Earl Grey Martini ~ Pinterest Recipe Review

I have pinned quite a few drink recipes to my Pinterest board, Potent Potables. Have I tried any of them? Not until last night. And what better choice than a martini containing one of my very favorite things – Earl Grey tea?

I took a look at the recipe I had posted on “7 Pinterest Recipes I’ve Got to Try” but noticed it contained raw egg whites. Now, here’s the thing. When I was raising my own chickens I was not as concerned about consuming the occasional raw egg white in unbaked chocolate chip cookie dough. We are currently getting our eggs from one of David’s firefighter buddies who raises chickens and they are probably fine, too. But I just didn’t feel like risking salmonella food poisoning last night. Although I suppose it might make a good story – “Yeah, I just spent a few days in the hospital after drinking martinis.”.

At first I thought I would just leave it out but then decided to look for another recipe. This is the one which came up first in my Pinterest search:

Earl Grey Martini

No egg whites? Perfect. Now, keep in mind I found this at about 7:45 last night. And note this part of the directions:

“Sprinkle the tea leaves over the gin in a small glass, and set aside to steep for 2 hours.”

Oh, well. We never seem to make it to bed until nearly midnight anyway.

Then I discovered that I am out of loose leaf Earl Grey. How can that be?! I have boxes and boxes of Earl Grey tea bags. I have numerous other loose leaf teas. But somehow I find myself out of plain Earl Grey. I did, however, have a very nice Earl Grey with lavender. I consulted with my son who happened to be around when I was starting this project. He gave the leaves a whiff and agreed that this would work. As he pointed out, gin has a somewhat floral flavor, too.

I tripled the recipe so all three of us would be able to have one (ignore the part of the original recipe which says it makes two glasses – not true). I measured out the gin in a small glass and sprinkled the Earl Grey/lavender tea leaves on top. Then I let it steep while David and I listened to a few albums in our library. (Check the Life With Dee Facebook page or my Instagram account if you are interested in which albums we enjoyed last night.)

A couple of hours later I mixed up the martinis and the three of us each took a sip. I have to be honest. I didn’t have high hopes for this because I’m not a big fan of gin. I’m more of a whiskey drinker and I usually drink it neat or sometimes in a well-crafted Manhattan.

But this blew me away. It may very well be the best cocktail I have ever tasted. The tea and gin are a perfect match and the fresh lemon juice gives it a bright, fresh flavor. All three of us agreed that these are absolutely delicious.

The original recipe notes include the suggestion that you steep the tea/gin recipe in a larger quantity, strain and keep refrigerated so you can skip that 2 hour steeping time when you want to make these. Guess what I’m doing with the rest of our bottle of gin?