More photos on Flickr >

Vancouver website consulting for restaurants, food service, and hospitality

Not your granny’s chamomile

1 Comment Degan BeleyAugust 23, 2009

chamomile liqueur
Sometimes my granny puts whiskey in my tea when I’m sick, but that’s the closest I’ve come to mixing tea and alcohol until last week when I tried J.Witty’s Chamomile liqueur. A friend brought it back from Portland but she wouldn’t tell us what it was and we were at a loss to guess. It tasted vaguely medicinal, with floral and spicy notes, not unlike a flowery gin, but the caramel colour was a problem.

There was a bit of an aha! moment when we were told the secret ingredient, and now I’m wondering what other tea-alcohols would be good. Rooibos and rum? Matcha vodka? So much for the stereotypes about tea drinkers! Looking around the internet, I discovered Qi Sprits, who make an orange white-tea liqueur and a smoky Lapsang Souchong black tea liqueur that I’m dying to try.

And then, as always, is the problem with mix. J. Witty has some recipe suggestions for the chamomile liqueur that sound intriguing. I particularly like the Cherry Blossom:

2 oz. gold rum
1 oz. J. Witty Chamomile
½ oz. Cherry Heering
2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters

Stir ingredients with cracked ice. Strain into an ice-filled old fashioned glass.

I’d be interested to see what Lauren at the Refinery would do with it, but first I’m going to have to go to Portland to get some, since it’s not available in Canada.

Categories: Beyond Vancouver, Downtown, Food, Yummy Products

Comments

One Response to “Not your granny’s chamomile”

  1. degan on August 25th, 2009 8:46 am

    I just remembered about the Earl Grey martinis at Uva and the Refinery, so I guess I have had tea-infused alcohol before, just not chamomile.

Got something to say?