Dry RabbitAlcohol-free drinks near you
Drawn by Dry Rabbit

A Dry Rabbit original · Thanksgiving

Orchard Ember

Cider with body, not just sweetness: hot fresh cider and smoky lapsang tea, with a spoon of maple and a squeeze of lemon. For after the pie.

Alcohol-free. Nothing in it has alcohol.

Make it

You’ll need

  • 4 oz (120 ml) fresh apple cider
  • 2½ oz (75 ml) Lapsang souchong tea, freshly brewed
  • 1 tsp maple syrup
  • ¼ oz (7.5 ml) fresh lemon juice

Garnish: A thin slice of apple, and a cinnamon stick to stir with.

Method

  1. Brew the lapsang: one tea bag in 3 oz of just-boiled water for 3 minutes, then lift it out.
  2. Heat the cider gently on the stove, just short of a simmer.
  3. Pour the cider into a warmed mug and stir in the tea, the maple syrup and the lemon juice.

Make ahead. For a crowd, keep a pot of cider steaming on the lowest heat, or in a slow cooker, and brew the lapsang by the pot, a bag for each guest. Mix each mug as it's asked for.

Get the next original in The Weekly Hop. Every Thursday, the alcohol-free picks worth leaving the house for. Free.

Allergens and caffeine

  • Contains caffeine, from the lapsang souchong tea.
  • No major allergens.

Get everything for it

Dry Rabbit earns a commission when you buy through these links, at no extra cost to you. Commissions never decide what’s on the shelf. As an Amazon Associate, Dry Rabbit earns from qualifying purchases.

The tools

The pantry

From the store

Fresh apple cider, Fresh lemon juice.

Buying in person? See where to shop zero-proof around Boston.

How we checked it

Dry Rabbit originals are developed and checked with AI, against the 42 tested recipes in The Dry Rabbit Cocktail Guide: sweetness and acidity per ounce, sweet to sour, dilution and the drink’s size against drinks made the same way, every ingredient’s alcohol, and whether you can buy it. One that falls outside the book’s range is reworked before it’s published.

The check’s notes on Orchard Ember

A warm drink, like the book's Winter Coat, but where that one is mulled with spice this one is smoked: strong lapsang souchong gives fresh cider the grip and depth of a dark spirit, so it tastes of more than sugar. Sweetness 0.17 and acidity 0.09 a finished ounce, sweet to sour 1.78, inside the book's warm drinks (0.12 to 0.21, up to 0.14, and 1.05 to 2.72), and about 7 oz in a mug. Cider brings most of the sugar, so the maple is only a teaspoon, and ¼ oz of lemon keeps it from tasting stewed. It shares two ingredients with any one book recipe at most. Lapsang souchong is in most supermarket tea aisles (Twinings) and every tea shop; cider and maple are everywhere in November. Contains caffeine, and the page says so. 0.0%.

Made it? Tell us how it was: the best originals come back next season.

More to make

From our book, free on the site: The Burrow, Rabbit Punch, Harvey, Crepuscular, Winter Coat, Bog Hopper.