Name: Rooibos Old Fashioned (Adult Cocktail)
Total time: 10 min
Yield: Serves 1
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 60ml bourbon or rye whiskey; 15ml rooibos honey syrup (see step 1); 2 dashes Angostura aromatic bitters; 1 dash orange bitters, optional; A large ice cube, an orange peel and a cocktail cherry, to garnish; For the rooibos honey syrup: 2 Tetley Redbush Pure rooibos tea bags, 100ml boiling water, 100g runny honey

A Rooibos old fashioned takes the classic stirred bourbon cocktail and swaps the sugar cube for a rooibos honey syrup. Rooibos brings a woody, honeyed depth that sits naturally alongside bourbon's vanilla and oak, with no caffeine to sharpen it.

Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for the Rooibos Old Fashioned (Adult Cocktail) recipe. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/recipes/cocktails/rooibos old fashioned adult cocktail/

The syrup uses Tetley Redbush Pure, Rainforest Alliance certified rooibos from the Western Cape. Measures, glassware and garnish are below, along with a proper zero alcohol version that keeps the same flavour.

⏱ 10 min 🍽 Serves 1 📊 Medium 📚 Tea Cocktails (Adults Only)

You'll need

60ml bourbon or rye whiskey
15ml rooibos honey syrup (see step 1)
2 dashes Angostura aromatic bitters
1 dash orange bitters, optional
A large ice cube, an orange peel and a cocktail cherry, to garnish
For the rooibos honey syrup: 2 Tetley Redbush Pure rooibos tea bags, 100ml boiling water, 100g runny honey

Method

Make the syrup: steep 2 rooibos bags in 100ml boiling water for 8 minutes, squeeze and discard the bags, stir in 100g honey until fully dissolved, then cool. It keeps for 2 weeks in the fridge.
Add the bourbon, 15ml of the rooibos honey syrup and the bitters to a mixing glass filled with ice.
Stir, do not shake, for about 30 seconds until well chilled and lightly diluted; stirring keeps an old fashioned clear and silky.
Strain over one large ice cube in a chilled rocks glass.
Express an orange peel over the surface, skin side down, to release the citrus oils, then drop it in with a cocktail cherry.
Zero alcohol version: replace the bourbon with 60ml cold strong rooibos plus 10ml lemon juice, keeping the syrup and bitters, or a non alcoholic bitters.

What you'll end up with: A short, spirit forward old fashioned with bourbon warmth, honeyed rooibos depth and a lift of orange oil. Clear, smooth and grown up, with an alcohol free version that tastes much the same.

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🛒 Made with this tea

Tetley Redbush Pure, 40 Tea Bags 100g£4.00