Swap Bourbon With This Tea Variety For A Smoky Mocktail

A little know-how when it comes to making delicious mocktails can go a long way when you're steering clear of alcohol, taking a break, looking to explore different beverage options, or planning to have an inclusive selection of drink options for your next party. One of the trickiest parts of crafting a successful booze-free cocktail is achieving the other flavor and mouthfeel elements that many spirits and liqueurs contribute beyond just their alcohol content. For example, a simple concoction of fruit juices won't achieve complex balances of bitterness or tannins with sweetness and acidity, the warming effect of alcohol, or the slightly fuller, silkier mouthfeel. Luckily, plenty of ingredients and tricks can create those effects. For example, you can get a bourbon-like effect with tea instead of bourbon in cocktails.

Specifically, use black tea when substituting bourbon, and make sure it's over-steeped. Black tea is already a known partner to bourbon in cocktails, but it makes just as good a swap. Including varieties like Earl Grey, Ceylon, Darjeeling, and English breakfast, black tea is known for its strong flavors. It's more oxidized than other teas, which gives it more astringency, and that astringency is what can replicate bourbon — bourbon gets a tannic quality from being aged in barrels. Black teas are also complex so they can mirror the many flavors of bourbon, like roastiness, wood, vanilla, fruits, and botanicals. Choose the smoked variety lapsang souchong in order to get the smokiness bourbon can have.

Black tea already has that bold character, but you also want to over-steep it to stand up to the flavors of the other ingredients in the cocktail you're making. If you're oversteeping for the strongest aromas possible, use the same amount of black tea as you would bourbon in any recipe. And as far as what recipe to actually choose, the possibilities are vast.

Think about classic and reinvented bourbon cocktails alike. Want to mix up a summertime peach whiskey smash? Pour in 2 ounces of black tea with ½ ounce of simple syrup and ½ ounce of orange-flavored syrup as a non-alcoholic substitute for Grand Marnier. Muddle the simple syrup with peach and lemon slices and pour that into a glass over ice, then mix the tea and orange syrup and strain that in, garnishing with a peach slice and thyme. A classic mint julep is another great option. Muddle 2 tablespoons of simple sugar with mint leaves in your glass, fill it with crushed ice, then pour in 3 ounces of black tea and garnish with more mint. The simple syrup is just enough to sweeten the tannin-strong tea, and the mint keeps the drink fresh and light. You can even enjoy the surprisingly delicious combo of bourbon and sparkling wine with 1 ounce of black tea, ½ ounce of orange syrup, and non-alcoholic sparkling wine.