Tearamisu!

Ok, so I guess I'm late the game but holy cow how have I never made tiramisu before??? Or should I say TEAramisu !

I've always loved the taste of tiramisu and thought that I could easily switch out the coffee for tea but never knew how easy it was to make!

From looking at recipes online, it seems like everyone has a slightly different way of making the cream but the way I made it is super simple and takes pretty much no time!

I bought a brand of Lady Fingers on amazon that worked well for me. I will say that one of the most important parts of the recipe for me was to make sure the tea you use for dunking is cool otherwise the lady fingers will crumble so fast. 

A note about the tea you choose: choose something you like. This may be obvious but the flavor is pretty obvious in the dessert so don't pick something you dont like. I would also suggest not picking a super blended tea because there may be too many conflicting  flavors. I used the Nepal Kanchanjangha Noir black tea from Nepal Tea that came in my sips by box. 

If you were wondering why I chose to make these tearamisu sweets in glasses it's because I made them for my sister and her husband for their wedding anniversary! They recently had a sweet babe who takes up a lot of their time and I wanted to make sure they had something special to enjoy on their special day!

One thing I learned in the layering process is that I used wayyy too much cream on the bottom so I wasn't left with much for the top and as you can see below some of the lady finger mixed with the cream. Luckily you get to cover it up !

I broke the lady fingers in half to fit the glass but if you use something larger or place it in a regular serving dish you wont have to do this. 

For the top I  used a combination of cocoa powder and cinnamon! I think you can definitely experiment in this area and top it with other things! I already have plans to make a matcha one! 

Don't let the glasses fool you, there is plenty of marscapone cream and ladyfingers to go around in that glass!

This is seriously such a simple, quick and delicious dessert to make for any occassion!

Ceylon Infused Old Fashioned

You may or may not be surprised but I infused my fav ceylon with my fav, bourbon! I then made an old fashioned because I needed a fancy drink that day! 

Let me back up, the idea had always intrigued me but I was given the extra push by my friend Lu Ann from The Tea Cup Of Life who infused oolong into her wine! I saw it and thought how cool it was but how I didn't have wine nor did I really like wine. I decided that the obvious choice was bourbon and that why not infuse my everyday tea with it, ceylon! 

Something important to note, aromas are so important when drinking and the fact that my ceylon tea has bergamot oil in it, is a game changer!

I wanted to wake up the tea leaves before infusing the bourbon so I ran warm (not hot) water over them. You should be able to see just like with another black tea especially, some of the warm liquid showing color of the leaves. If the water is coming out of your strainer clear, turn up the heat of the water a little bit. 

For comparison from left to right: Brewed ceylon, non infused bourbon, Ceylon infused bourbon

Next I simply put about a tablespoon of the leaves into the pot and covered it with bourbon. For a drink like Bourbon, I didn't use a lot of alcohol because it's not like wine where you can fill your glass to the top and drink it. I simply poured enough bourbon to cover the leaves. This also proves for a very strong infusion so if you want it less potent, decrease the amount of tea leaves. 

I left the leaves and bourbon to mingle all night and in the morning when I took a small sip, BAM ceylon flavored bourbon. I think that they two flavors paired well with each other and that's why it's so successful. I also think a puer would be ideal for a darker liquor like bourbon. 

I had this strong infused bourbon and thought that it was perfect for an old fashioned. Throw some bitters and brown sugar in a glass then add the infusion! I decided to garnish it with a date because the normal orange rind would interfere with the flavors. Taking nibbles of the date between sips was also delicious! 

Orange Chai Bourbon

I'm back with another Owl's Brew Raddler drink recipe! This one has a little bit of a kick! The raddler used in this recipe is a seasonal one called Short and Stout. The stout is blended with Chai spices, coconut and pineapple. YUM! I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned my beer preferences before but I'm a stout lover, and a chai lover so this flavor was made for me!

You're probably like UGH she is using Bourbon again?! Let me tell you why though! Besides being a total unabashed bourbon lover, it goes well with so many flavors! The spiciness of chai specifically goes well with bourbon in my experience. 

This is a super simple recipe but has an important step that I think unlocks all sorts of flavors. To start the drink off you want to add the orange slice FIRST then pour the bourbon over the orange. When you let these two sit for a few minutes they are getting the chance to know each other better and mixing their flavors up :)

HERE'S THE MOST IMPORTANT PART! Take a spoon, muddler or whatever you can find and mash that orange and bourbon together!!! Not only are you mixing the flavors but the pulp gives the drink an extra punch and more texture. 

