The classic gimlet with a twist. A crisp and refreshing green tea gimlet made with vodka-infused Dragon Well Green Tea. Simply delicious served in a coupe glass with a lime garnish.
I recently went to a seminar held by the Mid-Atlantic Tea Business Association at One Steep at a Thyme in Jamesburg, NJ. If you’ve never been and have the opportunity, it’s a lovely Victorian tearoom where the food and tea are superb.
Cynthia Gold, the author of Culinary Tea, was a guest speaker. In the afternoon session, she presented Culinary Tea Cocktails, Syrups, and Infusions where she discussed what alcohol goes with tea. This green tea gimlet recipe is based on Cynthia Gold’s recipe.
I’ve changed it up a bit, as excellent as the recipe was. Instead of using a tea-infused gin, I’ve used a tea infused vodka. Vodka makes an excellent liquor for tea-based cocktails. You can mix gin and tea together but I selected vodka because it’s fairly neutral and won’t conflict with the other tea flavors.
As Cynthia explained in her presentation, sometimes you have to be careful with gin and tea. Her recipe called for a tea-infused gin, but each brand uses its own style of juniper berries and spices that can react differently when you mix tea and alcohol.
When making an alcoholic tea, the tea is not infused as a steeped tea but incorporated as a simple syrup or as tea leaves infused into the base alcohol. Here, a green tea liqueur is created by infusing green tea into vodka making a fabulous infusion that you can use to create any green tea cocktail with vodka.
Gimlet Cocktail
What is a gimlet cocktail? A traditional gimlet is one part gin and one part sweetened lime juice. That’s it. It’s beautifully balanced. You can hardly feel it’s made with 50% alcohol so these can be quite dangerous. It’s easy for them to sneak up on you!
As far as alcoholic tea drinks go, this green tea drink recipe is a refreshing twist on a classic gimlet drink recipe. The gin is replaced with a vodka tea liquor and the sweetened lime juice is replaced with a green tea and lemongrass-infused simple syrup.
Tea mixed drinks are really fun and easy to make!
What You Need to Make a Gimlet Drink
- Freshly squeezed lime juice, sugar, green tea, and lemongrass for the simple syrup.
- You’ll need two chilled coupe glasses (shown above) and a Boston shaker glass filled with ice. You can find the 2-piece Boston cocktail shaker set just about anywhere. You’ll also need a strainer.
- Vodka (unflavored) for the green tea vodka infusion.
Related: Earl Grey Tea Cocktail Recipe
Teatulia has a really nice cocktail shaker set that comes with a tea cocktails recipe book. The set includes A Mixologist’s Guide to Legendary Tea-Infused Cocktails and a 16 oz. cocktail shaker.
Photo Credit: Teatulia
The green tea gimlet is a nice simple recipe with basically three ingredients. Except the simple syrup is enhanced by making it a lemongrass and green tea simple syrup. And the vodka becomes a tea with liquor.
How to Make a Green Tea Vodka Infusion
You can use any green loose leaf tea for the green tea vodka infusion and the green tea syrup. A Dragon Well or Gunpowder green tea works well and is easy to work with.
Fresh lemongrass is available at most markets or you can buy the dried version for a tea. A lot of tea vendors blend the lemongrass but you can buy just lemongrass from Adagio Teas. They also sell Dragon Well (Lung Ching) and Gunpowder green tea.
Lemongrass is an amazingly citrus-scented fragrant herb with a distinctive lemon flavor. Often used in cooking, it’s also blended into many herbal teas. It’s rich in minerals including potassium, zinc, calcium, iron, manganese, copper, and magnesium.
Related: 10 Best Online Tea Shops
- Always start with a good quality vodka. The tea leaves are infused directly into the vodka (or alcohol of choice). Vodka is the easiest alcohol to work with since it is the most neutral.
- Pour the vodka into a pitcher and add the green tea and lemongrass. Let the mixture infuse for at least 30 minutes or more. As with any tea-infused liquor, use double the amount of tea than you would normally use for a cup of hot tea.
- When infusing loose-leaf tea into the vodka adjust the time so the flavor is at a concentration you like.
- Strain the infusion through a coffee filter. Make sure all bits of tea and any fruit are removed so the remaining liquor is crystal clear. Store in an airtight glass container. Cynthia advised that as long as no bits of tea or fruit are left behind, the alcohol infusion is stable for several months.
How to Make a Green Tea Syrup
The simple syrup has two ingredients, sugar and water in equal parts. It’s best to use pure cane granulated sugar. It dissolves quickly.
- Heat one part water and one part sugar until the sugar dissolves. If you’re adding a flavoring – in this recipe we’re adding green tea and lemongrass, you’ll need to heat the water and turn it off just before it boils to infuse the tea and lemongrass into the syrup.
- NOTE: You may need a little more water to compensate for the evaporation when the water heats up.
- You can leave the flavoring ingredients in until the syrup cools. This gives it time to really meld the flavors together.
- Store the simple syrup in a glass airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
Green Tea Gimlet Drink Recipe
Pro Tips:
- Green tea simple syrup and green tea-infused vodka can be made several days ahead of time.
- Chill coupe glasses before serving.
- Always use fresh ingredients. Use fresh lime and fresh lemongrass if available.
Green Tea Gimlet
The classic gimlet recipe gets a little twist with the addition of crisp and refreshing green tea. This green tea gimlet is a green tea and vodka-based gimlet cocktail. Simply delicious!
Ingredients
Green Tea Vodka
- 8 ounces vodka
- 2 tsp lemongrass
- 2 tsp green tea
- 1 zest lime
Green Tea Simple Syrup
- 3/4 cup water
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tsp green tea
- 2 tsp lemongrass
- 1/8 tsp lime juice
Green Tea Gimlet
- 2 ounces green tea and lemongrass infused vodka
- 1 ounces green tea and lemongrass syrup
- 1 ounce fresh squeezed lime juice.
Instructions
Green Tea Vodka
Pour vodka into glass container .
Add all tea leaves and lime zest.
Let infuse covered at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Green Tea Simple Syrup
Bring water, sugar and lime to just below boil in saucepan.
Remove from heat. Stir to dissolve sugar.
Add green tea leaves and lemongrass and steep for 5 minutes.
Let cool and strain.
Store in a glass covered container in refrigerator up to 2 weeks.
Green Tea Gimlet
Chill coupe glass
Fill Boston glass with ice.
Add green tea vodka, green tea simple syrup and lime juice to Boston glass.
Cover glass with stainless steel shaker and shake.
Strain into coupe glass. Garnish with wheel of lime.
Cheers.
Recipe Notes
- Green tea simple syrup and green tea infused vodka can be made several days ahead of time.
- Chill coupe glasses before serving.
- Always use fresh ingredients. Use fresh lime and fresh lemongrass if available.
Thanks for reading. Cheers!
Wow. That’s a really nice recipe. So refreshing! I can see making these for a summer gathering outside on the patio.