Blueburry Gin-ger Muffin Cocktail

Written by Kirsty Smith

I'm an avid tea drinker, and while I love a warm and cosy cuppa at literally any time of year, the summer weather has certainly got me thinking about ways to bring tea into some nice cooling drinks. Or perhaps even into a cheeky cocktail or two... So I'd like to share a recipe with you, using the delicious Arthur Dove Tea Co Blueberry Muffin blend to make a tea-infused cocktail that's sweet and fruity and perfect for hot days.

Ingredients for 2 Blueberry Gin-ger Muffin cocktails:

200ml Ginger beer

50ml gin (or 100ml if you like a double measure!)

Half a lime

3 scoops of blueberry muffin tea

200ml hot water

Method:

Add the tea to the freshly boiled water and leave it to brew; it's a good idea to check the recommendation on the packet - for Blueberry Muffin, that's 3 minutes - and then perhaps add a minute or two to make sure that the tea will be brewed on the strong side.

Strain out of the tea, and leave the hot water to cool down. Once cold enough, pour the tea into an ice cube tray and freeze.

When your tea is frozen and you're ready to make the cocktail, add the juice of half a lime, the ginger beer and the gin to a blender. Add 3-4 cubes of your tea-infused ice per person (so 6-8 in total) and blend until the ice is crushed. If you prefer a more liquidy, slushy cocktail, you can add a bit more ginger beer; equally if you like a more crunchy ice texture, you can add more ice cubes.

Pour the mixture into glasses and top with blueberries, and then you're ready to absorb some sunshine and enjoy your cocktail!

The great thing about this drink is that the ice keeps it nice and cool, but it won't dilute the flavour of your cocktail as it melts because the tea is infused directly into the ice. Additionally, if you brew up more tea to start with and make more ice cubes, they'll keep in the freezer so that you can dive straight into this cocktail whenever you like without needing to do much preparation.

This cocktail recipe works so beautifully with the Blueberry Muffin tea as it's a sweet, smooth rooibos. But if you don't have that blend, you can always try other rooibos teas for a similar effect. Through some seriously dedicated testing and hard work, I can tell you that this works really well with Arthur Dove Tea Co Rhubarb and Custard as well, or you could branch out and give Carrot Cake or Pumpkin Spiced Latte a whirl.

Happy drinking, and cheers to tea cocktails!

To hear more from Kirsty visit her Instagram @Journalofcuriousthings