manuka chai….an homage to 42 below
Posted on | April 30, 2008 | No Comments
i’ve been working on a delicious new cocktail recently.
i am not normally a cocktail drinker….but i’ve been drinking a lot of chai tea lately….and a bottle of manuka vodka arrived in the house….and we always have manuka honey on hand…..so things just kind of snowballed.
as they do.
you need to make a strong sweet chai tea mix first.
start the day before, ideally.
900 ml water
2 bay leaves
2 cinnamon sticks
12 black pepper corns
12 whole cloves
2 star aniseeds
12 cardamom pods
about 2cm of fresh ginger root, thinly sliced
12 tsp manuka honey
bring this all to the boil and let it simmer for five minutes.
now add 6 tsp of good quality loose black tea leaves and a tsp of natural vanilla essence.
allow to steep for two minutes, then strain the lot.
set the liquid aside and let it cool overnight.
now comes the good part.
pack a tall glass with ice.
pour in a lavish swig of 42 below vodka…the manuka honey flavoured one.
yeah, babeeee.
i’ll leave the exact amounts up to you.
you are all adults and know how to drink responsibly. doncha?
now pour in a good tot of the chilled chai mix.
add a big dash of cream OR evaporated milk is also very nice.
stir it all gently to combine and then sit back and sip.
is that heaven on a stick, or what?
and all that black tea and spice and manuka honey has got to be healthy, right?
42 below vodka is our latest drink of choice around here.
accept no substitutes!
note:
it’s better to double the chai recipe than to run out and have to listen to the howls of outrage…..
Comments
Leave a Reply
