Earl Grey MarTEAni

The cocktail was created by pioneering bartender Audrey Saunders. She developed the drink to highlight the complex botanical notes of Earl Grey tea alongside gin. Saunders is widely credited as one of the foundational figures of the modern craft cocktail renaissance.

The drink became the signature cocktail of Saunders's famous New York City bar, the Pegu Club. The bar opened in 2005 in SoHo and became a pilgrimage site for cocktail enthusiasts. The MarTEAni was a staple on the menu from the day the bar opened.

The drink consists of Earl Grey tea-infused gin, fresh lemon juice, simple sugar syrup, and an egg white. The tea provides bitter tannic notes that balance the citrus and sugar, mimicking the botanical profile of a traditional Martini. The egg white is essential as it provides the thick, frothy foam cap that characterizes a classic sour.

Because Earl Grey tea leaves are delicate and can become highly astringent or bitter, the gin infusion requires a very short steeping time. Usually, the loose-leaf tea only needs to steep in the room-temperature gin for roughly two hours before being fine-strained. Leaving the tea in longer would overpower the gin's botanicals.