I do love a good cocktail, especially at the height of summer. In winter, I’m more of a wine girl but once we have a bit of sunshine and warmth, I’m rather partial to heading over to my bar cart and mixing up a batch of whatever takes my fancy. I also have always loved iced tea. It’s gloriously refreshing and while it’s not as popular here in the UK as it is in the US, I thought I’d try to bridge that gap today by appealing to the Brit’s love of alcohol. Oh yes, today I’m sharing three ice tea-based cocktails.

I wanted to team up today with two really fabulous brands that I love. When I had the idea for this post, I went straight to one of my favourite brands of herbal teas, Newby Teas. They have so many gorgeous flavours and I’m genuinely impressed with the quality of their teas and tisanes.

There is no chalky or powdery after taste that you sometimes get with teas and the flavours are amazing. I think with any cocktail, the quality of your ingredients counts for a lot so using low-quality tea for these is going to affect the quality of the finished result. I genuinely adore Newby – they have a huge variety of flavours and I knew they’d make an excellent base for my cocktail ideas.

The second brand who’s helping me out for today’s post is Amara. They have an amazing assortment of home accessories on their website and I knew for this post, their glassware would be the perfect fit for the three cocktails I was making today.

I chose the LSA Gin Cocktail Set which gives you the perfect combination of glasses – 2 Highball Glasses, 2 Cocktail Glasses and 2 Balloon Glasses along with a beautiful pitcher and glass mixer – all in one set. So if you are looking to doll up your barware, it’s a great set to get you started.

I particularly love the chunky bases on all the stemmed glasses and how the pitcher reminds me of a science beaker! It’s a stunning set and Amara has so many gorgeous items in their glassware collection, perfect for showing off on a bar cart. So shall we get started? Remember, you’ll want to make your teas and tisanes ahead of time to give them enough time to cool!

This post contains some affiliate links indicated by an asterisk (*). You don’t pay any more when you click on those links but I may earn a few pennies towards more pretty glassware and tea – win win!

Raspberry Tea Russian

Oh, how I love Chambord. The raspberry flavour liquor is delightfully sweet but when combined with the strong sweet and sour berry flavours of Newby Summer Fruit Tisane and a bit of vodka, the resulting concoction is delightfully summery.

Ingredients (Makes 2)

• Approx 2 cups (400ml) Newby Summer Berries Fruit Tisane (I used 3 tea bags)
• 1 shot (25ml) Chambord* per glass
• 1 shot (25ml) Vodka* per glass
• Blackberries & raspberries to garnish
• 2 balloon goblets
• ice

Method

Steep 2 tea bags in approximately 400ml of just boiled water for 5 minutes and let cool completely. Fill goblets with ice and add 1 shot of Chambord and vodka to each glass. Top up with Newby Summer Berries Fruit Tisane and garnish with additional berries.

This is very refreshing and the taste of the berry tisane really comes through. It’s more of an iced tea in that it isn’t overly sweet although if you wanted something sweeter, you could try adding one tsp of sugar syrup. I feel like this one is really the perfect summer drink – the Chambord adds just a touch of sweetness and masks the strong vodka. It’s ridiculously easy to drink (which could be dangerous really).

Ginger Smash

This has a crazy amount of different flavours which all come together in a delicious cacophony! The addition of the egg white makes you feel like a proper bartender and adds a lovely fluffy top. I dare you to drink just one.

Ingredients (Makes 2)

• 1 strong cup (about 200ml) of Newby Ginger & Lemon Tisane (I used 2 tea bags)
• 2 shots (50ml) Edinburgh Gin Elderberry Rhubarb & Ginger liqueur*
• 2 shots (50ml) Aperol*
• Juice of 1 Lemon plus additional lemon to garnish
• 2 (50ml) shots Sugar syrup*
• Dash of Aromatic Bitters*
• 1 egg white
• 2 cocktail glasses
• 1 ice cube

Method

Steep 2 tea bags in 1 cup of just boiled water for 5 minutes and let cool completely. In a cocktail shaker combine all ingredients plus one ice cube and shake well. Pour into cocktail glass, garnish with lemon slice and serve.

This one is absolutely gorgeous and my favourite of the lot. I actually just experimented with this one and I’m so glad I took a chance because oh my god. Yum. If you like sweet cocktails that actually taste wonderful and are the prettiest shade of peach, you’re going to like this one. It’s such a wonderful medley of flavours and the ginger & lemon tea really does come through, sassed up with hints of others. It sounds like a crazy combination but I promise, it really is utterly delicious. I’ll be making these again for sure.

Mint Green Tea Mojito

Who doesn’t like a mojito? No one, that’s who. This classic rum drink gets a total upgrade, however, with the inclusion of a delightfully minty green tea as the base. This was Wayne’s favourite!

Ingredients (Makes 3)

• 2 cups (about 400ml) Newby Moroccan Mint Green Tea chilled (I used 4 tea bags)
• 4 shots (100ml) of Plantation Dark rum
• Juice of 2 limes
• 2 shots (50ml) of Sugar syrup*
• 1 large bunch of Mint leaves (about 40g)
• 2 Highball Glasses
• Ice

Method

Steep 4 tea bags in approximately 400ml of just boiled water for 5 minutes and let cool completely.

Setting aside a few stems of mint for garnish, tear the remaining mint leaves and pat in your palms. The clapping motion will release the oils. Place the mint leaves at the bottom of the pitcher and squeeze the juice of 1 lime on top. Cut the other lime up, squeezing some, leaving others in tact on top of the mint leaves. Using a muddler, press down on the mint and limes to release all the juices and oils.

Now pour 4 shots of dark rum into the pitcher followed by 2 shots of sugar syrup. Fill part way with ice and top with chilled mint tea. Use the muddler, pulling the mint leaves and limes from the bottom and mix everything well.

Top 2 highball glasses with ice and pour Mojito mixture into glasses. Garnish liberally with a few stems of mint leaves.

This really is the perfect blend of summer iced tea with the minty freshness of a mojito. It’s not overly sweet but you can adjust the sweetness with less or more sugar syrup.

So those are my three tea-based cocktails! Are you much of a cocktail maker yourself? What’s your signature drink? I’d love to know which of these sounds like something you’d enjoy so do let me know what you think in the comments.

Disclaimer: I teamed up with both Amara and Newby Teas for this post, both of whom I approached personally to sponsor this post. I love both of these brands and only work with companies I really love and think you’ll like too! Thanks so much for supporting the brands that support Swoon Worthy.