G and Tea

Ginger beer has always been a favorite drink at IYMI headquarters--two of our number are ginger FREAKS, and the other two like ginger quite a bit. Tonight we're going try pairing ginger with green tea, in both cocktail and mocktail form. Our base liquor will be gin. So we really have two G's (Gin, Ginger) and Tea. Or even 3 G's (Gin, Ginger, and Green (tea)). But Gs and Tea  doesn't have quite the same ring to it.

There are quite a few recipes out there that use ginger and green tea in marinades and other parts of cooking, and it seems like a natural fit for a cocktail, since the sweetness can be ratcheted up for drinkers less fond of the pure ginger hit.

We found this recipe on Savvy Housekeeping, and used it as a point of departure.

• 1.5 Gin (Beefeater)
• 1 Ginger liqueur (Domaine de Canton)
• 3/4 oz Green tea (Freshly brewed, then chilled)
• Garnish: thin lemon slice

The sweetness of the ginger liqueur was too strong, so we reformulated:

• 2 Gin 
• .5 Ginger liqueur
• 1 Green Tea (Freshly brewed, then chilled)
• Garnish: thin lemon slice

This was more balanced, but the green tea flavor was still quite subtle. We brewed up a batch of strong green tea brew (4 teabags, one cup) and came up with the final iteration, with the following proportions:

• 2 Gin
• 1 Ginger liquer
• 2 Green tea (freshly brewed at 4x strength, chilled)
• Garnish: thin lemon slice.

G and Tea, second iteration

In this incarnation, the green tea came through quite strongly, and the ginger rounded it out nicely. 

The virgin version came out just right the first time:

• 0.25 Ginger juice
• 0.25 Simple syrup
• 3 Green tea (freshly brewed at normal strength, then chilled)
• Garnish: thin lemon slice

G and Tea, virgin-style