When people talk about the sun never setting on the British Empire, they’re not waxing poetic. There was actually a time when it never did. It was the 17th century, and the British East India Company trolled the high seas with brutal force, a nearly omnipresent über-government stretching its influence to every corner of the globe. The English weren’t the only ones setting up camp in distant lands, but they were particularly good at it. They established a certain level of lasting influence at a time when civilization began to step timidly into a worldly lay-of-the-land. When globalization began, far off commodities became accessible, nations blossomed into world powers, and the pace of human life forever changed. Something had to fuel that ambition. Tea, anyone?

British ships inbound from far-east ports held alien cargo and exotic ideas—sailors bringing with them the tools and habits of another world. Countless goods became the fuel of innumerable micro-economies, though as a trade, Chinese tea ranks among the most popular and successful. In the 1600s, a Portuguese princess named Catherine of Braganza found herself an English suitor who just happened to be a King, and with her arrival in London, so too came a love of tea and a demand that it be close at hand.  Suddenly fashionable among the high court, tea became the en vogue commodity of the higher classes, admired and sought after by a whole nation. By the late 17th century, tea consumption trickled down to the lower classes, taking its place as England’s national drink.

On tea-toting ships, Englishmen returned with some insight all their own. In India, these gents had done what they did best: found the local firewater and drank as much as they could get their hands on. Though the exact historical origins are murky, something called “Punch” began to pop up in accounts from the early 17th century. Combining the local spirit with whatever was close at hand—citrus, sugar, water and, you guessed it, tea—punch became a yet another staple of English life.

It was the colonialist mind—the tunnel vision of those who think they’re in the right—that so brilliantly catapulted the exotic into the commonplace. By taking something foreign and, to their palates, crude, and making it drinkable with the assistance of tea’s most generous qualities, the creation of punch is perhaps the first radical breakthrough in mass-appeal drinking. The formula worked there, and it worked at home. For centuries afterward, wherever Englishmen went, it worked there, too. Thanks to a primal inclination for getting sloshed no matter what the locale, we might be so bold as to pin punch as a true proto-cocktail: from it we find the basis for a vast majority of contemporary mixed drinks using citrus, if not all. And with punch, so came tea—two peas in a big, drunken pod.

It is no big mystery why alcohol and tea work well together. Tea, a complex collection of aromatic and flavor compounds—complicated while at the same time relatively consistent—plays extremely well with other flavors. Because tea is at heart a nuanced creature, it works best on a backbone of subtlety. Lacking subtlety, common characteristics help meld flavors. For example, the botanicals of gin (delicate and clean) marry well with green teas and oolongs. Whiskeys, aged brandies, amari, and some fortified wines, on the other hand, work best with aggressive flavors, such as black tea or herbal infusions. Go with chai with sweet vermouth for an especially impressive combination.

Some of my favorite uses of teas or herbal infusions are in spirit-forward drinks, wherein the base alcohol is center stage. In this camp you’ll find Manhattans, Old-Fashioneds, Martinis, and an endless array of offspring. Basically, they’re strong, mostly alcohol, a little modification, and dilution. It’s here that tea can act in sync with a base flavor, allowing for simple modification through a more intense experience.

Using tea in a cocktail is easy, and you can go about it one of three ways: steep loose tea in a liquor, make a strong tea and use that as a base for syrup, or simply use brewed tea as an ingredient. Depending on the intended result—a boozy drink (I suggest an infusion) or a citrusy drink (syrup or brewed tea should work best)—each has its place. Play around, and remember to find the best quality tea from a reputable supplier: a cocktail can only be as good as what’s put into it.

La Valencia

1 oz chamomile-infused rye whiskey (like Old Overholt)*
1.5 oz Manzanilla Sherry (like Hidalgo La Gitana)
0.75 oz fresh lemon    juice
0.5 oz Yellow Chartreuse
0.5 oz simple syrup
1 dash Angostura Aromatic Bitters

Shake all ingredients with ice; strain into cocktail glass. Drink.

* Chamomile Rye: Add 4 teaspoons loose-leaf chamomile flowers to 6 ounces of rye whiskey and allow to steep for about an hour. Taste and adjust until you get a good balance between the whiskey and chamomile.

Rojeña Cooler

1.5 oz Blanco Tequila (100% blue agave, I beg you)
0.5 oz Aperol
0.5 oz fresh lemon juice
0.5 oz fresh grapefruit juice
0.5 oz Scarlet Glow Syrup*

Shake with ice; strain into a tall glass. Top with 1 oz seltzer. Garnish with mint sprig.

*Scarlet Glow Syrup: Use the Scarlet Glow herbal infusion from inpursuitoftea.com (a highly recommended resource in general) to make a strong cold-brewed tea (follow instructions on packaging). Combine 1 part Scarlet Glow infusion with 1 part granulated sugar and blend until fully dissolved. Bottle and store in a refrigerator for up to 1 month.

Passing Aden

2 oz Batavia-Arrack von Oosten
1 oz Chai-Infused Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth*
0.25 oz Demerara Syrup
2 dashes Bitter Truth Aromatic Old Time Bitters (Fee Brothers Old Fashion Bitters in a pinch)
1 cinnamon stick
1 slice lemon

Stir with the cinnamon stick and strain into a stemmed glass. Twist lemon slice over glass and drop in.

*Chai-Infused Sweet Vermouth: Look for a chai with strong vanilla, clove, and cinnamon notes. Add five tbsp loose-leaf tea to 6 oz sweet vermouth (Carpano Antica if you can get it). Allow to steep for about 30 minutes. Taste and adjust until you get a good balance between the vermouth’s botanicals and the chai’s personality.

Did You Know?

Technically, tea comes from only one plant, the Tea Tree (Camellia sinensis). Depending on how the tea leaves are processed—the very same leaf can be dramatically different. Herbal infusions (or tisanes), on the other hand, are from other plants and flowers, though often prepared in the same way as tea: examples include chamomile and hibiscus.