Cocktails for Your Coven: Madame Leota’s Magic Potion

Well lovely readers, it’s that time of year again — the best time of year — when the crisp air creates just enough chill to spook us all a little bit. And when October rolls around, us Kentucky girls like to channel our inner mountain witches and cook up some potions to ease our ills.

My roommate and I recently threw ourselves a birthday party. We made apple cider bourbon punch and had beers a plenty. But I found myself feeling creative, with several ingredients  on hand that I yearned to experiment with. So decided I would make up a cocktail. I think it went rather well.

The loss of my beloved Hillbilly Tea has forced me to look into other tea alternatives closer to home — namely, DAVIDsTEA. On a trip to pick up a tin of my favorite pu’erh, I stumbled upon their Halloween Collection. If you know me (and Zelda, and many of our friends for that matter), I find it nearly impossible to resist all things witchy and spooky. Case in point: Steph and I have named our apartment “The Haunted Mansion,” after our spooky proclivities and our favorite Disney attraction. So I left the tea shop with my regular purchase as well as a tin of Magic Potion.

The tea is a nice combination of fruity and floral combining currants, apples, rosehips, raspberries, blackberries and butterfly pea flowers, the latter of which give it its nice purple color. The teashop touts that it changes color when lemon juice is added. This tea combined with some barrel-finished gin purchased at the St. Augustine Distillery in Florida and some 1821 Earl Grey Bitters would be the basis of my concoction. We called it Madame Leota’s Magic Potion, after the Haunted Mansion character of the same name. It was pretty damn great.

For this drink you will need:

4 ounces brewed and cooled Magic Potion tea

1-2 ounces barrel-finished gin (to taste)

2-3 Drops 1821 Earl Grey Bitters

1 ounce simple syrup (optional)

Lemon

Ice

Combine the tea, gin, bitters ,and syrup in a shaker and mix thoroughly. The tea is already lightly sweetened, so feel free to omit the syrup if you like. Partygoers agreed that we would probably infuse the simple syrup with some kind of herb next time, perhaps thyme, to add to the richness of the drink, so consider that if you choose to try this recipe. We have yet to test it ourselves.

Pour the drink into a rocks glass full of ice. The tea is a lovely blue purple color. Squeeze in the juice of a lemon wedge to cut the floral and herbal notes with some tartness, and watch the color change (slightly) to a magenta. Magic!

Garnish with a lemon wheel and enjoy! Suggested locations for enjoyment include: over a bubbling cauldron, naked in a forest as you chant at the full moon, you get the idea.