Tea Infused Wine

The popularity of tea cocktails is increasing. I don’t usually drink alcohol, however, I’m always open to trying a creative tea drink. But, what about wines that are directly infused with tea? You can find tea infused wine (and wine inspired tea!) in some stores today but it also can be super fun to DIY. Wine and tea are often compared to one another because of their many similarities, including terrior and tasting techniques and this is one of the many reasons why they can go well together. Tea infused wine is perfect for wine drinkers that love tea and vice versa.

What is Tea Infused Wine?

To be clear, when I say “tea infused wine” I don’t mean a mixed drink.

With this process, you’re not steeping the tea separately and then mixing in wine. Instead, you are directly steeping the tea into the wine of your choice.

Tea and wine are the only ingredients needed and the cold brewing method will be used. There will be no heat involved other than to warm up the leaves to get the process started.

After the infusion process is complete, you can add other ingredients if you prefer to make more of a mixed drink. However, this DIY tea infused wine post is strictly just that. 

When you purchase tea infused wine in the store, the process may be a bit different than this at-home tutorial. Tea can be steeped, then steamed and condensed to extract the tea essences to infuse with wine or a machine that extracts flavours from tea leaves with pressure, opposed to water, can be used (that’s what this tea shop does for their in-store tea infused wine!)

Why Infuse Wine with Tea? 

The purpose behind infusing wine with tea, besides it being a fun experiment, isn’t to make one of the beverages better than the other, but rather to enhance both the leaves and the fermented grapes.

With tea infused wine, you want to get a good balance of both the wine and the tea. Similar to a tea and chocolate pairing, the flavours should complement one another, opposed to overpowering.

Tea and Wine Infusion Ideas

With the variety of tea and wine, there are quite a bit of pairing options, and you will truly never know how well one goes with the other unless you give the infusion a try!

To keep it simple, I use lighter teas for white wines, and darker teas for red wines.

To be more specific, so far my go-to wines have been pinto grigio, riesling, pinot noir and merlot. Loose leaf tea is highly recommended for this tutorial, too. Here are some ideas to get you started though:

Teas to infuse with White Wines:

– Tie Guan Yin oolong tea
– Silver Needle white tea
– Sencha green tea
– First flush Darjeeling black tea (muscatel!) 
– a fruity tea/tisane blend (perfect for making a tea sangria!)

Teas to infuse with Red Wines:

– English Breakfast black tea
– Keemun black tea
– Shou puerh tea
– Shui Xian oolong tea

How to Make Tea Infused Wine

To make this tea infused wine, I’m using Pelee Island’s Pinot Grigio (feel free to use your favourite brand!) with a Tie Guan Yin (Iron Goddess) Oolong tea.

This Tie Guan Yin oolong has a creamy texture with sweet nectar finish. Both the wine and tea are very smooth with floral notes that are enhanced when combined.

When infused with this particular wine, there are also sweet and fruity flavours, similar to a juicy pear. The aroma of this wine and this tea go so well together, too.

Here is what you will need:

– 1 750ml bottle of Pinot Grigio (or your favourite wine)
– 6-8 teaspoons Tie Guan Yin oolong tea leaves (or a different tea you want to experiment with!) 
– Glass pitcher with lid
– Strainer

Directions

1. The night before, put the tea leaves in a strainer and quickly rinse them with hot water. This will help the tea leaves open and get the infusion process started. Then, add the rinsed tea leaves to the glass pitcher.

2. Pour the full bottle of wine into your glass pitcher, over the rinsed tea leaves. Stir lightly and cover with lid.

3. Since this is a white wine, set the pitcher in the fridge to cold brew overnight (8-12 hours, depending on strength desired). If you were making a tea infused red wine, it does not need to be chilled, therefore you can steep it overnight at room temperature.

4. The next day, strain the tea leaves from the now tea infused wine by pouring it through a strainer into another serving pitcher or its original wine bottle.

5. The most important step: pour yourself (and others) a glass and enjoy! Take note of any main changes from the wine due to the tea (ie. colour, aroma, taste, etc.)

Tea Infused Wine

Enhance both the tea leaves and the fermented grapes with tea infused wine. Experiment with your favourite red or white wine and loose leaf tea!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe SaveSaved!

Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 8 hours hrs

Total Time 8 hours hrs 5 minutes mins

Servings 5

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 750 ml bottle of wine
• 6-8 teaspoons of loose leaf tea

Instructions

 

• Quickly rinse the tea leaves in a strainer with hot water. This will help the tea leaves open and get the infusion process started. Add the rinsed tea leaves to a glass pitcher.
• Pour the full bottle of wine into the glass pitcher, over the rinsed tea leaves. Stir lightly and cover with lid.
• If you are using a white wine, set the pitcher in the fridge to cold brew overnight (8-12 hours, depending on strength desired). If you are using a red wine it does not need to be chilled, therefore steep it overnight at room temperature.
• The next day, strain the tea leaves from the now tea infused wine by pouring it through a strainer into another serving pitcher or its original wine bottle.
• Pour yourself a glass. Take note of any main changes from the wine due to the tea (ie. colour, aroma, taste, etc.) Cheers!

Notes

One of my favourite tea infused wine experiements is with Pinto Grigio and Tie Guan Yin oolong tea.

Course Cocktail

Did you make this recipe?I would love to see! Tag me on Instagram @teaaholic or share it on Pinterest. Thanks for your support!

Tea Infused Wine Brands

If you want to give tea infused wine a taste before trying to make your own, check out these brands: 

• Teavine – They offer White Wine infused with Green Tea and honey
• Steep’d – They offer two different tea infused wines, White Wine infused with Green Tea (and natural peach flavour) and Red Wine infused with Rooibos (and natural pomegranate flavour) 
• Hernder Estate Wines – They offer a Gewurztraminer that is infused with a Japanese green tea.

Want to make your own Tea Infused Wine? Pin this how-to blog post for later here –> https://bit.ly/2qsPftv

*If you give this recipe a try, send me a photo of your creation on my Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram! Include the hashtag #theteacupoflife.