Tea Cocktail: Maple Mule

One of our favorite cocktails to dress up is the Moscow Mule. Everything tastes good with ginger beer! We're actually making a variation on a Kentucky Mule for this drink, where bourbon replaces vodka as the spirit of choice. For a taste of fall, we've got a simple syrup made with our Maple Fig black tea. The sweetness of dried fig, cinnamon, and maple plays well with smoky bourbon and the crisp zing of ginger beer.

For the Maple Mule, you'll need:

1 1/2 oz Maple Fig simple syrup*

1 1/2 oz bourbon

3-4 oz ginger beer (to taste)

Squeeze of lemon juice

Cinnamon stick for garnish

Start by making your Maple Fig simple syrup. Boil water and remove from heat. Steep 2 tablespoons Maple Fig loose leaf tea in 8oz water for 5 minutes.

When finished steeping, strain tea into glass or bowl. Add 1 tablespoon maple syrup and stir until well mixed.

In a cocktail shaker, add ice and combine simple syrup, lemon juice, and bourbon. If you like your drink on the sweeter size, add 1/4 oz more maple syrup to your drink.

Shake well for about 30 seconds. Strain into a classic copper mug filled with ice. If you don't have a copper mug, use your favorite 8oz glass of choice.

Top with ginger beer, give the drink a gentle stir to combine, and garnish with a cinnamon stick. As the cinnamon infuses in the drink, it will add a lovely bit of warmth; a subtle complexity that brings out the notes of fig in the drink.

A note: if you would like to make this drink as a mocktail: leave out the bourbon, add 1oz more of the simple syrup, use a little more ginger beer enjoy! You could also experiment with muddling the simple syrup with a handful of sage leaves for added depth of flavor, or subbing club soda/root beer in place of the bourbon. Ginger beer lends itself incredibly well to flavor experimentation. This is your chance to get really into tea mixology!