Does a spoonful of sugar enhance the liquor?

Now there's a question I never thought to ask...anyone know if there is a liquer that uses tea leaves? Hmmm....

Melinda

Tea is far too delicate a substance for something like this. To be used in alchohol the flavor has to be very strong to overcome the alchohol itself. Making such drinks is a national sport in Russia and people always make their own home pepper, lemon peel, orange peel, cranberry, etc. flavored vodka. My favourite can even be bought in the States now - its Ukrainian Honey Pepper vodka from Nemirov. I heard of almost everything being added to vodka including lot of herbs (Zveroboy, Starka, Tarragon), coffee (syropy - not my taste) but two substances were kind of taboo - milk and tea. And I think there must be a good reason for it. But hey - nothing can stand between an entrepreneural girl and her determination to spoil a bottle of vodka and a can of tea :) And Te Guan Yin is probably the best candidate for this experiment.

Sasha.

Ian,

FWIW, I usually brew black teas (red teas, if you will) at around 195. That is quite sufficiently hot and produces a tastier cup of tea. JMHO. No magic.

Michael

Ian RastallXns95A4D3458E4DFloneliestmonk@130.133.1.411/17/04

snip

Many are comercialised. And you can make some yourself. There are recipes on that pattern : Brew tea with lots of leaves, add alcohol, filter the next day and add syrup. Infuse dry tea directly in alcohol, filter the next day and add syrup.

If you try, tell us what it's like.

Kuri

Kids these days. No respect for tradition. In the old country, we held a rock between our teeth while we sipped.

R. Chepelyevsky

I remember seeing Yunnan tuocha in the green/white box in the eighties. I've still got one. As far as I can remember loose Puerh in tins was always available. I've got a Chinese tea sample set from the seventies with a tin of Puer. I don't remember seeing the cakes till late nineties. I remember there was a limitation on TCM imports but now anything is available. You hear the horror stories of lacing with US pharmeceuticals. Every so often we have a crackdown on illegal Chinese imports.

Jim

There's a recipe on this page

Melinda

What kind of tea, might I ask?

/Lew

And some of us had to chew it too :)

Sasha.

Melinda, when you are finished with experimenting take a ride to your favorite Russian store and get the Nemiroff Honey Pepper ($12 -16):

You won't regret it.

Sasha.

It was Ceylon breakfast tea from Upton's. Not very high quality. I suspect a high-grade tea would be better suited, except the leaf is the wrong size for an espresso machine. The breakfast tea was practically dust. Maybe using a mortar and pestle would do the trick, or a coffee grinder. If you try it, I wouldn't use too much tea, since it expands, whereas coffee doesn't.

Ian

Now that's interesting. I'll give it a shot.

Ian

Sounds funny, but I can tell. If my wife and I have identical cups of the same tea, I can tell which one had a bit of sugar. In an 8 oz mug usually I'll add less than 1/2 tsp. so I don't taste sweetness, just a fuller flavor. Maybe the pinch per pot does something similar?

-ben

Is this Chinese black tea? Most Chinese think, it's heresy to add anything to your tea because it ruins the healthly properties. I like it without, personally. *shrugs*

Mydnight

-------------------- thus then i turn me from my countries light, to dwell in the solemn shades of an endless night.

No. This is/was in Calcutta, India. Mostly Lipton's Green Label Darjeeling (black) tea. They would add milk and sugar to the cup as well.

Sorry, I can only receive messages from 3 days ago, I didn't get the full message. Ya, milk and sugar for that one! heh.

Mydnight

-------------------- thus then i turn me from my countries light, to dwell in the solemn shades of an endless night.