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Recently I went to friends in the village, and there, as you know, the traditional local hobby is cooking and drinking moonshine. I spent several days in the village and noticed that the locals drink only pure moonshine.
I began to ask – why is it so? After all, there are many excellent tinctures. For these words, they began to ridicule me, since allegedly real moonshine is only pure, without any auxiliary components.
We began to argue, and as a result, I invited my village friends to my tea moonshine.
What ingredients and equipment will be needed
I decided to make moonshine on tea leaves according to the simplest recipe. In this case, a moonshine still is not required, it is enough to have a large glass jar on hand.
I managed to capture a local village landmark.
The ingredients are also as simple as possible and not expensive:
- moonshine – 0,5 liters (if you don’t have moonshine, you can buy Green Mark vodka for 350 rubles);
- Greenfield black loose tea – 2 tablespoons (I took a pack for 82 rubles).
To prepare a high-quality tincture, you need to choose selected large-leaf tea. I recommend using Greenfield. In this case, saving is not worth it, since cheap varieties do not have the necessary saturation.
Inexpensive, but very high quality and rich leaf tea.
I will make moonshine on tea leaves of the minimum volume, for testing. If you want a larger batch, simply multiply the number of ingredients I indicated (for example, per liter of alcohol – 4 tablespoons of loose leaf tea).
The cooking process
I chose this recipe for the experiment, since cooking according to it will take a minimum of time. Approximately 4 hours – and you can start tasting.
I pour tea leaves into a glass jar, pour vodka (if you have pure moonshine, use it). Close the jar tightly and shake well. I put it in the fridge for 4 hours.
After that, I pass the tincture through the filter. I use ordinary medical gauze, folded in several layers. As a result, I get a clean homemade moonshine.
My moonshine on tea leaves is infused for only a few hours, and has already acquired such a rich color.
What will be the result
It turned out to be a very unusual drink. The color resembles ordinary black tea brewed in a cup. The color is quite dark and saturated. Exactly what I expected from Greenfield.
The smell, of course, is strong. But this is normal, because he was not preparing a fragrant cocktail. A little disappointed in taste – the bitterness of vodka in a duet with black tea is felt too sharply.
I consider my experiment not very successful. But I’m glad that it didn’t come out at cost, only 442 rubles per 0,5 liter of my drink. In addition, I used very little tea, so almost a full package is in stock.
This is the drink I ended up with. If you pour it into a tea cup, you can’t distinguish it from ordinary black tea in color. Great disguise!
What can be added / replaced in the recipe
Since I am not very satisfied with the taste, I began to look for ways to save my creation. I added a little linden honey – I got a softer moonshine. I liked it even more after I insisted it for several hours with lemon zest. There is an interesting citrus note.
A friend gave me some more useful advice. For example, add vanillin to the original recipe (a little, on the tip of a knife). I love its fragrance since childhood, so I could not resist and immediately set to experiment. The drink softened and acquired a very inviting vanilla smell.
Another recommendation is to replace ordinary black tea leaves with hibiscus, fireweed or Ivan tea. Not so saturated moonshine on tea leaves will add mint or dried fruit to the tincture.
According to a similar recipe, which I described above, I made another moonshine. But instead of black tea leaves, he added hibiscus. Amazing color and amazing taste!
As I said initially to my village comrades, there are a lot of moonshine recipes. The more and more varied the ingredients, the more interesting and pleasant the result will be.
How to serve and with what to use
Friends came to visit to sample my homemade drink. I didn’t have to bother with serving, they drank from ordinary piles. But if desired, you can pour into glasses for cognac. It will look elegant!
Simple homemade tea moonshine looks like expensive alcohol. Just pour it into the right glass!
Since the taste of tea tincture is bitter, I do not recommend using it with spicy and sour snacks. We combined it with sausage and meat cuts, slices of cheese and cucumbers.
If tea moonshine is not served for dinner, but just a stack or two is taken, it is better to eat it with something sweeter. For example, I cut a fresh apple into slices, put a little honey on top of them. The combination turned out great!
Pure moonshine on tea leaves was a disappointment for me. Too bitter and sugary and almost tasteless. And only additional ingredients help to save my unsuccessful masterpiece.
Please share some tips on how to make it better so that you can drink it and not be upset by an unpleasant aftertaste.
Dear readers, remember that alcohol abuse harms your body. Take care of yourself!