We weathered the delays caused by the recent snow storm in Atlanta and made our way to the Teas Etc showroom for the January Gift Show at AmericasMart. Not sure what to expect we have been pleasantly surprised to see good traffic and many of the buyers we had meetings with.

Excited to introduce some new teas we sampled the Honeybell Blossom white, Pear Spice white, Fig Formosa and the brand new Citrus Pu’erh, just to name a few, all were well received.

We agreed to participate in an 8th floor promotional event taking place on Friday and Saturday evenings, the 2 days when permanent showrooms are open until 8pm. The weather threw us a bit of a curve ball with supply shipments arriving late so we did the best we could with what we had.

We served Raspberry Rose Petal Tea Cocktails, (Raspberry Rose Petal won 2nd Place in the Flavored Herbal Category, 2010 North American Tea Championship.) This cocktail is different than a marTEAni, a martini created with a tea base & vodka, it is more of a punch style cocktail.

The drinks were a big hit so I thought I would share the recipe here. Please note that this recipe is a modified version of one I saw in a magazine sometime ago.

Ingredients

6 cups Raspberry Rose Petal

12 cups boiling water

4 cups sugar

2 cup vodka

6 tablespoons of fresh squeezed lemon juice

4 tablespoons of fresh squeezed lime juice

2 cup cold water

Lemon/lime wedges for garnish

Squeeze lemons and limes and chill juice. Chill vodka.

Combine boiling water, Raspberry Rose Petal and sugar together and stir until sugar dissolves. Allow this to steep for 30 minutes. After steeping strain the brewed tea, bring to room temperature and then chill.

After chilled combine the brewed tea mixture with lemon and lime juice, vodka and additional water. Serve over ice with garnish.

This cocktail would be perfect served at an afternoon wedding, brunch, summer tea party, garden, book & woman’s club, wedding or baby shower or any type of event were you want to serve a cocktail that is not strong and overpowering. The recipe could be modified to be stronger and still taste good, by adding an additional cup of chilled vodka.

Try the recipe and let us know what you think!

Until next time, Beth