Tea Blends: A Proper Hot Toddy

We interrupt your regularly scheduled LARP tea series to bring important information about that most well-known of tea cocktails, the hot toddy. The hot toddy is, fairly universally, a hot honey-tea-and-alcohol cocktail that's good for fighting off damp, chilly weather and the effects of the common cold. But exactly what goes in a hot toddy varies wildly by person and region. Some add cinnamon or cloves. Slices of orange or lemon are common. The alcohol changes, though I've encountered whiskeys more often than not. And to my dismay, the tea is not infrequently replaced with plain hot water.

Growing up, a hot toddy meant Bigelow's Constant Comment tea with honey and bourbon, in my case made "virgin" to simply be honey and tea. My earliest memories of tea all involve late night coughing fits interrupted by my parents' showing up with a warm mug for me to drink to soothe my throat and help me sleep. That might partially explain why tea is my go to when I want to help or comfort my friends. The Constant Comment certainly explains my insistence on adding cinnamon and orange to 90% of all tea blends.

Years later, I still drank honey tea when sick, but had mostly forgotten the concept of turning it into a cocktail until I went to a tea tasting hosted by Cynthia Gold. She re-introduced the hot toddy, recommending a more careful pairing of tea and alcohol than I'd previously bothered with: lapsang souchong, that delicious woodfire smoke tea, paired with a smokey, peaty scotch, married together with honey. (Hers I believe also had orange rind, but I admit to being too lazy to add that at home.) It's absolutely delicious, and the best drink to help you get through a long, snowy winter.

I can't give exact ratios, unfortunately, since you should really adjust alcohol based on your own preferences, but I do recommend adding more honey than you think you need, particularly if you're like me and tend to be stingy with sweet things. The tea and the scotch can more than stand up to the honey, and it helps them blend.

This version of the hot toddy is still a comfort drink for me, but less so a drink to fight illness. Instead our house eschews alcohol and tea entirely for that, and makes hot water with honey, lemon juice, and a cinnamon stick. Easier to make by the mug when most of your tea is loose leaf, with all the requisite cold fighting/comforting properties.