Sage Tea Cocktail Recipe: Sage Advice with Gin and Honey

Sage Advice is my sage tea cocktail with gin, purple coneflower liqueur, pine shoot syrup, forest honey and lemon. I built the recipe around two homemade ingredients and served it in porcelain, giving my love of tea a different outlet. The tea set made the presentation a little more interesting than the usual cocktail glass, especially with a slice of our homegrown lemon to finish the drink.

This cocktail needs a little planning because the pine syrup and coneflower liqueur should be ready before you begin. The sage tea can be brewed on the day and left to cool while you gather the other ingredients. If you enjoy experimenting with tea in mixed drinks, my Rose Hip Thyme cocktail takes a different direction, combining rooibos with Scotch whisky.

Jump to ingredients · Jump to the cocktail method · Read the homemade ingredient notes

Sage Advice Tea Cocktail Recipe

Sage Advice makes one cocktail, stirred with ice and strained into a glass or porcelain cup. I used KI NO TEA from The Kyoto Distillery. The producer uses gyokuro and tencha green teas in this Kyoto Dry Gin, which suited the tea theme. You can also use a London Dry gin such as Tanqueray.

Sage Tea Cocktail Ingredients

The quantities below make one serving. Measure the gin, liqueur and tea separately, and have the lemon wedge and garnish ready before you begin stirring.

• 30 ml gin; I used KI NO TEA, and London Dry gin such as Tanqueray is an alternative
• 20 ml purple coneflower liqueur intended for culinary use, not a medicinal tincture or concentrated extract
• 30 ml brewed sage tea, using 1 g dried leaves per 100 ml water and cooled before mixing
• 1 teaspoon culinary pine shoot syrup
• 1 teaspoon forest honey; chestnut honey is an alternative
• 1 lemon wedge, plus a slice for garnish
• Ice, for stirring
• A fresh culinary sage leaf, for garnish

Homemade Ingredients for Sage Advice

The Sage Tea

• 1 g dried culinary sage leaves (Salvia officinalis)
• 100 ml freshly boiled water, approximately 100°C (212°F)

Place 1 g of dried culinary sage leaves (Salvia officinalis) in a heatproof cup and pour over 100 ml of freshly boiled water, approximately 100°C (212°F). Let steep for 5 minutes, then strain out the leaves. Measure 30 ml of the strained tea for one cocktail and dissolve 1 teaspoon of forest honey in it while it is still warm. Let the tea and honey mixture cool completely before combining it with the gin and the other ingredients.

Herbal ingredient note: Sage contains thujone, which can be harmful in large amounts. Use sage tea intended for drinking, not sage essential oil. NCCIH provides more detail on sage safety. Echinacea can cause allergic reactions and may interact with medicines. If you take medication or have a relevant plant allergy, check whether it is suitable for you before using the coneflower liqueur.

I prepared the pine shoot syrup and purple coneflower liqueur ahead of time, using young spring shoots for the syrup and flowers and leaves for the liqueur. These are separate batches, so the quantities below are for making the ingredients, not for a single cocktail. Only a teaspoon of syrup and 20 ml of liqueur go into each serving.

Young Pine Shoot Syrup

I used young spring pine shoots and coconut sugar for my syrup. You can also experiment with Gula Melaka palm sugar, an ingredient we explored in Malaysia. For the batch, I used:

• 4 cups fresh young pine shoots
• 2 cups coconut sugar

Have the finished syrup ready before mixing the cocktail. Pine shoot syrup sold for culinary use is another option; follow the producer’s storage instructions. When gathering shoots, use only plants positively identified as edible. Conifers are not interchangeable: yew needles are poisonous.

Purple Coneflower Liqueur

I made the liqueur with purple coneflower, Echinacea purpurea, flowers and leaves, sugar and strong alcohol. We used homemade spirit at 65% ABV, kept the infusion in a dark place and filtered it after a few months. For the batch, we used:

• 4 cups fresh purple coneflower flowers and leaves
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 cups spirit; we used 65% ABV homemade spirit

Use a culinary liqueur for the cocktail. Medicinal echinacea tinctures and concentrated extracts are different products and should not be poured into a drink as a liqueur. NCCIH’s echinacea guidance explains the allergy and medication considerations. For homemade culinary infusions, use beverage-grade alcohol from a reliable source.

How to Make the Sage Advice Cocktail

Once the tea and honey mixture has cooled and the two prepared ingredients are ready, stir the cocktail with ice and strain it before adding the lemon. It is served cold, even when the vessel belongs to a tea set.

1. Measure 30 ml of sage tea, dissolved with forest honey
2. Combine 30 ml gin, 20 ml culinary purple coneflower liqueur, 1 teaspoon culinary pine shoot syrup and the cooled tea and honey mixture in a mixing glass. Stir to combine.
3. Add ice and stir until chilled, then strain into a cocktail glass or a porcelain cup suitable for food use.
4. Squeeze a lemon wedge into the drink. Garnish with a lemon slice and a fresh culinary sage leaf, then serve.

Final Thoughts

Sage Advice is a recipe for anyone who enjoys working with tea and homemade ingredients. Once the syrup and liqueur are ready, mixing a serving is straightforward: dissolve the honey in the warm tea, let it cool and stir the drink with ice before adding the lemon. I served mine in porcelain with fruit from our own tree, bringing something of the garden to the tea table.

Frequently Asked Questions About Sage Advice

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