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Prep time
8 hours
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Cook time
8 hours
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makes
2 drinks
Author Notes
This is an odd tall drink I invented with my local trees as inspiration. I live by a birch-hemlock forest, where chaga and reishi grow abundantly. Varietal apple orchards dot nearby hills. And our roads are lined with sugar maples; the sap runs wild in late winter. This earthy-tasting drink celebrates the local harvest of all of these. For a virgin version, replace the brandy with equal parts of tea and cider. Cheers. —Sagegreen
Ingredients
- Make chaga reishi tea and ice cubes
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2
walnut chunks of chaga and reishi broken up
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4 cups
water
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1 pinch
grated nutmeg
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1
cinnamon stick
- For the drinks
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8 ounces
brewed and chilled chaga reishi tea
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2 tablespoons
maple syrup, to taste
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8 packets
apple cider
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2-3 ounces
Calvados, to taste
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2
chaga reishi ice cubes
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2
apple wheels
Directions
- Make chaga reishi tea and ice cubes
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Brew two walnut-sized chunks of each, broken up, in 3-4 cups of water for 4 hours (or overnight) in a crockpot on low with a pinch of grated nutmeg and 1 cinnamon stick (For two drinks this calls for 3 cups, but making 4 cups allows for spills or refills).
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Pour about half the tea into an ice cube tray to freeze (I like to make ice cubes spheres for drinks). And chill the other half for the drinks.
- For the drinks
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In each tall glass, pour 4 oz. of spiced chaga-reishi chilled tea.
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Stir in @ 1 tbl. of maple syrup, more or less to your desired sweetness, to each.
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Pour in 4 oz. of cider to each.
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Stir in the desired shot quantity of Calvados (or increase the tea/cider amount by 1 oz per drink)
Garnish with apple wheels on each glass.
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