Tea for Tears (St. Patrick’s Day)

This post contains affiliate links: As an Amazon Associate I may earn a commission from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you.

This delightful Irish whiskey based cocktail is a riff on a Mint Julep. It combines Writer’s Tears Irish Whiskey, Irish Mist, mint, matcha and almond to create a delicious grown up version of the shamrock shake. It’s minty, earthy and has just a touch a sweetness. Its the perfect for St. Patrick’s Day celebrations!

You’ll need the following equipment:

Ingredients:

Lemon
Mint
Matcha
Orgeat
Writers Tears Whiskey
Irish Mist

Ireland is probably my favorite country that I’ve ever been to. From the people to the landscapes and the food- its nothing short of magical. It’s where I got engaged, and was the first country I traveled to abroad.

So it comes as no surprise that St Patrick’s Day is one of my favorite holidays. I have the fondest memories of taking the train down to the city to watch the parade. And also the epic spread my dad would prepare for our St. Paddy’s Day party at home.

While there is absolutely nothing wrong with a shot of Jameson and a pint of Guinness, I wanted to utilize some other less popular Irish spirits for my St Paddy’s day cocktail.

Irish mist- which has fallen into cocktail obscurity is in Irish whiskey liqueur that has beautiful honey and spice notes.

It pairs beautifully with Writers Tears, which is my Irish whiskey of choice. It has a deeper flavor profile than other Irish whiskeys and is made from 100 percent barley. My husband found this the last time we were in Ireland, and it has been a staple of our home bar ever since.

When I was coming up with this drink I had a mint julep in mind, but wanted something to also pair with the honey notes from the Irish mist and whiskey. Tea and honey go hand in hand, and to make this drink look more festive, and also add some earthy notes, I’m adding matcha tea to this drink.

To play up the almondy character of this Irish whiskey, I will also be incorporating orgeat- or almond syrup.

While I liked the idea of a julep riff, I didn’t want to hide the beautiful color of this cocktail in a julep cup, and I also am not a huge fan of stuff floating around in my drink, unless its sangria or something like that.

Also adding straight matcha to a drink is not the easiest thing to do. Often times you are left with clumps of bitter green tea that float around the top of the drink.

To get over this hurdle, I will be incorporating the mint and matcha elements into the orgeat.

To make the Mint matcha orgeat I am first going to add 1/2 a cup of orgeat to my blending container

Next I’m adding one teaspoon of matcha
And then around 10 to 12 large mint leaves.
Using an immersion blender, I will blend the mint, orgeat and matcha until it all looks fairly homogenous. It should have a beautiful green color.

There is still going to be specks of mint visible, and that’s ok, but I recommend using a fine mesh strainer to remove some of the larger particles.

This stuff tastes amazing! The color is so pretty too. thanks to that bright green matcha and mint.

Now that our Mint matcha orgeat is ready, we can go ahead and start building the cocktail: