{"id":5073,"date":"2025-05-28T22:02:14","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T04:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kuchatea.com\/blog\/?p=5073"},"modified":"2025-07-02T11:24:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T17:24:10","slug":"put-the-kettle-on-were-making-cocktails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kuchatea.com\/blog\/put-the-kettle-on-were-making-cocktails\/","title":{"rendered":"Put the Kettle On\u2014We\u2019re Making Cocktails"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Put the Kettle On\u2014We\u2019re Making Cocktails<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Memorial Day Weekend now shrinks in the rear view mirror. June looms in the windshield\u2014we\u2019ll meet it on Sunday. Summer is here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The season of flip-flops and bikinis, of vacations and al fresco dining, porches and patios, compels us outside. It\u2019s a social season, too. More dinner parties and picnics. More group bike rides. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We look for the ice-dense coolers packed with beer, canned wine and kombucha. Our first goal for swanning into the back yard party full of laughing friends is gripping something cold and delicious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bonus points if the shindig offers cocktails and mocktails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Margaritas, sure. Mock cosmopolitans, go for it. But maybe it\u2019s time to startle guests with bright, unexpected flavors. Serve them drinks they\u2019ve never sipped before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feature tea as a cocktail star<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"
Tea\u2014an essential cocktail ingredient.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a grand starting point: tea. The beverage\u2019s stylistic capaciousness incorporates nearly flavor on Earth: fruity, grassy, forest floor, herbal, floral and so on. It doesn\u2019t offer much on the blue cheese front\u2014probably a good thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With tea as a base, drink has room to roam. In addition to the spirit\u2019s fire\u2014if you\u2019re incorporating liquor\u2014the beverage can involve many of the other usual participants. Something sour, like citrus. A simple syrup. Perhaps some spice, or smoke. Really\u2014whatever you like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With that, we turn to three recipes for your summer of entertaining, and just savoring the taste of a solid post-work drink. All of them can be made mocktail-style with the elimination of the spirits. For the Lemon Sonata Drop, which has orange liqueur, you might want to make an orange simple syrup. Plenty of recipes for that online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheers to the summer of 2025, friends!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Summer Tea Cocktails: Lemon Sonata<\/mark><\/a> Drop<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"
Lemon Sonata Drop stars our Lemon Sonata tea – a glorious elixir!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The Lemon Drop cocktail has only been around since the 1970s, when the San Francisco bar Henry Africa\u2019s came up with the concoction\u2014a reference to a sweet and sour candy of the same name\u2014to attract women imbibers. Not sure why a lemony drink would draw women with particular ardor, but that was the thinking. Fast forward 50 years, and the cocktail now stands as a bar standard. It\u2019s refreshing, palate-cleansing and serves as a wonderful aperitif\u2014it activates the salivary glands (all of that mouth-puckering lemon) and stokes our hunger. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our Lemon Sonata tea offers quite the lemon punch. But it also contains ginger, pineapple, apple, basil, blackberry leaves and moringa leaves. For our outstanding cocktail, the Lemon Sonata Drop, the ingredients all come together beautifully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\ud83c\udf4b Lemon Sonata Drop<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A floral, citrusy riff on the classic Lemon Drop\u2014zippier, deeper, a little mysterious.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ingredients<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n