Every December when I was a kid, my mom would make something that we called “Christmas Fragrance”. This was a combination of water, black tea, orange peel, cinnamon stick, cloves, and I think there may have even been some Tang in there. (Does anyone even remember that stuff?) She would combine all the ingredients in a saucepan, and just let it simmer on the stove for hours, adding water as needed. It would infuse the house with such a great aroma. I will occasionally mix up a batch at the holidays and fill the house with warmth and memories.
I wanted to capture that feeling in a liqueur, and here is my attempt… Tang NOT included.
Winter Spice Liqueur
Ingredients:
Orange Zest (from one orange)
Cinnamon Stick (1)
Black Tea (1 TB)
Whole Cloves (1 tsp)
Brandy (2 c.)
Sugar (1/4 c.)
I infused all of the above for about 3 weeks. The result is very flavorful, potent and tasty. I think it will be good on its own (in small quantities) as a digestif. We haven’t tried it in any cocktails yet, but it would probably be good in some warm spiced cider.
Boozed + Infused 
November 10, 2012 at 2:14 pm
Do you have any measurements for this? Thanks.
November 10, 2012 at 2:24 pm
Hi Jake, yes! Thanks for the suggestion, I just edited the post to include measurements of all the ingredients. Cheers!
October 13, 2014 at 6:59 am
Hi I would like to make this but I would like to make a batch, enough if I bought I litre or less of brandy. (Tiny bottles for Christmas presents)
November 16, 2014 at 4:50 pm
Tamsin, that sounds fantastic! I love making a big batch of liqueur and gifting for the holidays. Yes, you can certainly increase the ingredients to make a large amount. And Specialty Bottle has some great little bottles (try the 5 oz. woozy bottles) and can be ordered online. You can even get plastic bands to heat-shrink around the cap. Happy Holidays!
Pingback: Holiday Fun Time! « Boozed + Infused
December 3, 2012 at 12:46 pm
Hi Alicia,
GREAT blog!
Question…. when infusing with tea do you place the leaves directly into the liquid or do you use a tea infuser? (this may be a stupid question but I’m new to this! :))
December 4, 2012 at 7:52 am
Thanks Stefanie! So glad that you have found us! I usually just throw the tea leaves into the alcohol along with everything else. But you will have to strain them out later. So if you have a tea infuser that would work well sitting in the alcohol all that time, you could try it. My tea infusers would not really work in the mason jars. I also think it makes it easier to shake everything around in the jar if you just leave everything in the jar and strain later. Hope that helps! happy infusing…
December 8, 2012 at 10:56 am
This looks wonderful! Going to start this one today! 🙂
Kenley
December 8, 2012 at 1:27 pm
I hope you like it! You are an expert at this by now!!
December 8, 2012 at 2:59 pm
Oh goodness — no expert! At least not at the filtering process… still a bit clumsy. Practice, Practice, Practice 🙂
December 9, 2012 at 10:31 am
Filtering can be tedious and time consuming. Do you have have a jelly bag? I really think it helps. A canning funnel is also nice. I like to use that with the coffee filter phase. Cheers!
December 6, 2013 at 11:30 am
Wow – just found a tiny jar of left over Winter Spice Liqueur I made last Christmas at the back of my cabinet. It’s amazing! If only it weren’t Friday morning… must wait until 5pm. Must wait until 5pm.
December 6, 2013 at 7:04 pm
Caitlin, that is awesome! I love finding things like that too! Cheers… hope you are enjoying the liqueur right now (that makes me want to go check my infusion closet to see if I have any of this one in there too…)
December 9, 2013 at 11:34 am
Hey I love your blog – I have 5 different recipes in the works as we speak (xmas gifts planned). Question about the winter spice liqueur – after each of the first 3 days it’s tasting like bubblegum. Did you run into this or do you have any suggestions how to alter? Thanks so much.
December 15, 2013 at 8:22 am
hi! I’ve had this marinating for about two weeks, and it’s been tasting like bubble gum. Any idea how to alter the flavor profile? Thanks
December 15, 2013 at 5:02 pm
Hi Emily, I am not sure why it would taste like bubble gum. Often times the flavors will continue to change even after you pull the infusing ingredients out. But I don’t recall mine ever having that flavor. What type of tea did you use? That could be the culprit. Is this intended for a holiday gift? Do we need to figure out a remedy before the holidays?
December 16, 2013 at 6:52 am
Thanks so much for getting back to me! It was going to be a holiday gift, but it might be beyond saving (which is fine, I have others brewing). I used a dark english tea. I pulled the orange yesterday and will wait to see what happens, although I’m open to suggestions.
December 28, 2013 at 12:43 pm
Just whipped up a batch of the winter spice brandy! It’s so tasty! Great with cigars on a cold winter night up here in oneida NY. Thanks for the recipe!
January 4, 2014 at 10:01 am
Thanks Ben! Glad to hear how much you enjoyed it! Hope you are staying warm… cheers~
Pingback: Winter Spice Bourbon Recipe | Boozed + Infused
September 11, 2014 at 9:25 am
I totally recall that holiday “Christmas Fragrance”. Back in the 70’s it was a common holiday gift using Tang. I think it was called Russian Tea?
Constant Comment tea from Bigelow makes a blend that resembles it. Unfortunately, the original Bigelow recipe has been changed in the last few years, making the tea bitter. ={
While I had a love affair with Tang back in the 70’s, today I prefer to use natural ingredients. I so look forward to trying this out.
PS So glad to find you on the www. =D
Cheers!
September 16, 2014 at 9:12 pm
Thanks Lisa! I hope you like this. (And yes, that recipe totally had Tang in it back in the day…) cheers~
October 7, 2014 at 2:00 pm
I used this last winter to make some Winter Spiced Old Fashioneds…. VERY tasty! It was also fantastic in my flask at our company Christmas party on the tubing slopes! This summer we picked up a bunch of cherries and infused them with various boozes, this being one of them, and it’s definitely one of my favorites! The winter spiced cherries are great additions to Manhattans!
November 16, 2014 at 4:51 pm
Oh wow, you may have just blown my mind! Winter spiced boozy cherries sounds absolutely amazing! Thanks for sharing!
Cheers~
October 13, 2014 at 7:02 am
So I have a bit of a problem, I made this for some friends and they promptly drank ALL of it in under 20 minutes. It was just too damn good. I’m hoping to start another jumbo batch, but I don’t know how to scale the ingredients. If I make double or triple the amount, should I just double or triple each ingredient or…?
Thank you so much for putting so many fantastic recipes online! For the record, that thank you is from me AND my previously mentioned friends
November 16, 2014 at 4:49 pm
John, that sounds like a pretty good problem to have! Yes, if you are doubling, tripling, etc the recipe, just increase all of the ingredients in the same proportions. If you are using 10 times the amount of alcohol, then use 10 times the amount of all other ingredients (especially since you liked how it turned out).
Sounds like you will have a fabulous holiday season!
Cheers~
November 17, 2014 at 6:57 am
I want to avoid the “bubble gum” incident. What kind of black tea do you suggest?
November 17, 2014 at 7:08 am
Hi Lisa, I would suggest using just a simple black tea with no added flavors or ingredients. I used a Russian morning tea and it was great. English Breakfast would probably be perfect.
Pingback: 11 Favorite Holiday Booze Infusions | Boozed + Infused