Recipe: Mulled Currant Tea

As I hop around our beautiful country immersing myself in all-things-winter, there’s one thing I always look forward to at the end of each day: a hot drink. Sounds simple, but when it’s -35 outside it’s all I need to keep me going: the light at the end of the tunnel. And regardless of whether it’s a hot cocoa, tea or a booze-filled bevvie that awaits, the warm feeling that ripples through me as soon as my lips touch the steaming cup is unparalleled. Ahh, I feel all cozy just thinking about it! I recently found a new hot drink to add to my list of wintertime faves: mulled currant tea…

Where did I find this magical mulled beverage? At a barn in the Milton!

Let me explain: I headed out for a day in the country with some of my favourite people…

Met these majestic creatures…

Went horseback riding in the woods…

And at the end of the journey, I walked into a rustic barn to enjoy a meal and cocktails with a roomful of lovely people…

This is where I was introduced to the mulled currant tea – it was love at first sip. Although we tried many cocktails throughout the night, the warm mulled currant tea won my heart (and my palate) over. Made with NESTEA Blackcurrant (a new flavour for all you NESTEA fans out there), it was the perfect drink to enjoy after a frigid day. I loved it so much that I had to get the recipe and share it with you guys:

I tinkered with the recipe at home (as any good scientist would) and came up with a few different concoctions. I love experimenting – sometimes because my creative juices are flowing, other times because I’m missing an ingredient or two (in this case, I didn’t have any cardamom bitters or cinnamon sticks laying around).

Here’s what I came up with:

Ingredients

• 6 oz of NESTEA Blackcurrant
• 1 oz of Brugal XV Ron Reserva Exclusiva (straight from the rum factory in the Dominican – more on that trip here)
• 1/8 teaspoon of ground cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of maple syrup (gotta add a little Canadiana spin)
• Garnish with orange slices instead of a cinnamon stick

Directions

• Bring the NESTEA Backcurrant to a boil
• Whisk in the ground cloves, cinnamon and maple syrup
• Pour the mixture into a cup and add in the rum
• Garnish with orange slices (I threw a couple inside the drink too)

And voila:

It’s honestly amazing and something I’m going to continue making throughout the winter. I love the citrus notes from the orange and thought it really brought out the blackcurrent flavour. The only downfall with my recipe is that there’s a bit of sediment that settles at the bottom of the glass (but it’s worth the taste, trust me). It only takes 5 minutes to prepare the drink so give it a try and let me know what concoctions you come up with. Cheers!

A special thanks to NESTEA for inviting us to their media event. As always, all reviews and opinions are entirely my own.