Tyler Zielinski investigates the myriad creative ways in which Britain’s favourite beverage is being used in cocktails.

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Tea first arrived in Britain in the 1650s with the earliest record of tea being sold in London Coffee Houses being 1657. In the centuries since its introduction to society, tea has steadily grown in popularity. It transitioned from being a luxury good primarily consumed by aristocrats and royals to a commodity enjoyed by the masses (according to the UK Tea & Infusions Association, Brits consume 100 million cups of tea daily – that’s a lot of bloody tea).

Serendipitously, tea’s arrival in Britain also coincided with the birth of the cocktail’s progenitor, punch. And, as is the case with any trendy ingredient that mixologists get their deft hands on – it’s the same today as it was centuries ago –tea inevitably found its way into the large-format punch of the mid-to-late 1600s, lending tannic structure and an array of flavours to the five-ingredient libation.

Since tea’s grand debut into tippling culture, though, a lot has changed. Techniques have become more sophisticated, there’s greater access to a wide range of exotic teas – I’m sure many of you reading this are well-familiar with Henrietta Lovell’s Rare Tea Company – and bartenders, overall, have a better understanding of how to harness tea’s potential to concoct artfully balanced cocktails. As a result, there’s never been a better time to enjoy tea in a diligently-measured tipple.

“I often use tea in drinks to introduce new flavours through either infusion, a concentrate, or as a replacement for the water that would dilute the cocktail,” says Will Meredith, director of Daisy Age Drinks and beverage consultant for Permanently Unique Group, who notes that tea’s polyphenols make it an exceptional vehicle for flavour. “Rather than looking at types of tea for specific cocktails, I tend to look at concentrations of flavour for certain drinks.”

For delicately flavoured cocktails, Meredith prefers a less-concentrated, cold brew infusion (into water) to accentuate a cocktail’s top notes, often using the cold brew in the place of water in a pre-diluted cocktail, such as a Martini. For cocktails designed to highlight tea’s bitter tannins, which help structure a cocktail by adding texture and lengthening flavour, higher concentrations are required; and this is typically done through alcoholic infusion or heat (two primary methods for extracting flavour).

In addition to the strength of a tea’s infusion, many bartenders also use specific types of tea in place of certain spirits or ingredients that share similar characteristics. Some teas can be quite bold in flavour, “such as Lapsang [Souchong], for example,” says Jack Wakelin, co-owner of Pearl at Park Hill in Sheffield. “This style of tea [a smoke-dried black tea] used delicately in drinks and in the correct way – be it short infusions, or simple cordials (tea, plus sugar and acid) alongside fruit [ingredients] – can replace Islay whiskies or mezcals in a boozeless serve, or lend similar notes to a cocktail.”

Mimicking characteristics

This concept of using tea to mimic other characteristics is employed at Sri Lankan bar-restaurant Paradise in London. Founder and creative director Dom Fernando, who comes from an extended family of tea producers in Sri Lanka, champions tea in cocktails because of its salient cultural ties. And in one of the bar’s bestselling cocktails from the previous menu, the clarified Pineapple Punch, chai takes centre stage. “Normally in a punch you put cloves and spices (one of punch’s five essential components), but instead, we used the already spiced chai to give the drink that element,” says Fernando, who notes that the tannins also improved the drink’s mouthfeel. It’s one example of the myriad ways tea is being used in both alcoholic and non-alcoholic applications alike.

At Fenix in Manchester, Meredith developed a chilled, non-alcoholic take on the Espresso Martini, pairing Greek coffee, Feragaia aperitif and roasted cashew with a simple brew of fruity and earthy rooibos tea from the Rare Tea Company. The concentrated rooibos brew is distinct and tannic enough to stand up to the coffee, while offering guests a rare booze-free drink that isn’t built to be refreshing as many often are. Down the road from Fenix, noteworthy newcomers Stray Bar also took a page (leaf?) out of the tea cocktail handbook, this time opting for a boozier libation. In the Oolong Manhattan, bourbon is infused with a vegetal oolong tea that completely augments the drink, adding a delightfully surprising depth of flavour.

Back in London, Three Sheets’ lustworthy Dirty Martini has swiftly positioned itself as a cocktail of the year contender with its multi-vodka base composed of Belvedere vodka, olive oil-washed vodka and a citrusy koseret tea-infused vodka. The latter adds brightness and tannic structure to a cocktail that would otherwise lack a certain je ne sais quoi. Prelude by Oriole injects a cold-brewed hojicha tea into its complex Mizuwari-style Highball with scotch, chocolate miso, asparagus eau de vie, amontillado sherry and sake for vegetal notes and tannic grip. And farther west, Twice Shy is also on the tea (tisane) kick, using jasmine tea to dilute its signature Jasmine & Whisky Highball that’s force carbonated to perfection.

In the modern cocktail bar, tea knows no bounds. There are infinite ways to extract its flavour as bartenders tinker with various extraction methods and times, but the best way to understand a tea’s influence in a cocktail is by using tea to dilute a Martini, according to Meredith. There’s little to hide behind given the simplicity of the three-part cocktail’s template, which offers an opportunity to clearly taste and feel a tea’s influence on flavour and mouthfeel. “My favourite [way to dilute Martinis] is by using green or herbal teas which have been cold brewed in the fridge for 24 hours,” says Meredith, who encourages comparing the cold brew against the hot brew in a diluted Martini. “From there you can start to look at what would work for cordials versus infusions, versus dilutions and you'll be amazed at the impacts these methods can have. If I could, I would use teas in just about every drink to provide delicate accents.”