Anyone for a tea-tail?

So we’re a few weeks into 2018 and we are starting to see some emerging trends in the tea world and one in particular that has sent our taste buds a tingling here at UKVending.

For centuries the makers of tea have been telling us about how useful and versatile a drink it can be and over the last thirty or forty years it has started to find its way into a lot of consumables from air fresheners and soaps to foodstuffs too. Now some restaurants are enticing us customers through their doors with an extremely intriguing cocktail or two.

The San Francisco based consulting firm of Andrew Freeman and Company has even coined a new word for it – ‘tea-tails’. It may sound clunky now but give it a few months and you might well be hearing it everywhere you go with people asking for the latest ‘tea-tail’ on the cocktail menu. The idea of mixing alcohol with another beverage is far from new: just think of the classic Irish Coffee: black coffee and strong whiskey, sugar and whipped cream.

The Irish seemed to corner the market in this field as soon after the Irish Coffee Mrs Doyle’s Teas (nothing to do with Father Ted I hasten to add!) then developed Irish Cream Liquor and rum infused teas at festivals across Ireland to great success I might add.

So what can you expect to see in 2018 by way of a ‘tea-tail’. Well I have been told that the Marteani is very popular with its gin and Earl Grey mixture. Then there is a Lady Jane which is a similar concoction. Others mix Qi white tea liquor with brandy and citrus fruits.

Outside the United States you may also find a green tea mojito and even a raspberry sake tea!