Chai Something New Mocktail

Finished Give it a Chai Mocktail with scorched cinnamon stick on top

Welcome to 2020 at Bear & Bug Eats! While our new content has been fairly sporadic the past several months (due to such pesky things as parenting, adulting, et al), we are now back up and running, cooking up some delicious new recipes, delving a bit into some theory behind cooking, and highlighting some of the food & beverage trends we think are pretty neat.

Speaking of “neat” and “trends,” we have been thrilled to see a lot more emphasis put on the importance of non-alcoholic cocktails, or mocktails, being on the menus of some of the nicer bars and restaurants out there. While we here at Bear & Bug are by no means against alcohol (see these Watermelon Cocktails and this Peach Bourbon Fizz), we do often appreciate the opportunity to enjoy a tasty non-alcoholic drink that’s a bit more creative than just a soda. Traditionally, this has meant lemonades infused with other fruit flavors, or a lemon-lime soda or ginger ale with some fun syrups added to it. 

Ingredients for Give it a Chai Mocktail on the counter

Over the past couple years, though, we have noticed increasingly-more complex non-alcoholic cocktails being added to menus. Heck, there are even some companies out there that have started producing bottled non-alcoholic cocktails. (If this interests you, we recommend checking out Curious Elixirs – not an affiliate, just cool.) 

Being based in Central Florida, we are pretty big fans of the theme parks and resorts that are so prevalent here, especially considering Robby spent several years working in Food & Beverage at Walt Disney World. On a trip to Morimoto Asia at Disney Springs a few years ago, we had our first experience with what would be considered a true non-alcoholic “cocktail” when we tried their aptly-named Give It A Chai, and fell in love. Being the in-house liquids enthusiast he is, Robby spent the next several months playing with different ways to make his version of this concoction:

Give it a Chai Mocktail with cinnamon stick and mint garnish on a table outside

When we started discussing what recipe should be used to get back into things, we knew we wanted to post something at least a tiny bit different from what we’ve published in the past. So now, without further ado, let’s start talking about our first recipe of 2020!

This drink is actually quite easy to make, the most difficult part is simply acquiring and assembling all of the ingredients and tools. It starts with finding a high-quality Chai Tea Concentrate (we recommend Oregon Chai {<-Amazon affiliate link}), as this will serve as the base of the drink.

Give it a Chai Mocktail being poured from cocktail shaker into glass with ice

Next, you’re gonna add in some fruit juice – pomegranate juice, cranberry juice, and some fresh-squeezed lime.

Then, you’re gonna shake all these ingredients over ice, strain into a 300ml highball or Collins glass (or rough equivalent) over fresh ice, and top with ginger beer. 

Hands using a kitchen blowtorch to scorch a cinnamon stick

Finally, our favorite part – the garnish. Using a brulée torch (or a regular lighter if you don’t have a torch laying around), light one end of a cinnamon stick on fire, burning about a quarter- to a half-inch of the stick. Place the cinnamon stick smoking-side up on top of the ice, so as you sip the drink you get a beautiful smoky cinnamon aroma.

And now you can Chai Something New!

Finished Give it a Chai Mocktail with scorched cinnamon stick on top

Adapted from the awesome Give It A Chai at Morimoto Asia in Disney Springs.

Print

Chai Something New Mocktail

The Chai Something New Mocktail is a deliciously complex drink without the alcohol! Chai tea, fruit, and ginger beer fizz together, topped with the aroma of smokey cinnamon!

  • Author: Robby Burroughs
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 2 minutes
  • Total Time: 7 minutes
  • Yield: 1 mocktail
  • Category: drink

Ingredients

ingredients

4 ounces Oregon Chai Concentrate {<- Amazon affiliate link}

2 ounces Ocean Spray 100% Cranberry Juice

.5 ounce POM pomegranate juice

.25 ounce fresh-squeezed lime juice

Ginger beer, to top
1 cinnamon stick

tools {Amazon affiliate links}

Cocktail shaker with strainer

300 mL highball or Collins glass (or rough equivalent)

Brulée torch or lighter 

Instructions

1. In a cocktail shaker, combine chai concentrate, cranberry juice, pomegranate juice, and fresh-squeezed lime juice.

2. Fill shaker glass to top with ice, and shake vigorously.

3. Strain over fresh ice into glass. Fill to top of glass with ginger beer.

4. Using brulée torch, scorch quarter- to half-inch of one end of a cinnamon stick. Place cinnamon stick burnt-side up into top of glass, balancing cinnamon stick on the ice.

5. Enjoy!

Notes

If you are thinking you would like to de-mocktail this, and add some alcohol, we’ve got you covered! We played with adding several spirits to this drink: rums (spiced, dark, blackstrap, aged), whiskeys (Canadian, Scotch, Bourbon), and vodka. At the end of the day, the clear favorite was the blackstrap rum, as the molasses-y flavor added a really fun extra depth of flavor.

Keywords: mocktail, cocktail, mixed drink, drink


{As an Amazon Associate, I earn a teeny bit of $ from qualifying purchases if you buy something using the Amazon links here. Thanks for supporting Bear & Bug!}

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