An orange garnish is perfect for any orange lover who wants to squeeze a little extra juice in their drink. 

All these flavors go really well together and the bourbon gives it a kick! When Mr. Tea Thoughts tried it he said, " It tastes like fall in a cup!" Enjoy your orange chai bourbon fall in a cup! 

Bourbon Puerh Cocktail

Boozy Tea.

Ok, so I know I just made a similar drink with some bubbly but if you love bourbon you HAVE to try this! I enjoyed the green tea champagne drink so much I decided to tweak it for a different use. Enter, orange drop tea from White 2 Tea thanks to my Sipsby box!

P.s.You can use the code teathoughts for 50% off your first box!

Orange drop is a very special treat that I've been dying to try for some time! This is a  Xinhui Mandarin stuffed with ripe puerh tea. That's right, tea stuffed into a mandarin! This is meant to be brewed, skin and all. The mandarin sparked an idea. Old fashioned drinks often have the peel of an orange and it gives such a great flavor so I decided to try this tea with bourbon! 

You can steep this tea with the skin and in a tradition 4-6 oz pot or a larger pot. I actually decided to used my gaiwan that I love so much! This tea can be re-steeped 10 times so I suggest tasting the tea after the first steep to make sure you like the flavor. You could even keep different steeps separate and use the one where the taste is best. For my drink, I combined the 1st and 2nd steep. 

Why sour cherries? Before I go crazy and buy everything from the store, I often try to create a recipe with whatever I have in my fridge because that is more conveniant and I want these recipes to be easy and low effort! I had some sour cherries from the farmer's market and I remember that sometimes bartenders put cherries in an old fashioned. The less ingredients in my drink the better, BUT this means I know that the flavors more or less work! 

I'm not sure if you've ever had a sour cherry, or if you like sour things but they are absolutely delicious. I thought the flavors of the orange drop and cherries would go well and the cherries would also soak up the alcohol well. I used shot glass measurements for this drink. I used 1/2 of a shot of bourbon, 1.5 shots of tea and the rest was the sparkling wine. Let me tell you, ONE of these packs a punch! 

The sparkling wine brings some sweetness to this drink and you are always welcome to replace it with a dry champagne!

Just like the other cocktail I made, this is bubbly and fun and great for a party or a maybe an intimate celebration! 

BTW: I don't work for Bulleit, I just love their bourbon so much. Ever since we discovered it, its always on our shelf. It's great neat but it also is perfect for a mixed drink! 

Happy Sipping! 

Matcha Old Fashioned

Matcha Cocktail. 

If you've been reading my blog or follow me on instagram you probably know that I love whiskey! I usually take my whiskey or bourbon neat but if I'm going to have a cocktail I love the simplicity of an old fashioned. I decided to try to incorporate one of my go to teas into one of my favorite drinks!

The Matcha Reserve provided this ceremonial matcha and a peach matcha that I will be baking with soon! 

You always want to sift the matcha. In a cake or something with a lot of batter you can probably get away with not doing it but when you don't have a lot of liquid it needs to be sifted so it doesn't clump. 

This is a tip for making an old fashioned that really helps with the taste. I like to let the sugar and the bitters sit for a minute so that they really combine well. When the sugar is completely soaked in the bitters the flavor and overall quality of the old fashioned is better !

A word about the orange twist. I think these turn out best when you cut the peel with a pairing knife and slice off any thick white rind so that it twists more easily and soaks up your drink better. Feel free to use the twist as a garnish but I like to drop it in the drink so that the drink gets a little orange flavor. 

My final drink is pretty dark in color. The Bulleit bourbon I used is dark and so are the bitters. I also used brown sugar. If you modify any of those or use less matcha then the drink will come out lighter.

So you're probably wondering...what does it actually taste like?! In all honesty, if you don't enjoy an old fashioned this is not the drink for you. It takes the potent and delicious flavor and enhances it with matcha!

Here's my take: at first sip I got that punch of bourbon flavor and then the matcha comes right after. It was a little strange when I first tried it but after a few sips I LOVED IT! It's totally going to be a drink I make more often. I think that if I plan in advance and let the bourbon and matcha to sit and infuse each other for longer the flavor will be even better!