It wouldn’t be right to talk of breakfast without including tea, at least in passing. Not just any tea in this case but Earl Grey, that smoky brew, high in caffeine, that is flavoured with bergamot, a cold-pressed oil from the rind of bergamot orange fruit and originally gifted to the 2nd Earl of Grey by the Chinese.
Not just a simple cuppa of course. We need a morning pick-me-up. We need an Earl Grey Martini.
Drop a couple of good quality Earl Grey teabags into a sealable Mason jar (you won’t get them through the neck of a bottle) and pour in 75 cc of high-proof gin like Tanqueray No 10 (47.3%). Leave to brew overnight. If you intend keeping it for a while remove the tea-bags after a day or you’ll get too much tannin and it will taste stale. Store in the freezer.
In the clear, or most probably rather fuzzy, light of day get a bevvy on. Whisk up an egg white. It is breakfast after all. Heartily dry-shake 75 ml of tea-infused gin, the juice of half a lemon and a tablespoon of simple syrup. Add ice cubes and shake a little again. Strain into a Martini glass, the rim having been dusted with bar sugar. Adorn with a curl of peel from the lemon.
Brew’s up!