You Can RUM But You Can't CHAI

This rum Old Fashioned was inspired by the frosty temperatures that drive you under a blanket with a hot cup of tea, but especially the point when according to bartender Trevor Easter, “a few sips in you realize how much better it would be with booze in it.” 

2 oz. Jamaican rum
1/4 oz. coconut chai tea syrup (see below)
2 drops of Bittercube Jamaican #1 bitters
1 dash Angostura bitters
Tools: mixing glass, barspoon, strainer
Glass: Old Fashioned

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass and stir with ice to chill. Strain over one large ice cube into an Old Fashioned glass.

Coconut Chai Tea Syrup
2 cups water, near-boiling
4 oz. Zhenas Gypsy Loose Leaf Coconut Chai Tea, or other chai tea of your choosing
3 cups cane sugar

Steep the loose-leaf tea in the near-boiling water for 4 minutes. Strain out the spent tea leaves, add the sugar to the liquid and stir until the sugar dissolves. Let cool and keep refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.

Trevor Easter, San Diego