My husband Matt has decided that we are going to make cocktails at home once a week. This week we used some Tea Forté cocktail infusions we bought a while ago. I think you could use any herbal tea really, though you might not get the color. (I also think a more lavender flavor might be gotten by using culinary lavender.)

I used a lavender citrus tea, but Matt used a lemongrass mint. It would be fun to experiment with other different blends.

French Lavender 75

Ingredients:

• 2 oz gin (a neutral flavored one is best. I used Bols a Dutch gin.)
• lavender tea in a tea bag or strainer (I used a lavender tea made to infuse in alcohol for cocktail, but I think you could use any herbal tea or even culinary lavender.)
• 1 T (15ml or 1/2oz) lemon juice
• 1 t simple syrup or fine sugar
• ice
• 5 oz champagne

Let the tea seep in the gin for at least three minutes, the longer you let it seep the stronger the flavor.

Throw out the tea. Add the gin, lemon juice and simple syrup to a collins or champagne flute. Stir. Add one or two ice cubes. Top off with champagne

1 serving.

We still had champagne left so, of course, we made different flavored 75s, this time using drink concentrates and syrups from IKEA. (No teas this time) We used these as a replacement for the simple syrup in the recipe. I used elderflower syrup and it was my favorite drink from the night. Matt used the blue blueberry concentrate. It was fine, but just didn’t have enough blueberry flavor. We had the same problem when using it to make soda.