Hey! It's Matt. Y'all haven't heard from me in *quite* a while. Beau mentioned a couple weeks ago that I've been busy opening a new restaurant, Cavan, and he def got it right with "busy." But I'm here now! And when I'm here, that means booze is on the agenda, so let's get ginny with it.*

*Neither Probably This nor any of its members is responsible for how annoying that pun was

Now that I work in a big old opulent southern mansion with chandeliers and a porch, it's maybe not surprising that I daydream about sipping iced tea and reading Karen Macneil's The Wine Bible. Because duh, that sounds really refreshing and educational, and I personally prefer to live my life refreshed and educated *take a bath in fresh mint* *earns degree*. One of my smaller projects under the larger Cavan project is rolling out a portfolio of seasonal fruit iced teas that work with or without booze in them. So this recipe is something along those same lines. The lavender + gin combination is a great balance of herbal and floral flavors, and the black tea kind of grounds them both with a deep, rich base.

Also if you don't know how I feel about summer, please be directed to every other recipe I've posted on this site where I invariably profess love for pools, tank tops, refreshing beverages, etc, so you can really grasp the gravity of me saying that this is the most satisfying front-porch hot-afternoon book-in-other-hand summer cocktail ever. Cheers!

Sparkling Lavender + Black Tea Gin Cocktail

prep time 30 min // makes 1 cocktail

1 1/2 oz gin
1 oz black tea and lavender syrup (recipe below)
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
Club soda
Lemon slices and mint for garnish

Fill a mason jar or Collins glass with cracked ice and set aside. Add the lemon juice, syrup, and gin to a metal shaking tin, fill with ice and shake until the shaking tin has frosted over, about 15 - 20 seconds. Strain the contents into the prepared glass and top with soda. Garnish with lemon and mint.

Black Tea and Lavender Syrup

2 tablespoons loose black tea
4 tablespoons dried whole lavender blossoms
2 cups of granulated sugar

Place the tea and lavender in a heat-proof mixing bowl and set aside. Boil 1.5 cups of water in a tea kettle and pour the water over the mixture of tea and lavender and let steep for ten minutes. Once the tea has steeped, strain out the solids and transfer lavender black tea to a saucepan over medium heat and combine with 2 cups of sugar. Bring to a boil and whisk until the sugar has dissolved. Remove the syrup from heat and let cool before using in a cocktail or refrigerating (otherwise it'll crystallize in the fridge). The syrup be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week.

Still thirsty? Check out some other Probably This cocktail favorites!

Sparkling Lavender Black Tea + Gin Cocktail