This Trendy Earl Grey Martini Is My New Favorite Way to Drink Tea

If you think of alcoholic tea, your mind probably goes straight to Long Island iced tea. While the classic drink does have a place in the cocktail scene, it's not necessarily among tea drinkers, because despite its name, it doesn't contain any tea. That's where the tea martini comes in.

Unlike a Long Island iced tea, tea actually forms the basis of the drink. It was originally created back in 2003 by Audrey Saunders, the bartender behind Pegu Club in New York City.

Over two decades later, the tea martini is experiencing a resurgence in popularity, coinciding with the growing search interest in tea, which, according to recent Google Trends data, has hit record highs twice in the past three months. In the US, searches for "tea martini" have skyrocketed by a whopping 450 percent over the course of one week alone, making it the top trending tea drink.

After coming across tea martinis multiple times on TikTok, I had to see for myself what was so great about the drink, so I gathered all the ingredients to make it at home. A tea martini is a lot like an espresso martini since it doesn't have vermouth and is sweetened with simple syrup. It's still made with vodka or gin, like any other martini, but instead of coffee liqueur, it calls for tea concentrate.

The recipe I followed, shared to TikTok by content creator Lex Nicoleta, includes lemon juice as well as egg whites, much like Saunders's original one from 2003. The egg whites give it a creamier consistency and mellow out the alcohol, but if you're vegan or aren't too keen on consuming raw eggs, you can substitute them for aquafaba. Some tea martini recipes, like one from Sam Sternstein, use cream to achieve this effect, but it'll curdle if your tea martini also includes lemon juice.

Despite its fancy appearance and the use of egg whites, which may seem intimidating if you've never included them in a cocktail before, a tea martini isn't actually that complicated. To make a tea concentrate, you simply brew a bag of tea in less water than you normally would. Then, after letting it cool to room temperature, you add it to a shaker along with gin or vodka, simple syrup, lemon juice, and the egg whites. For best results, you'll want to shake it without ice first, as this will make the egg whites super frothy. Then you can shake it once again with ice before straining into a martini glass.

For my martini, I went with Earl Grey, but you can use any tea you prefer. Since Earl Grey tea has a strong botanical flavor due to the bergamot in it, I opted for gin over vodka because it also has flowery notes, but either alcohol will work.

As for the simple syrup, you can either use a store-bought one or make your own by combining a one-to-one ratio of water and sugar. If you choose to make your own simple syrup, I highly recommend swapping the sugar for honey. That's what I did, and it gave my cocktail a more tea-forward vibe: after all, honey, tea, and lemon is a classic combo.

If you like tea, you won't be disappointed by this drink. Initially I was concerned about the taste of the Earl Grey getting lost in the drink, but that wasn't the case at all. It's the first thing you taste when you take a sip, and while you definitely still taste gin too, it doesn't overwhelm your palate. The tea martini isn't a super-sweet drink since the lemon juice brings a bit of tartness, so if you like sweet tea, you may want to add more simple syrup. The egg whites don't really add any flavor, but they do bring a noticeably creamy mouthfeel reminiscent of an iced tea latte.

As someone who isn't actually a martini drinker but enjoys tea, this drink completely won me over, and I could definitely see martini drinkers liking it just as much. If you want to add a little excitement to your ordinary cup of tea, or need something to serve at an afternoon tea party or brunch, I'd say this cocktail is worth making. I know I'll be doing so again.

For all the steps on how to make it, you can find the full recipe ahead.