[Note: this post is an edited repeat of a Pairteas Facebook post from the past—hope you enjoy it, and hope you and yours experience fulfillment and happiness throughout 2017 and beyond!]
...Of course not exactly!
But for those of us who, like me, can't tolerate alcohol and are thus tea-totalers, is there a tasty tea-based alternative?
Think I may have found it—try it and let me know what you think!
• Started with the question: what is the flavor profile of champagne? According to winefolly.com, champagne has flavors of citrus fruits, white peach, white cherry, almond, and toast (yeasty).
• In addition it has (of course) alcohol, which comes across on the palate as "acid." How to get a similar profile?
• Amazingly, by using white tea: white tea actually has a number of chemicals it shares with peach, cherry, almond, and bready flavors, the latter thanks to its long withering. In addition, it has about half the catechins of green tea, so is decidedly less bitter.
• Next, we need the carbonation. At first was thinking about getting a sparkling alcohol-free apple cider—there are a couple of chemicals in white tea with an apple-like flavor—but champagne isn't apple-y to me, so I nixed that idea.
• So I took myself to our local gourmet store to find a fizzy drink that wouldn't be too sweet, and found Juniper Berry DRY. To find out more about this exquisite sparkling soda, which you can get on Amazon, go to: http://www.drysparkling.com/flavors/juniper-berry/
• Remembering that champagne also has a peach aspect, and that I wanted to cut sweetness a bit (and also because white tea has about half the catechins of green tea), I also got some Fee Brothers peach bitters (http://www.feebrothers.com/products/bitters/peach_bitters.php).
• In addition it has (of course) alcohol, which comes across on the palate as "acid." How to get a similar profile?
• Amazingly, by using white tea: white tea actually has a number of chemicals it shares with peach, cherry, almond, and bready flavors, the latter thanks to its long withering. In addition, it has about half the catechins of green tea, so is decidedly less bitter.
• Next, we need the carbonation. At first was thinking about getting a sparkling alcohol-free apple cider—there are a couple of chemicals in white tea with an apple-like flavor—but champagne isn't apple-y to me, so I nixed that idea.
• So I took myself to our local gourmet store to find a fizzy drink that wouldn't be too sweet, and found Juniper Berry DRY. To find out more about this exquisite sparkling soda, which you can get on Amazon, go to: http://www.drysparkling.com/flavors/juniper-berry/
• Remembering that champagne also has a peach aspect, and that I wanted to cut sweetness a bit (and also because white tea has about half the catechins of green tea), I also got some Fee Brothers peach bitters (http://www.feebrothers.com/products/bitters/peach_bitters.php).
Here's the recipe:
• Bring 18 oz (half liter) of water to 170ºF (I checked with a food thermometer, but you can guess the temp because little bubbles start to appear). Add the water to 8 grams of white tea, brew for 60 seconds, and remove the leaves. This yields a rather dark tea (see photo below), but it will soon be diluted!
• Either let the tea cool down or be sure to put a metal spoon in your glass, then pour equal amounts of tea (first) and sparkling soda (second).
• For each 4 ounces of the tea/soda combo, add two dashes of peach bitters (or more, to taste).
• Enjoy!!
=>> While you can still taste the tea very gently, the overall flavor and aftertaste is remarkably like champagne, and it feels so very festive!!!
The picture below shows the result. Note that the tea soaked up some two ounces of the starting water! Sorry it's not in a champagne glass—am in down-sizing mode, and can't reach them right now!
Oh, and the bubbles don't show up in the picture, but the tiny bubbles are there...
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