Forget highballs and beers, tea cocktails are my drink of the summer in Hong Kong in 2023
- There’s something about the combination of aromatic teas and spirits that just works. It’s why I’m looking forward to Plantation’s new tea cocktail menu
- An added bonus is that sampling them at its location in a quiet Shek Tong Tsui street is bound to be a less stressful experience than going to a packed SoHo bar
The famed Earl Grey Caviar Martini at Quinary – one of Hong Kong’s pioneering modern cocktail bars – has been a staple since its launch in 2012.
I’d say it’s one of my favourite drinks; there’s something about the combination of bergamot in the Earl Grey tea “caviar” and the light grippiness of the tea’s tannins that works well with the addition of citrus and elderflower.
It’s so much of a signature drink that in 2022, on its 10th anniversary, the bar dubbed May 24 Earl Grey Caviar Martini Day.
At the other end of the tea drinking spectrum, Nana Chan has been a key figure in pushing forward tea appreciation through her cafe Teakha (since closed) and Plantation, a business that specialises in sourcing small-batch, premium teas.
Earlier this year, the latter venue in Shek Tong Tsui – which had primarily operated as a retail shop with some space for workshopping – underwent renovation and emerged as a beautiful tea bar where guests can while away the hours and enjoy a curated tea brewing experience.
Tucked away in Po Tuck Street, but only minutes from busy Queen’s Road West, Plantation Tea Bar feels worlds apart from the chaos of the latter; it’s the kind of place that invites contemplation and purposeful consumption through its four-course tea tasting experiences.
I recall having conversations with Chan about Yorozu, a late-night tea bar in Fukuoka, Japan, that made a big impact on me.
Housed in a small wooden building at the quieter end of that city’s trendy Daimyo district, this tranquil venue played gentle operatic arias while the tea master brewed for us multiple varieties of gyokuro tea, which were paired with delicate wagashi traditional sweets, which we enjoyed by candlelight amid hushed conversation.
Chan says the place sounded similar to a venue in Tokyo called Sakurai, where tea master Shinya Sakurai shares his nearly two decades of experience through his brews.
You can feel such influences in the serene surroundings of Plantation. And while I’ve enjoyed the daytime tea drinking experience (where delicate Chinese sweets such as almond cookies might play the part of wagashi, in this case), its evening cocktail experience is another element to look forward to.
Quinary’s founder Antonio Lai, a regular collaborator of Chan’s, has joined forces with her to create a menu of six tea cocktails that employ Plantation’s premium teas.
Available after 6pm from Wednesdays to Sundays, the menu features drinks such as the Jasmine Sake (cold brew jasmine phoenix pearls, sake, apple syrup) and the Da Hong Pao Whisky (Da Hong Pao-infused slow-cooked whisky, angostura bitters, homemade ginger syrup and licorice ‘air’).
The Palace Puerh Rum offers a trifecta of classically Chinese ingredients fashioned into what sounds like an intense cocktail: Palace Puerh infused slow-cooked rum, tangerine peel syrup, and hawthorn cordial.
There’s also what sounds like a lighter twist on the Earl Grey Caviar Martini – the Camomile Vodka consists of cold brew camomile Reverie tea, vodka, elderflower syrup, and cucumber “caviar”.
If I’m being honest, the thought of nursing a drink in a relatively calm “bar” in a neighbourhood far from the increasingly chaotic streets of SoHo is definitely a plus.
