Tea is probably the last ingredient you’d think of adding into the mix while whipping up a batch of cocktails. But if this year’s food trends are something to go by, you might have to reconsider your stance. “Tea adds a rich, complex flavour and harmonises well with liquor,” begins Ritesh Choudhary, general manager of Savoy, talking about the Tea Mixology festival that will go on until June 2.
Creating a whole new menu for the festival, the introduction of the tea-infused cocktails falls in line with the newly renovated restaurant at the Savoy, The Dining room, which offers an extensive range of local favourites like the Nilgiri Sample platter— a mix of Anglo Indian dishes like meatball curry, mutton pepper tawa fry with a thaali — alongside staples like Fish and Chips. But this isn’t the only change to come to Savoy. The former Taj Savoy has been rebranded under the IHCL’s SeleQtions boutique hotels, putting additional prominence to ‘hyperlocal experiences’. “If you were to go to Scotland, you don’t just get the finest whiskey. The entire city makes an effort to create the best whiskey experience. You’d encounter similar practices in Bordeaux. We are much ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to producing fine tea, but there hasn’t been an effort to curate events for tourists in the Nilgiris,” he explains.
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Tapping into the resources of Nilgiri-based Glendale Estate Tea, along with Savoy’s in-house mixologists, the festival named, Beyond Classics is a nod to old-fashioned favourites like the mojito, whiskey sour and even the hot toddy. To celebrate the collaboration of the golden liquids, six cocktails and two mocktails made from white tea and green tea bring together the best of the two worlds. “Some might see a tea experience as traditional. And we wanted to do something more approachable for a younger generation; give people a chance to rethink what afternoon tea might be.”
Mocktails start at Rs 385.