The old adage goes like this; Don’t sit down and order tea at the bar. Any bar. On my side, behind the bar, it’s ok though becasue tea is stellar in cocktails. All you have to be mindful of is the tannins. So, black teas like Earl grey, etc. if misused will sometimes will impart a horrible mouth dryness and coat your teeth.

Basic rules for tea in cocktails are to use them in either syrups or infusions. If you’re going to use them in tea form they will dilute the drink too much, unless that’s what you’re looking for. We do use them in this way to replace water in clarified punch, that way we still retain the flavor, but dull the tannins down by adding the milk later. Yes, that idea we’ve all had where we put black tea in a bourbon drink always turned out bad. But hmmm, maybe it wouldn’t if it was carbonated. Has anyone thought of that?

Beyond “real” teas, meaning teas from the actual tea plants, herbal teas have been my go to for sometime. Less tannins, and deep but subtle flavors as well as color which can make or break a good cocktail idea. The other more obvious benefit is lack of caffeine. There’s a myriad of herbal teas out there I use. But mostly hibiscus, chamomile, and rooibos.

Hibiscus is an easy one. The low hanging fruit of the cocktail world. It comes from the hibiscus flower and is a staple in many cuisines including Mexican, Persian, and Egyptian. I first had it at an Egyptian restaurant in Queens, and now sometimes buy it at either the Mexican supermarket, Eden, up the street or at Tehran Market in Santa Monica a few blocks east of Rustic.

Hibiscus is super sour on its own and nothing else mimics the crazy red color it imparts. We’ll use hibiscus syrup as a replacement for cranberry juice in a Cosmo, as having cranberry is against our strict mantra of local, seasonal, etc.

Chamomile tea, another dried flower, works insanely well with tequila. Yes, it’s a mild tranquilizer and induces sleepiness but I think a quarter ounce of the syrup in a drink will be just fine. If anything makes a person nod off at a bar it’ll be the booze and bad conversation, not the tea.

The chamomile flower, nowadays, is cultivated all over the world but originated in Ancient Rome and Egypt as the two cultures traded with one another often.

Unlike the other two, rooibos comes from a red bush in South Africa. Insert lewd joke here. Like hibiscus, it has this cool red color, less pronounced than the flower, but still great nonetheless. Notes of vanilla, honey, and caramel.

My common ratio for a tea syrup is eight tablespoons tea to two and half cups of hot water. Let steep for about a half hour and then strain. The two and a half cups usually becomes two after the dried portion soaks it all up. No, don’t squeeze your tea. Bad idea.

Oh god this post is boring me to death. Can anything be more boring than someone talking about tea? Yes, I drink a lot of tea. I had some clove tea yesterday afternoon because it supposedly is great for your gut health (I still have a dad bod after drinking gallons of it) and I had a fresh mint tea before bed last night which was delicious with some nice honey but made me wake up at 3 a.m. to pee.

When someone orders tea at the restaurant there’s an automatic internal eye roll that takes place. I’m not sure why. In fact, it seems tea has this weird stigma attached to it for no particular reason. It’s great for you. There’s all these health benefits and it’s less acidic on an old empty belly than a cup of coffee in the morning. Still, the disdain remains. Maybe it’s an American thing. We seem to refuse anything we know is good for us and instead choose what a cowboy would drink. Is tea feminine? I don’t know. I’ll still be annoyed when some jackass sits down and orders tea at the bar.