MxMo XLV: Tea is January 25

Some of us — myself included — are still observing Detoxuary, the annual period following the holidays during which you abstain from booze & rich food , but those of you not spending the whole month of January on the wagon — myself included again here — should mark your calendars for the first Mixology Monday of 2010.

This round of MxMo — the 45th, if you’re keeping count — takes place Monday, January 25, and is hosted by Frederic & company at Cocktail Virgin Slut. For this round, Fred has chosen Tea as the theme; here’s what he has in mind:

Tea has played a historical role in cocktails for centuries. Perhaps the best documented early example was its inclusion in punches as part of the spice role to round out the spirit, sugar, water, and citrus line up. Later, teas appear in many recipes such as Boston Grog, English Cobbler, and a variety of Hot Toddies. And present day mixologists are utilizing tea flavors with great success including Audrey Saunder’s Earl Grey MarTEAni and LUPEC Boston’s Flapper Jane. Now it’s our turn to honor this glorious cocktail ingredient!

Here’s how to play:

• Find or concoct a drink recipe that uses tea or tisane (a herbal “tea” which lacks tea leaves) as an ingredient. This can be hot tea, cold tea, tea syrups, or infusions and use it in a cocktail, punch, or other drink type. Be careful how long you infuse them (after 2 hours, things get really bitter!) if you go that route, and feel free to take a shortcut and use Beefeater 24 which has tea already in the botanical mix.
• Make the drink and then post the recipe, a photo, and your thoughts about the drink on your blog or on the eGullet Spirits and Cocktails forum.
• Include in your post the MxMo logo and a link back to both the Mixology Monday and CocktailVirgin sites. And once the round-up is posted, a link to that summary post would be appreciated.
• Post a link to your submission in the comment section here, or send an email to yarm-at-verizon.net

The due date is Monday, January 25th which I will interpret as whatever gets posted before I awake on Tuesday the 26th.

And that pretty much sums it up. So unlock the liquor cabinet and break out the stash of oolong — this round sounds like it’ll be especially fun. See you on January 25!