Gin and tonic is the archetypal Summer cocktail. Simple, refreshing and not overly sweet, it's made for sipping in the Summer sun.

A good bartender friend told me that it's a common misconception that G&T's should be served with lemon and that they should be garnished with a slice of lime instead. Being a lime fiend this is fine by me, but having indulged in some truly spectacular cocktails recently I fancied mixing it up with another spicy, citrus flavour: Ginger.

I've made flavored vodka before with fresh mint leaves, leaving them to infuse overnight. It's a great way to flavour liquors but not entirely immediate (and sometimes flavoured liquor is an immediate kind of thing). By using herbal teabags you can create some interesting infused spirits really quickly, deciding on the strength of flavour by leaving the bag in for more minutes as opposed to the required hours using fresh herbs etc.


Ingredients:

Gin ( I used about 2 cups)
2 limes plus a few slices to garnish
1 ginger herbal teabag
Tonic water


Method:

Cut the limes into eighths and squeeze the juice into a jar, or whatever receptacle you are planning on using to steep the gin, toss the peels in as well. Pop the tea bag in with the limes.

Warm the gin very gentle on a low heat in a saucepan, it does not want to be hot or it will start to evaporate and you'll lose the potency of the alcohol (bad). Just warm it to blood temperature, so that when you stick you finger in it you can't tell if it's hot or cold.

Pour the gin over the tea bag and lime, stir and leave to steep for a couple of minutes. The longer you leave the flavouring items in the gin, the stronger the flavour will be, so it's entirely your preference on how strong or light you want the infusion to be.

When steeped, strain out the flavourings and pop in the fridge to cool.

Mix with tonic and more fresh lime to serve, you can also rub a lime wedge around the rim of the glass for a really zingy sip.