Vanilla Earl Grey Blackberry Mocktail

Most mocktails fail in the same place: nothing in the glass fights the sugar. This one uses a shrub, which is fruit cooked with sugar and then finished with three vinegars, and the acidity gives it the same backbone a spirit would.

The shrub is an afternoon of work and it makes three cups. At an ounce a drink, that is around two dozen glasses sitting in your fridge.

What a Shrub Actually Is

A shrub is a drinking vinegar. Sugar and water go in first, the fruit cooks down into it, and then the vinegar goes in and turns it into something you would never mistake for cordial.

• Red wine vinegar, two thirds of a cup. The main acid, and the one that decides the character.
• Apple cider vinegar, four tablespoons. Rounder and fruitier, filling in behind the red wine.
• Balsamic vinegar, one tablespoon. A small amount doing a specific job, adding depth without making the whole thing taste of balsamic.
• Earl Grey, two tablespoons of loose leaf. Added off the heat at the end and steeped for exactly three minutes. Longer and the bergamot turns soapy and the tannin goes bitter.

The Two Things You Make First

The drink needs a shrub, and the shrub needs vanilla bean sugar. Both keep, so this is a one-time afternoon that pays out for months.

• Vanilla bean sugar: two cups of raw sugar pulsed with a teaspoon of vanilla extract and the scraped seeds of one pod. It gets spread on a baking sheet to dry, because the extract makes it damp, and damp sugar clumps in the jar.
• Blackberry shrub: one cup of that sugar, one cup of water, a cup and a third of blackberries, the three vinegars and the tea. Makes three cups.
• Why raw sugar: the recipe calls for raw, with regular sugar named as an acceptable swap. Raw has more molasses in it, which suits the blackberries.
• Do not skip the cheesecloth. A sieve alone lets the fine tea silt through, and it settles at the bottom of the jar and turns the last few pours gritty.

Ingredients

For the vanilla bean sugar (makes 2 cups)

• 2 cups raw sugar (or regular sugar)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 vanilla bean, halved and the seeds scraped out

For the blackberry shrub (makes 3 cups)

• 1 cup vanilla bean sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 1/3 cups blackberries
• 2/3 cup red wine vinegar
• 4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons loose leaf Earl Grey tea

For one drink

• 1 teaspoon Earl Grey tea leaves
• 2 ounces hot water
• 1 large orange slice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean sugar
• 1 ounce blackberry shrub
• club soda, to top

Instructions

1. Make the vanilla bean sugar: combine the raw sugar, vanilla extract and scraped vanilla bean in a food processor and pulse until combined. Spread it on a baking sheet and let it dry, then store it in an airtight container.
2. Make the shrub: add 1 cup of the vanilla bean sugar and the water to a medium saucepan over medium-low heat and stir until the sugar has completely dissolved.
3. Add the blackberries and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until the syrup has taken on the color of the fruit and the fruit has lost its vibrancy.
4. Add the red wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar and balsamic vinegar and bring the mixture back to a simmer, about 5 to 8 minutes. Turn off the heat, add the 2 tablespoons of loose leaf Earl Grey and let it steep for 3 minutes.
5. Strain out the fruit and the leaves through a fine-meshed sieve lined with one layer of cheesecloth. Pour into a jar and keep it in the fridge.
6. Brew the drink tea: steep 1 teaspoon of Earl Grey leaves in 2 ounces of hot water, then set it aside.
7. Put ice in a rocks glass.
8. In a cocktail shaker, muddle the orange slice and the teaspoon of vanilla bean sugar together until the sugar has mostly dissolved and the orange has flattened and given up its juice.
9. Add the brewed tea and 1 ounce of the shrub, then fill the shaker with ice.
10. Shake well, until the shaker is very cold and sweating.
11. Strain into the prepared glass, top with club soda and garnish with an orange slice.

How Strong to Brew the Tea

One teaspoon of leaves in two ounces of water is roughly four times the strength of a normal cup. It has to be, since it is going into a shaker with ice and then getting topped with soda.

Allrecipes’ Earl Grey Martini lands on the same measure, one teaspoon of leaves for a two-drink build, which is a useful independent check on the ratio.

Pull the leaves out once it has steeped. Left in while it cools, the tea keeps extracting and the tannin turns the finished drink drying and slightly bitter at the back.

Let it cool before it goes in the shaker. Hot tea melts the ice instead of chilling against it, and you will taste the water.

Common Mistakes and How to Fix Them

• It tastes like vinegar: the shrub was measured heavy. One ounce is the pour, and two is a very different drink.
• It tastes flat and sweet: the shrub was measured short, or the club soda went in too generously. Top it, do not fill it.
• The tea is bitter: the leaves stayed in past the steep, or the shrub steeped past three minutes. Both are the same mistake at different stages.
• The orange did nothing: it was stirred instead of muddled. You want the slice flattened and the sugar visibly gone.
• There is grit at the bottom: the shrub went through a sieve with no cheesecloth. Strain it again through a coffee filter and it will clear.
• The vanilla sugar clumped: it went into the jar before it dried. Spread it back out and give it a few hours.

Making a Batch for a Party

The shrub is built for this. Three cups is two dozen drinks, and it improves in the fridge over the first week.

• Make the vanilla bean sugar and the shrub up to a week ahead. Both keep well past that, and the shrub gets rounder as the vinegar settles.
• Brew the tea in bulk on the day: one teaspoon of leaves per two ounces of water, scaled to the number of drinks, then strain and chill it.
• Pre-muddle in the shaker in pairs rather than one at a time. Two orange slices with two teaspoons of sugar shake fine together.
• Keep the club soda closed and cold until you pour. Once open it goes flat within the hour, and the fizz is what lifts the shrub.
• Cut the orange slices for garnish last. They dry at the edges within an hour on a plate.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use a tea bag instead of loose leaf?

Yes, though you need to be careful with the strength. One standard bag holds roughly a teaspoon of leaves, so one bag in two ounces of water is right for the drink. The shrub calls for two tablespoons, which is around six bags.

Does the shrub really need three different vinegars?

That is what the recipe calls for, and each is a different amount doing a different job. With only red wine vinegar it comes out sharper and thinner. It will still work, and it will not taste the same.

How long does the shrub keep?

Weeks in a sealed jar in the fridge. Sugar and vinegar together are both preservatives, which is how shrubs were kept before refrigeration.

Can I use frozen blackberries?

Yes. They break down faster, so start checking at the ten minute mark instead of fifteen. Do not thaw them first.

Is this drink actually non-alcoholic?

Yes. There is no spirit anywhere in it. Vinegar contains a trace of alcohol as a byproduct of fermentation, at levels far below anything that counts.

Can I make it sparkling all the way through?

Do not shake carbonated liquid. The soda goes in at the end, over the strained drink, which is why it is the last step.

What else is the shrub good for?

It goes over ice with plain soda water as a two-ingredient drink, and it works as a salad dressing base if you cut it with oil.