The Brits took the Dutch spirit genever and made it their own: gin. Now, the British gift shop Root7 has made an American innovation from the 1920s and 1930s — drinking gin from a tea cup — into a cuter, more elegant “thing”, just in time for the holidays! Whether you’re sending a belated Hanukkah present, getting ready for Winter Solstice, Yule, Festivus, Kwanzaa or Christmas, the G&Tea cocktail set is fun and chic! I was happy to be hosted to experience it.
During the days of America’s Prohibition, speakeasies discreetly served bathtub gin in tea cups. Jackie Gleason sipped Scotch out of tea cups on tv. It’s time to bring the tradition back!
The G & Tea cocktail set has an aurora borealis type coating with gold rim. For that reason, you can’t nuke them and you have to wash them by hand.
The tea pot — that you can use for hot drinks, too — has a removable liner with slits. It works like this: Put a bunch of ice cubes in the bottom of the tea pot, then replace liner/filter. Place whatever aromatics you wish in the filter, pour in your gin and voila! A cold, clear, flavorful cocktail.
If you want a hot drink, I suggest making at least 2 cups at a time, so the filter reaches the fluid. I made kind of a hot gin toddy married to Vietnamese coffee: I put a cinnamon stick, 2 cardamon seeds, 2 packs of powdered espresso, a miniature bottle of Gordon’s London Dry Gin, plus hot water. Pouring that into the tea cups, I topped with a little sweetened condensed milk!
Here are some of their expert mixologist recipes:
- Earl Grey Tea – 1 bag (scoop)
- Lemon Zest – 1/2 Lemon
- Cinnamon Stick – 1 stick
- Cloves – 6
- Tonic- 500ml
- Brokers Gin – 100ml
- Orange Zest – 1/2 Orange
- Ice – handful
Medium:
- Green Tea – 1 bag (scoop)
- Tonka Beans – 5
- Vanilla Pod – 1
- Bombay Saphire Gin – 100ml
- Apple – 1/2 cut into slices
- Cinnamon – 1 Stick
- Muscovado Sugar – 3 teaspoons
- Tonic – 500ml
- Ice – handful
Harder:
- Breakfast Tea – 1 bag (scoop)
- Sipsmith Gin – 100ml
- Lemon Grass – 1 stick
- Lillet – 50ml
- Hibiscus – 2 flowers
- Lime Zest – 1/2 a lime
- Tonic – 500ml
- Ice – handful
