Makansutra | Love Potion No.9

Love Potion No.9

By Melanie Lee - Monday, Jan 30, 2012

The mixologists at Five & Dime Eatery share four simple, heartfelt, DIY cocktail recipes to romance your date this Valentine’s Day.

1. DARjeeLING affiniTEA by Ryan Yiap

“This cocktail is inspired by my girlfriend. She loves tea, so I created this tea-based cocktail to symbolise our affinity. We’ve been together for seven years and we’re each other’s cup of tea and the apple of each other’s eyes. To portray the idea that true love never ends, I deliberately created this recipe to be in a huge pitcher portion so that this drink would be ever flowing during Valentine’s Day,” says Ryan.

DARjeeLINGaffiniTEA is for that sweet darling of yours. (Image courtesy of Wijaya Irawan)

Ingredients:

2 oz. gin

5 oz. Darjeeling tea

2 oz. simple syrup

1 oz. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 bottle of apple cider

Glassware: Pitcher or decanter

Garnish: Sliced apples and lime wheels

Directions:

· To prepare the Darjeeling tea, steep 25 g. of tea leaves with 250ml of hot water and brew for approximately 15 minutes.

· To prepare the simple syrup, it is one part of water to one part of sugar.

· Add all ingredients into pitcher with ice cubes, give a good stir and it is ready to serve

2. Love Actually by Gavin Ng

“This cocktail is for the lonely or brokenhearted this Valentine’s Day. I’ve definitely been in that place before. I once took 16 months to get over this girl. That was one of the darkest periods in life, but I did eventually meet someone else and fall in love again. I hope this drink will remind people never to give up on love no matter how painful it might be sometimes. Always remember the happy times,” quips Gavin.

Love Actually is for those lonely hearts out there. (Image courtesy of Wijaya Irawan)

Ingredients:

½ sprig of rosemary

5 fresh strawberries

1 ¼ oz. amaretto

2 oz. prosecco

Glassware: Prosecco tulip

Garnish: Strawberry on the rim

Directions:

· Lightly flame torch the rosemary.

· Add the torched rosemary and strawberries in a mixing glass and muddle.

· Add the amaretto.

· Add a hard, solid ice cube.

· Give the mixture a good, hard shake for about 6-8 seconds.

· Finely strain the mixture into the prosecco tulip glass.

· Lastly, add the Prosecco.

3. As Time Goes By by Amanda Wan

Amanda reminisced, “My drink is inspired by the classic movie Casablanca, where Rick (Humphrey Bogart) chooses to separate from his lover, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) at the end of the movie. I’ve met my own real-life Rick. He was a little older and I looked up to him like my Northern Star, my guiding light. However, our busy lives drew us apart and after a while, I never heard from him. Today, he may be far across the seas and away from me, but the bittersweet memories of the times we spent together remain close to my heart – even as time goes by.”

As Time Goes By is inspired from Casablanca. (Image courtesy of Wijaya Irawan)

Ingredients:

1 cube of brown sugar

7 dashes* of chocolate bitters

1/2 oz. of rum

4 oz. champagne

*A dash is approximately 1/8 of a teaspoon .

Glassware: Champagne flute

Garnish: Dark chocolate

Directions:

· Place the white sugar cube on a piece of napkin.

· Coat the white sugar with 5 dashes of chocolate bitters.

· Drop the coated sugar cube into a champagne flute

· Add the rum.

· Add the champagne.

· Lastly, add 2 more dashes of chocolate bitters.

4. Roses are Red by Wijaya Irawan

“When I was 14 years old, I asked a girl out on Valentine’s Day. However, I was also working part-time at a restaurant that day, and by the time I finished my shift, it was late at night and most places were closed. We wandered around the streets till we found a small roti prata stall where we both drank syrup limau (a drink which combines rose syrup and lime). I remember how she much she liked that drink, and how happy we two poor students were just with the simple act of spending time together,” says Wijaya.