Tea and alcohol.  Not a combination that most people think of whenever they think of tea.  In fact, when I first heard of this mixology set from Tea Forté, I wondered how good it could be – I’m a HUGE fan of tea, but not so much a fan of alcohol.   So to truly get a good feel for this set, I enlisted the help of my best friend Zippy, who has a good taste for both tea and alcohol.

First let me say that this is SO easy to use.  The set itself comes with two glass infusion chambers to brew the tea in your alcohol of choice, and a collection of tea infusers, as well as a lot of wonderful recipes that are quick and easy to follow.

I especially liked the easy directions that can be found via video on You Tube.  Here is one of my very favorites, or Lavender Pear Provencal:

As you can see, this set is very easy to use!  After studying several of the videos available on You Tube, and reading through the recipe book included with the set, my friend and I decided to take off on our own and start experimenting with the many different ways you can brew a tea cocktail with Tea Forté’s Mixology Set.

Tea Forté describes this tea as:

Become a master mixologist at home and create naturally infused exotic cocktails. It’s fresh, it’s fun, it’s creative and it’s entertaining! Our new Cocktail Mixology Set will give you the tools you need to infuse the perfect cocktail in your home.

Place an infuser into one of our Infusion Chambers, pour alcohol over the infuser and watch the color swirl as the delicious flavors are released. Add the rest of the cocktail ingredients and enjoy. No hot water is needed!

Cocktail Mixology Set includes:

* Two glass infusion chambers
* Cocktail Infusions Collection box of eight infusers
* Tea Forté Cocktail Infusions recipe booklet
* Special bonus holiday recipe booklet

My friend and I began our experimentations with one of the 3 flavors of infusers that they offer, Lemongrass Mint.  We infused the Lemongrass Mint with Grey Goose vodka, and then poured that over a glass of ice, and then stirred in pineapple juice and freshly crushed mint leaves to make an easy and fast, yet totally delicious cocktail.  The lemongrass mint is so light and refreshing that it really goes well with almost any fruit flavors, and using mint in your cocktail just enhances the addition of mint in the blend.

Besides pineapple juice, you could also use lemon-lime soda or even pear nectar.

You can see to the left, this first experiment with Tea Forté’s mixology set was a complete success.  After mixing the cocktail we added a sprig of mint and a licorice stir stick to the cocktail for a beautiful accent.  We used fresh Apple Mint from my garden to crush into and accent the drink.

After using the lemongrass mint infusion, which has a lot of potential to make any drink delicious, we decided to start experimenting with one of the other 2 flavors available for their mixology set, Silkroad Chai.

Silkroad chai quickly became my favorite of the 3, because it is a nice strong chai tea that tastes gorgeous when mixed with the alcoholic beverage of your choice.

Since I am not a huge fan of alcohol, and I can’t drink much with my medication, I came up with a really gorgeous recipe for this chai infusion that makes it taste more like chai and less like alcohol.

First I infused the silk road chai with Grey Goose vodka (this is my favorite alcohol for infusing these, but Bacardi rum, Absolut vodka, and just about any other “light” liquor can be used, it’s pretty much up to your own taste!) in the special glass infusion chamber.

After the infusion, I filled a glass with ice cubes, then poured about 2 tablespoons of honey over the ice.  After this I added the infused alcohol to about halfway up the glass, then added vanilla flavored soy milk to top it off, sprinkled it with cinnamon and added a whole cinnamon stick as an accent.  This makes the MOST delicious alcoholic chai tea you’ll ever taste!

Here is a similar drink recipe for a “White Russian Chai” that they have a video for on YouTube.  This is another great way to use their Silkroad Chai infuser:

Finally the other flavor that the mixology set includes is Lavender Citrus.  This is a very red, fruity and hibiscus-tasting infusion, which would go well with any fruit flavor mix.  My friend Zippy experimented with this one more than I did as it was just a little tart for my tastes.

She says that she found that mixing it with raspberry lemonade (instead of orange or pineapple juice) was almost perfect, but regular lemonade would work well also.  She also remarked upon how perfectly the flavor of lemon complimented that particular lavender citrus infusion.

If you love a bright tart note to your tea then you should probably start with this one, as it tastes a bit like Koolaid mixed with Hibiscus tea.

Overall we had a fantastic time experimenting and tasting the teas from Tea Forté’s Mixology Set.  Don’t forget you can buy the infusers (teas) separately here.  This makes a fantastic holiday gift for the tea drinking cocktail lover in your life!