Raspberry Mint Tea Cocktail

The summer is hot...really hot. After a long day of work in the mines, or the PR agency if you live with me in NYC, what better than a cold refreshing cocktail to cool your bones? The following cocktail has done so for my girls and boys time and time again.

1.5 oz Absolut Wild Tea

.75 oz Lemon Juice

.75 oz Simple Syrup or 1 tbsp superfine sugar

5 raspberries

5 mint leaves

1 oz Club soda or seltzer water (optional)

Put all ingredients besides soda into a shaker full of ice and shake the hell out of it for about 10 seconds. Add the soda and strain into a collins glass full of ice and garnish with a lemon wedge and clapped mint sprig. 

Do not shake too long or you will water down the cocktail and shred up the mint so that it comes thru the strainer and into the finished product making it hard and obnoxious to drink. It is not necessary to muddle any of the ingredients because you are using the ice in the shaker to pulverize the soft, ripe raspberries and bruise the mint.

Clapping a mint sprig is the process of literally placing a fresh mint sprig in one hand and clapping it with your other. This gently bruises the mint as to release its delightful aromas that will transform the cocktail into a multi-sensory experience.

Lastly, if you'd like to exclude the soda, this cocktail will fair well without; add another .5 oz wild tea and serve it up, in a chilled cocktail glass without the lemon wedge. A stiff alternative.