Recipe

Touchdown Tea Makes for an All-Star Game-Day Drink

Energizing green tea, bourbon, and lemon from the lead bartender at Virgin Hotels New Orleans
A yellow cocktail with a garnished dehydrated lemon slice

Photo: Katherine Kimball

Think of Touchdown Tea as the laid-back Southern cousin to the espresso martini: Chilled green tea meets bourbon for a smooth blend of natural caffeine and earthy flavor. Created by Heather Blanchard, lead bartender at New Orleans’ Virgin Hotel, the cocktail was made with game day in mind, and it became a fall favorite at the hotel’s Pool Club. “The warmth of bourbon and the refreshing and energizing qualities of green tea keep fans fueled throughout the game,” Blanchard says. A splash of peach liqueur, honey, and lemon add a kick of bright citrus, making it a perfect tailgate drink—or a go-to porch pounder when the weather warms up. 

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Ingredients

  • TOUCHDOWN TEA (Yield: 1 cocktail)

    • 1½ oz. Russell’s Reserve Bourbon (or bourbon of choice)

    • ½ oz. Combier Peche liqueur

    • 2 oz. green tea

    • ½ oz. lemon juice

    • ¼ oz. honey syrup

    • Lemon for garnish


Preparation

  1. Combine ingredients in a shaker tin; shake and strain into a collins glass. Garnish with a lemon wheel.


Gabriela Gomez-Misserian, Garden & Gun’s digital producer, joined the magazine in 2021 after studying English and studio art in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. She is an oil painter and gardener, often uniting her interests to write about creatives—whether artists, naturalists, designers, or curators—across the South. Gabriela paints and lives in downtown Charleston with her golden retriever rescue, Clementine.


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