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bourbon sweet tea cocktail in a mason jar with crushed ice around it
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4.70 from 26 votes

Bourbon Sweet Tea Cocktail Recipe

Tart lemon and sweet sugar balance the bitterness of the black tea and tang of the alcohol in this summer-friendly Lemon Bourbon Sweet Tea. Make this batch cocktail ahead of time and store it in the fridge in a pitcher for up to a week.
This makes 6 (1-cup) servings. Want to adjust the servings in this recipe? Just click on the number next to “servings” to scale up or down.
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time6 minutes
Total Time26 minutes
Course: Drink
Keyword: batch cocktail, bourbon, summer cocktail
Servings: 6
Author: Jess Smith via Inquiring Chef
Cost: $8.00

Equipment

  • Saucepan
  • Pitcher

Ingredients

For Tea:

  • 7 cups Water, divided
  • 6 bags Black Tea (we like this with Earl Grey)
  • 1 cup White Sugar
  • 1 inch Ginger, peeled (optional, see note)
  • 1/2 cup Lemon Juice
  • 6 ounces (3/4 cup) Bourbon
  • 12 dashes Bitters

For Serving/Garnish:

  • Ice
  • Lemon Slices or Peel
  • Fresh Mint

Instructions

  • Bring 6 cups of water to a boil. Add tea bags and brew according to package directions, 3 to 4 minutes.
  • Strain off tea bags (do not squeeze or press down on the tea bags as you strain them or the tea will be bitter).
  • While tea is brewing, combine 1 cup water, sugar, ginger, and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer and simmer just until the sugar is fully dissolved. Pour syrup through a fine strainer (this will remove any pieces of ginger or lemon pulp).
  • Combine tea and simple syrup. (Note: Taste the tea as you go and reduce the amount of simple syrup if you’d prefer it less sweet.)
  • Stir bourbon and bitters into the tea.
  • At this point the tea can be refrigerated for up to a week.
  • Serve tea over ice with lemon slices and / or fresh mint for garnish.

Notes

Ginger - Ginger is completely optional, but it gives the finished tea a warm, subtly spicy flavor that goes so well with black tea that I wanted to include it as an option. For a mild ginger flavor, leave the piece of ginger whole and just simmer it in the simple syrup. For a stronger ginger flavor, grate the ginger before combining it with water and sugar. 
Simple Syrup - Feel free to use as much or as little simple syrup in this drink as you’d like. We all have slightly different preferences when it comes to the level of sweetness we like in our tea. You can also leave all or some of the simple syrup out so that everyone can customize their drink to their own preferred level of sweetness.

Nutrition

Calories: 209kcal | Carbohydrates: 36g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 15mg | Potassium: 21mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 34g | Vitamin C: 8mg | Calcium: 8mg