How to make a Tea Syrup

A very simple way to bring the delicious flavours of tea into your cocktails.

Basically, you’re going to follow the process for making a Rich Simple Syrup, except that you dissolve the sugar into brewed tea rather than plain hot water.

This technique will work with any ingredient you can extract the flavours from by ‘brewing’ in hot water, like herbs, spices and flowers, not just tea leaves.

We recommend making Tea Syrups as ‘Rich’ Tea Syrups following a 2:1 ratio. 2 parts sugar to 1 part brewed Tea. (You can follow the same process and make it at a 1:1 ratio if you prefer, but read here for reasons why we recommend a ‘Rich’ Syrup).

Time needed: 4 minutes.

Make a strong brew
Measure
Depending on how much you need and what equipment you have in your kitchen, use cups, thimbles, jugs or whatever you have, measure out 2 parts of white sugar or bakers sugar into a jug or pan. Using the same device, measure 1 part of hot TEA.***
Add to pan
Stir the sugar and tea together in a jug or pan. If need be, heat gently until the sugar crystals are dissolved and the mixture looks clear and glossy. If you’re using granulated sugar you’ll need to use tea that’s just off the boil, whereas caster sugar will still dissolve in warm water, even at a 2:1 ratio. Therefore, for higher grade green teas, you will need to use caster sugar due to the lower brewing temperature.***
Warm through
Pour into sterile bottle
Pour the mixture, while still warm, into a labelled sterilised bottle or jar.
Refrigerate
Once cooled, if you want it to last for longer, keep it in a sealed container in the fridge.

***NB: If you are using high grade green tea, you need to make sure that you don’t use water that is too hot to brew the tea, as it will over extract tannins and you will end up with a very bitter and undrinkable tea. Importantly, undrinkable tea will give you an unpleasant syrup too! Follow this link for more details on brewing tea and other ways to use tea in cocktails.