Grayson Hall's Obscenely Simple Spiced Tea Punch

from the Dark Shadows Celebrity Cookbook

Naturally the chapter including drinks in the Dark Shadows Celebrity Cookbook is interesting.  Cocktail and bar books are always fascinating and we're always curious about what people are drinking.  I was struck by Grayson Hall's Obscenely Simple Spiced Tea Punch and decided to try it today.  Tea based punches hold a standard place in in the history of cookery and drinkery and this one was indeed as simple as adding water, or perhaps boiling water that is.  But the addition of freshly squeezed orange and lemon juice, then sweetened and infused with allspice turned it into something extra special.  It's refreshing iced but would be quite nice served hot on a winter night, in the Collinwood drawing room perhaps, where it likely would be spiked, or "deuced" as the author says, with some of Roger's brandy or whiskey sitting on the shelf nearby.  This is another recipe that one might expect from Grayson Hall being interesting, zesty, and distinctive.