugar (Optional)

Large Wooden Mixing Spoon

Sangria web

Instructions:

First, make sure you wash your fruit thoroughly, especially if you’re leaving the peel on, which I did. Dice or slice the fruit you wish to include. De-core and remove all the seeds. I used lemon and orange slices, blueberries and chopped up apples. Then, add ice cubes a quarter of the way into the pitcher. Add in your fruit. Next, carefully pour in your over-steeped Kauai Cocktail and chilled white wine. Sprinkle in the coconut sugar or preferred sweetener if you like. Use a large wooden spoon to marry all the ingredients. Refrigerate the pitcher and let the ingredients marinate. Sangria is best served cold. Enjoy, and let the merriment begin! Cheers to a jovial and prosperous 2012! Smile

-MELISSA CHUA

Tea Highlight: Apple Teas

New Year’s Sangria w/Kauai Cocktail