Name: Bourbon Fruit Tea Punch
Yield: 8 drinks
Cuisine: Southern
Ingredients: 6 black tea bags (or 3 tbsp. loose black tea); ½ cup sugar; ¾ cup fresh orange juice; ¾ cup pineapple juice; ½ cup plus 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice; 1½ cups bourbon (such as Belle Meade); Mint sprigs and lemon wheels, for garnish

Bourbon Fruit Tea Punch

Chef Vivek Surti’s spiked riff on Nashville’s beloved juicy drink

By Tom Wilmes
Recipe by Vivek Surti

Chef Vivek Surti, who was raised in Nashville, isn’t the first resident to spike his fruit tea. But at Tailor in Germantown, he’s elevated the sweet-tea-and-fruit-juice blend long popular across the city into a balanced, refreshing tipple. “Fruit tea is also often referred to as punch, from the Hindi word panch, meaning five,” he says, a reference to the recipe of alcohol, sugar, lemon, water, and tea. “That connection isn’t something I grew up thinking about, but it’s a meaningful overlap now: a drink that’s rooted in where I grew up and a name that traces back to my heritage.”

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Preparation

Brew tea in 2 cups boiling water in a teapot or measuring glass for 5 minutes. Remove tea bags; discard. Add sugar and stir to dissolve. Let cool 10 minutes, then transfer to a pitcher. Add orange, pineapple, and lemon juices and 4 cups cold water; stir well to combine. Chill fruit tea in the refrigerator until cold, at least 2 hours, or cover and chill up to 2 days.

To make individual cocktails, pour 1½ oz. bourbon into each of 8 ice-filled glasses. Add 6 oz. fruit tea to each and stir to combine (you may have tea left over). Garnish with mint sprigs and lemon wheels. To batch, combine 6 cups fruit tea and 1½ cups bourbon in a pitcher. Pour among 8 ice-filled glasses and garnish.