International Tea Day: Tea-Infused Cocktails To Celebrate With

India is the second-largest tea producer in the world, and it does not need a day to celebrate chai. On the other hand, International Tea Day is celebrated on May 21 every year, aiming to raise awareness around the history of tea cultivation and its cultural and economic significance. Everyone knows that the first tea plantation in India was set up in Chabua, Assam, in 1837 by the British to break China’s monopoly on the tea trade (and the country still remains the largest producer of tea leaves in the world).

As of 2024, India’s tea production stands at 1.38 billion kilograms, of which 80% is consumed by its population. People don’t drink like Britishers did, often around breakfast or snack time. While morning and evening are a must for most people, half of the population survives on tea by drinking more than 5-6 cups. Hilariously, as comedian Rahul Dua mentioned in one of his sets that Indians have a separate measuring unit of tea, which is adha cup chai (a half cup of tea) that people drink several times a day.

But tea is no longer a hot beverage; it is used to prepare mocktails, added to desserts for the aroma, and is a crucial ingredient in the recipe for baked goods. But mixologists took the love for chai a little up a notch by making tea-infused cocktails. Slurrp connected with a mixologist onboard with Jin Jiji, an Indian gin brand that has emerged as one of the best in the world and has been outshining its international competitors. Below are recipes for tea-infused gin cocktails that you must try today. 

The Darjeeling Sour

Ingredients

  • 60 ml Jin Jiji Darjeeling
  • 22.5 ml Darjeeling cordial
  • 10 ml olive brine
  • 2 drops of foamer

Method

  • Add all the ingredients to a shaker along with ice.
  • Keep shaking until the drink is chilled.
  • Pour the cocktail into a rocks glass and garnish it with Darjeeling tea dust.

Darjeeling Whisperer

Ingredients

  • 60ml Jin Jiji Darjeeling
  • 30 ml Darjeeling Tea
  • 15 ml Pandan Cordial
  • 10 ml Citric
  • Soda to top up

Method

  • Shake all ingredients except soda with ice. Strain into a highball glass over ice. Top up with soda.
  • Pour the drink in a highball glass and garnish it with a pandan leaf.

Try the cocktails and become the bartender that your friends go to instead of heading to a bar.