by Heather M Davis

Created on: August 30, 2009

Jagertee is a mixed drink that originated in Austria, and translates to "Hunter Tea". It has no Jagermeister in it. It's made with strong rum, hot black tea, and various spices and other additions for flavor. Like a Hot Toddy or mulled wine, this is a great winter drink. Despite being served warm, and easy to make, pre-made mixtures of Jagertee including sugar and spices are nonetheless popular in some places. Central Europe has several liquors available that are similar to Jagermeister, much like Germany has a pre-mixed version of Jagertee called "Huttentee", or "Forstertee". Jagertee itself is geographically limited to Austria, but, like the German Huttentee, mixtures under different names are available in different areas, a stronger version known as "Wilderertee" is available in rural areas, and Slovakia and the Czech Republic market it as grog.

To make your own Jagertee, you can get one of the pre-mixes, like Stroh Jagertee, meant to be mixed with hot water or tea, or make your own. In Austria, where it originates, home made Jagertee is often made with Stroh rum.

The most popular Jagertee recipe:

*1 cup tea
Brew tea as directed on the package. I recommend a strong black tea that you like, earl grey or Assam usually has a good astringency and will hold up it's tea flavor once the rum is added.
*1 cup spiced rum
This is one of those times when you're own preferences kick in. For a stronger flavor, try something like Meyer's Dark. For a more standard spiced rum, there is the ever popular Captain Morgan, or you can get falling over drunk really fast with Bacardi 151.
*1 cup red wine
Take your pick of red wines, though I don't imagine you need a high quality one, given the mix up it's going to get.
*1 cup orange juice
*1cup plum brandy, or similar schnapps or liqueur. Nothing too sweet.
* 1/4 of a cinnamon stick.
*2-3 whole cloves
*Two lemon slices
*Sugar

Heat your tea, rum, wine, orange juice, brandy (or liqueur), spices, and lemons in a pot and let them come to a gentle simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Add sugar to taste, serve, and enjoy!

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