I'm a little late to the party, and only ever-so-slightly off topic, but I've been wanting to infuse some gin with some Earl Grey tea to replicate a drink I had at a bar. I'm shooting for something like this.



I've only ever used Bombay gin, mainly because the bottle's beautiful relative to other gins in the middle-shelf price range. Does anyone know if there'd be much of a difference between Tanqueray and Bombay, in terms of how well they'd welcome an infusion?



And secondly, this recipe says two hours will be enough for a complete infusion. I know Earl Grey tea is strong, but is it *that* strong? When you were infusing coffee, DS, did you find that a couple of hours was all that was needed, or did you still let it infuse for a few days?



Thanks for the informative thread! less

I'm a little late to the party, and only ever-so-slightly off topic, but I've been wanting to infuse some gin with some Earl Grey tea to replicate a drink I had at a bar. I'm shooting for something like this.



I've only ever used Bombay gin, mainly because the bottle's beautiful relative to other gins in the middle-shelf price range. Does anyone know if there'd be much of a difference between Tanqueray and Bombay, in terms of how well they'd welcome an infusion?



And secondly, this recipe says two hours will be enough for a complete infusion. I know Earl Grey tea is strong, but is it *that* strong? When you were infusing coffee, DS, did you find that a couple of hours was all that was needed, or did you still let it infuse for a few days?



Thanks for the informative thread! less

It turns out that two hours was actually just about right- after one hour, my bottle was a really deep burgundy, but the smell of gin was still much stronger than the smell of tea. After two hours, the smells were just about balanced, so I strained it but kept the tea in the filter in case I wanted to let it go longer... but when I sampled it, the balance was just right or even a touch toward the tea end of the spectrum.



That probably worked so quickly because tea is sold in a size that's meant to infuse quickly in water, which is less absorbent than alcohol. When you made coffee vodka, was it with whole beans or with ground beans? less