How a Hong Kong dim sum ritual and nostalgia inspired Orchard’s Fortune Chai
The city’s yum cha tradition, a bartender’s chai memories and a fortune cookie garnish come together in this silky, spice-tinged Armagnac cocktail
“When I went to a dim sum place, I had tea in a small teacup and thought the action of drinking tea with your hands felt unique,” Dipesh Rai says. “You don’t really drink any other drink with such an action. It inspired me to make a cocktail with the action of drinking tea in mind.”
Taking cues from the Brandy Alexander, Rai “wanted to capture a dessert cocktail, but … didn’t want the thick, creamy texture that comes with [it]”. Armagnac, a regional brandy distilled from grapes, is fat-washed in brown butter, then batched with liqueurs – a creme de cacao liqueur infused with chai masala and another made to evoke the flavours of biscotti. This forms the drink’s base batch.
“The warming spices in the masala chai, I felt, always went very well with dark spirits such as Armagnac. It also has a little to do with me,” Rai explains regarding the infusions. “I grew up waking up to warm spices in the air as my mum was brewing chai every morning. To this day, it’s a very nostalgic memory. I chose masala chai as I wanted to add a little part of myself to the cocktail.”
The base batch is then mixed with Cocchi Americano sweet vermouth, saline solution and chocolate bitters, served on the rocks and topped with a fortune cookie garnish. “Obviously, you can’t enjoy warm, freshly brewed chai masala without a biscuit, or maybe that’s just me,” Rai says. “I went through hundreds of types of biscuits, but it suddenly clicked when I saw a fortune cookie. It’s a fun, interactive garnish for guests as well as a small icebreaker to engage with.”
Between the tea-drinking inspiration, the nostalgia of chai masala, the fortune cookie and the silky reinterpretation of the Brandy Alexander’s mouthfeel, the Fortune Chai offers a deeply personal, tactile way to experience Armagnac. Even though Armagnac may be relatively familiar given its similarity to cognac, guests can also expect to sample a bit of the base spirit, a practice that helps pave the way for other cocktails on the menu that may feature more exotic eau de vie.