Blackcurrant Tea Mulled Punch (Winter Bowl)

The recipe

Exact quantities, then the method.

This is a mulled punch built on Hyson Blackcurrant Infused Black Tea: three bags brewed strong with whole cinnamon, star anise, cloves and allspice, strips of orange peel and slices of fresh apple, then finished with red wine for the adult bowl or pomegranate juice for the sober one. Mulled wine usually leans on a splash of cassis for its dark-berry depth, so a blackcurrant tea base does that job from the start, which is why the spices and the fruit sit so naturally on it.

Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for the Blackcurrant Tea Mulled Punch (Winter Bowl, Adult and Sober Versions) recipe. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/recipes/fruit-tea/blackcurrant-tea-mulled-punch-winter-bowl-adult-and-sober-versions/

Steep the spices, peel and apple alongside the tea rather than adding them later, so everything extracts together; bring it to a low simmer then take it off the heat to steep, since a hard boil drives off the spice aromatics. Stir the wine or pomegranate juice in only once the brew has dropped to about 60 degrees, never while it boils, or the wine loses its character and the alcohol with it. Serve it warm in heatproof glasses with an apple slice and a cinnamon stick to stir.

⏱ 25 min 🍽 Serves 6 to 8 📊 Easy 📚 Fruit Tea Recipes

You'll need

3 Hyson Blackcurrant Infused Black Tea bags
1L filtered water at a full rolling boil
60g caster sugar
1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
2 whole star anise
4 whole cloves
6 whole allspice berries (or 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice as substitute)
2 strips of pared unwaxed orange peel (about 6cm each)
1 fresh red apple, cored and sliced into 8 thin wedges
For the adult version:
250ml decent red wine (a fruity Merlot or Grenache; not an oaky Cabernet, which fights the blackcurrant)
For the sober version:
250ml chilled pomegranate juice (POM Wonderful, or any pure pomegranate juice; not a sweetened blend)
For serving:
6 to 8 heatproof glass mugs or thick-walled handled glasses, pre-warmed
6 to 8 fresh apple slices, for garnish
6 to 8 cinnamon sticks, for stirrers

Method

Bring 1L of water to a full rolling boil. Drop all three Hyson Blackcurrant Infused Black Tea bags into a large saucepan and pour the boiling water over. Add the broken cinnamon stick, the 2 star anise, the 4 cloves, the 6 allspice berries, the 2 strips of orange peel, the 8 apple wedges and the 60g of caster sugar.
Stir gently and bring back to a low simmer over medium heat, then take off the heat. Cover the pan with a lid and let it steep off the heat for 6 minutes; the steep-off-heat approach lets the spices extract without boiling away.
Lift the tea bags out of the pan and discard. Leave the spices, orange peel and apple slices in the pan to continue infusing as the brew cools.
Let the punch cool, uncovered, to 60 degrees (still hot but no longer scalding, about 15 minutes; a thermometer is useful here, otherwise check by lifting the spoon, the steam should be visible but not heavy).
For the adult version: stir the 250ml of decent red wine into the warm punch. The wine should not boil at this temperature; warm wine keeps its character. For the sober version: stir the 250ml of chilled pomegranate juice into the warm punch (the pomegranate juice brings down the temperature slightly; warm gently for one minute on low heat if needed to bring back to drinking temperature).
Pre-warm the 6 to 8 heatproof glass mugs by filling with hot tap water and emptying just before serving.
Ladle the warm punch into the heatproof mugs, fishing a slice of the steeped apple and a piece of cinnamon stick into each mug. Garnish each mug with a fresh apple slice (a fresh slice, not the steeped one) and a fresh cinnamon stick as a stirrer.
Serve immediately, warm. The mugs hold drinking temperature for about 20 minutes; reheat any leftover punch in the pan over the lowest heat if needed.

What you'll end up with: A heatproof glass mug of deep purple-red mulled punch with whole cloves, allspice berries, orange peel, a slice of steeped apple, a fresh apple slice on top and a cinnamon stick across the rim: blackcurrant and warm mulling spices on the nose, fresh apple and either red wine or pomegranate juice through the middle, a long Glühwein-shaped winter finish.

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