Turkish Tea Metheglin

I frequent a tea house in Burlington Vermont called Dobra Tea. It’s a great place, with a comfortable, relaxing atmosphere – perfect for sipping fine tea and writing blog posts. They have an extensive menu of many different styles of tea from all over the world. One I always come back to is the “Rize Cay.” This is a black tea from a North-Eastern region of Turkey. The Rize Cay leaves produce a strongly aromatic tea with a slightly sweet scent. The tea has a great, robust earthy flavor and pours a beautiful mahogany color.

Equally as intriguing as the taste is the ritual of the preparation. The dry leaves are first roasted in a pot before being steeped in hot water. The tea is made into a really strong concentrate, then hot water is added to dilute it according to each person’s taste. It is served in a traditional tulip glass instead of a teacup and sweetened with sugar. The unique flavor, aroma, color and tannic properties of this tea lend themselves to creating a truly original mead.

The recipe yields about 2 gallons of semi-sweet metheglin. It was created to keep some residual sugar to balance to robust, earthy tones of the tea. I recommend serving it in a turkish tea glass for a nod to the cay tradition. The tulip shape of the glass is also the perfect shape to enhance the mysterious aromatics of the tea infused mead.

Ingredients

• 2 gal water
• 7 lbs Clover Honey(~9.25 cups)
• 1 oz Rize Cay
• 2 tsp Yeast Nutrient
• 2.5 g Red Star Cote des Blancs

Directions

1. Roast the Rize Cay leaves in a small pan over medium heat for about 2 minutes – making sure not to burn.
2. In a small pot, bring about 20 oz of water to 208 degrees F (just under boiling), and steep the roasted leaves for 10 minutes, then set aside.
3. In a medium brew pot (4 gallon) bring 2 gallons of water to a simmer.
4. Slowly add the honey while stirring continuously so the honey fully dissolves.
5. Add the Yeast Nutrient to the brew pot.
6. Add the must to a 3 gallon carboy and aerate extensively.
7. Strain the tea concentrate through a filter and add to the carboy.
8. With the must temperature below 80 degrees, add the Yeast, making sure you rehydrate dry yeast prior to pitching.
9. Seal carboy with bung and airlock and store in a dark place at a temperature of about 70 degrees.
10. After 3 weeks, with a siphon, re-rack the mead into two sanitized 1 gallon jugs.
11. After 2 weeks, re-rack, then let age for 6 months.
12. Serve at around 50 degrees in the traditional turkish tulip tea glass (if you can get past to extensive alliteration!)