Recipe: Camomile Tea Cocktails

A couple of months ago I posted some green tea cocktails made with a Japanese sencha tea blend – Focus by NUDITEA. It continues to be one of the most popular cocktail recipes on the Melbourne Cocktails blog.
Now it’s autumn, tea is featuring a bit more in my evenings. It’s comforting and warms the soul.
Unwind is a blend of camomile blossom and spearmint leaves, but mainly camomile blossom sourced from lush fields in Egypt.
Note: Prepare a pot of tea using 1 tsp of tea leaf to 1 cup of boiling water. Steep for 10 mins, then strain. Use warm, or cool to room temperature, or transfer to fridge to chill til ready for use.
Tea & Tipples
You may not have heard of Fire Drum Vodka yet as it’s a new, craft spirit. Produced in Tasmania, it’s distilled in copper pots using 100% Tassie barley and pure mountain water. It’s a very unique style of vodka, which I thought would complement the camomile.
Ingredients
- 2 parts Fire Drum Vodka
- 1 part Lillet
- 3 parts chilled tea
- Garnish: lemon wheel
Method
Add ingredients to shaker with ice cubes, seal tightly and shake to chill. Strain into teacup. Add ice cube and lemon wheel.
Shochu Zen
Shochu is a Japanese spirit, similar to sake, but made with barley instead of rice. Aged in oak barrels, it has added character and depth, a golden colour and a richer flavour than sake. In Japan they drink Shochu straight up or on the rocks like a whisky.
Ingredients
- 1 part Shochu
- 1 part warm tea
Method
Simply add Shochu to the teacup, top with tea and serve.
Whisky Unwinder
Ingredients
- 30 ml whisky
- 10 ml lemon juice – 15ml
- 15 ml honey syrup (dissolve 5ml honey in 15ml boiling water)
- 45 ml tea, cooled to room temp
- Garnish: orange wheel
Method
Add ingredients to shaker with ice cubes, seal tightly and shake. Strain into teacup. Place orange wheel garnish in tea.