It’s the latest twist in the cocktail revolution – botanical infusions that pep up your spirit. But can you really make a G&T with a teabag?
There was a time when bottles of gin languished at the back of many a British drinks cabinet collecting dust. Now, they are more likely to collect medals, thanks to the gin revolution and rise in quality over the past decade.
Brits are buying more gin than ever in shops, supermarkets and online with more than 80 million bottles sold last year, bringing in £1.3 billion. Flavoured gin in particular has increased in popularity with about 30 million bottles sold, worth more than £500 million.
But the latest craze sees canny companies really pull something out of the bag. Think teabags, except for gin. Yes, really.
So, has drinking gin just got a whole lot more fun or should you stick the kettle on and have a cup of tea instead? Drinks expert Helen McGinn puts a selection to the test . . .
Filled with a whole variety of fruits, herbs and spices, these botanical bags are designed to be dropped into a tumbler with a measure of gin. Just leave them for a few moments to infuse before topping up with ice, tonic and a garnish.
So, has drinking gin just got a whole lot more fun or should you stick the kettle on and have a cup of tea instead? Drinks expert Helen McGinn puts a selection to the test . . .
VIBRANT COLOURS
DJ’s Vodka & Gin Infusion Kit, £12.99, amazon.co.uk
DJ’s Vodka & Gin Infusion Kit, £12.99, amazon.co.uk
These cold infusion packets come in a selection box of 12 bags with six different infusions. It comes with a stirring spoon and the bags are biodegradable.
Flavours include Blooming Blossoms, Summer Equinox, Passion Star and Orange Osmosis. But my two favourites were the Rooibos Spice, a mix of rooibos (a plant usually used to make tea) with a cinnamon, cardamom, clove, ginger and peppercorn mix, and the Stirring Botanicals with its extra hit of juniper with other fruits and spices adding real oomph.
The other unexpected delight is the colour these bags turn the gin (or vodka), from pale pink to bright red, yellow and orange. All taste natural, some more bonkers than others, but a great selection of flavours, not to mention really fun to make. You can always infuse just tonic if you want to stay dry. 8/10
SENSATIONAL CITRUS
Carmencita Ginfusion Botanical Teabags for Gin, £4.38, amazon.co.uk
Carmencita Ginfusion Botanical Teabags for Gin, £4.38, amazon.co.uk
This neat little box of tricks includes three flavours of gin tonic (as the Spanish say, and this is a Spanish brand) including Floral, Spicy and the intriguingly named Mystic.
You get nine in a box, three of each flavour, and they are easy to use. Just open the sachet, drop into your measure of gin and leave for two minutes before removing and adding your ice and tonic.
The Floral one includes hibiscus flower, blueberry and strawberry and it’s impossibly pink and fun to drink. The Spicy one is made from mostly orange and lemon peel with cardamom and cinnamon and is cinnamon-heavy, almost sweet-tasting.
But it’s the Mystic one I love most, a blend of ginger and orange peel and it adds a lovely citrus and warming ginger lift to the gin. 6/10
REFRESHING FLORALS
Premium Gin Infusions by Charbrew, £9.99, charbrew.com
Premium Gin Infusions by Charbrew, £9.99, charbrew.com
This is innovative tea company Charbrew’s take on the gin botanical bag. You get six flavours including the floral, fruity Royal Red, Orange Tuxedo, Irish Sunrise (I’ll come back to that one), Blossom of Rose, The Lemon Zinger and White Forest Essence.
The instructions are to leave the bags in for a few minutes or longer if you want more flavour, but I found they all needed longer than a few minutes.
Gin Infusion Bags, £7.99, prezzybox.com
My favourite was Irish Sunrise, a slightly strange lemon and cucumber mash-up that works quite well. Overall, these bags were a little on the light side flavour-wise. If I’m going to pimp my gin, I want to be able to pick out flavours more easily. And they’re relatively expensive, too. 4/10
TEA WITH A KICK
Gin Infusion Bags, £7.99, prezzybox.com
This gift box contains a mix of three botanical blends — Earl Grey, Bitter Lemon and Pink Berry — and there are four of each. They all smell nice even before they’ve gone in the glass — a good sign.
The instructions are simple, with pictures to show you what they should look like. And it suggests a ten-minute infusion.
All three bags add good natural flavours to the gin but my favourite is the Earl Grey, made from black tea, mallow flower, lemon peel, aniseed, calendula petals and natural bergamot flavouring. It actually looks like cold tea in the glass and the bag adds a lovely smoky character. Great value. 9/10
PICK ’N’ MIX
Gin Botanicals Infusion Tube, £16, thesmokeycarter.com
Gin Botanicals Infusion Tube, £16, thesmokeycarter.com
This is an absolute must-have for real gin lovers.
Made by an award-winning producer, the gin infusions come with little pots of botanicals including juniper berries, pink peppercorns and hibiscus, rose petals, cardamom pods and coriander seeds, and star anise. There’s also a stash of bags. The idea is to use the botanicals as a garnish or make up your own infusions.
You can pop the bag in a glass jar with a lid and top up with about 750 ml of gin and leave for up to 48 hours to infuse, or just put a selection of botanicals straight into the glass, which will impart some flavour to your G&T. How much flavour depends on the botanicals you pick.
There’s plenty in each pot so the tube goes a long way. My own hot pink gin infused with juniper, pink peppercorns and hibiscus went down a treat. 10/10
A note on infusing . . .
Given that gin is made by distilling spirit together with botanicals, with the juniper berry providing the botanical backbone, use a relatively straightforward gin rather than a highly flavoured one for best results. A supermarket own-label London Dry Gin works perfectly well.
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