Guilt Tea Pleasure

The Guilt Tea Pleasure is a tea and vodka cocktail made with Absolut Lime and was created by the Absolut Drinks team in 2025. It’s floral and citrusy with a fresh, spring–is-in-the-air elegance.

You’ll taste the floral notes from the cold brew jasmine tea and Lillet Blanc, which pair beautifully with the citrusy zest from Absolut Lime and fresh lemon juice. The ginger syrup adds a lovely spiciness, while the clean, crisp soda water ties it all together perfectly.

The Guilt Tea Pleasure is a new cocktail created by the Absolut Drinks team for an episode of Absolut Drinks with Rico in the spring of 2025.

• Make your own Ginger Syrup
  Making great drinks is all in the details. For this drink, we highly recommend making your own Ginger Syrup instead of buying bottled stuff. It’s more potent and tastes much better.

  Don’t have a juicer? No problem! Just use a blender. Chop up some ginger into small chunks, toss them in, and add about 1 cup of filtered water. Blend until smooth, strain the juice through a sieve, and voilà!

• Juice your own Lemon Juice
  Emphasizing the point above – to make great tasting drinks, you can’t cut corners. Sure, you could use store bought Lemon Juice in a bottle but it’s not going to taste as fresh. So, grab a Citrus Press or Citrus Elbow and squeeze your own Lemon Juice.
• Cold brew your own Jasmine Tea
  Just like the Ginger Syrup and Lemon Juice, we highly recommend cold brewing Jasmine Tea yourself. Making Cold Brew Jasmine Tea is easy.
  
  Simply place loose-leaf tea or tea bags with water in a pitcher, using 2 grams of tea for every 250ml of water. Let it steep in the fridge for 4-12 hours. Strain, and you’ll have cold-brew tea that’ll be fresh for days.

First thing’s first, the number of Tea and Flavored Vodka combinations you could make is quite literally endless. But here’s a couple to get you going!

• Earl Grey MarTEAni
  If you love the taste of Bergamot, then this cocktail is definitely going to be your cup of tea (pun intended). First, brew 4 cups of Earl Grey Tea, then chill it in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours.
  
  Once chilled, grab a Cocktail Shaker, fill it with Ice Cubes, add 60 ml (2 parts) of Absolut Vodka, 180 ml (6 parts) Earl Grey Tea, and 5 ml (1 teaspoon) of Simple Syrup. Shake and serve in a Martini Glass and garnish with a Lemon Twist. TEA-delicious!

• Vodka and Cold Brew Black Iced Tea
  OK, it doesn’t get easier than mixing Vodka with Cold Brew Loose Leaf Black Tea. Mix 45 ml (1.5 parts) Absolut Vodka, 30 ml (1 part) Cold Brew Iced Black Tea, 7.5 ml (0.25 parts) Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice and a teaspoon of Simple Syrup. Garnish with a Lemon Wedge and you’ve got yourself on hell of a taste-TEA cocktail!

• Vodka and Cold Brew Flavored Iced Tea
  The same as above but swap out the Cold Brew Iced Tea for your favorite Cold Brew Flavored Iced Tea. Effortlessly delicious! For a summery touch, add some Mint Leaves to garnish. Minty fresh, totally delicious.

• Serve this drink in a Highball Glass filled with Ice Cubes.

• Garnish with one or two Edible Flowers. The Edible Flowers perfectly complement the floral notes of the Jasmine Tea and make your drink look pretty and even more enticing.

Rum, vodka, and bourbon are the most common and popular spirit choices for spiked tea. Depending on if you’re using a flavored tea, a chai tea or a fruity tea, different spirits complement teas. For example, black tea works well with bourbon, while jasmine tea and citrus tea works well with vodka.

Both. Some tea cocktails are meant to be served hot, others cold. It all depends on the drink, the type of tea, and the season. For example, the Guilt Tea Pleasure uses cold brew tea and should be served cold, while an American Tea-Grog should be served hot.