Sober sorcery: Look to your pantry to make a sweet, salty and sour virgin margarita

Though there’s no shortage of exceptional ice-cold nonalcoholic beverages to enjoy on a hot summer day, there are times when it feels like nothing but a frosty margarita will do. It’s been over a decade since I broke up with booze, and while I don’t miss the alcohol, I do miss all the other things that make margaritas special: the tart jolt of fresh lime, the undercurrents of bitter orange and agave, the playful smack in the mouth from a salt-coated rim.

Like many people whose youth was filled with highly questionable decisions, I was introduced to margaritas during a week in Mexico and fell so in love with them that I remember almost nothing about the trip.

Only when I quit drinking did I fully appreciate the details and mechanics that make a margarita great. When done right, it can blow your mind with the calibrated sorcery reminiscent of a Calder mobile: sweet, salty, sour and bitter all working together, their forces pushing and pulling against each other until they settle into their final form — a balanced work of art.

If you want to make a zero-proof margarita that’s a near-perfect imitation of the real thing, you can buy nonalcoholic alternatives to tequila and triple sec, but that’s an investment if you’re not planning to drink them on the regular. I find my margarita cravings to be spontaneous, triggered by anything from seeing the perfect puffy cloud to hearing a Jimmy Buffett song.

Fortunately, I can make a pretty convincing nonalcoholic alternative with items I almost always have on hand. Margaritas bombard you with diametrically different flavors from all directions, and this sensory scramble makes it easier to trick your brain with the creative use of pantry ingredients — namely, blue agave syrup and Earl Grey tea.

While it’s fine to use regular agave syrup — it will still be delicious! — it’s the blue agave plant, specifically, that’s used to make tequila. In this recipe, blue agave syrup isn’t just acting as the sweetener — it’s there for the myriad tequila-ey flavor compounds you know and love yet can’t quite put your finger on.

Earl Grey tea, a black tea flavored with bergamot, doesn’t have any obvious associations with anything margarita-related. (Try to seek out quality tea made with black tea and bergamot oil, and avoid artificially flavored Earl Grey.) To make a convincing base for a virgin margarita, break the cardinal rules of a good cuppa by steeping the tea leaves too long and giving them a good hard squeeze at the end. (Were we to steep the tea in the same way we normally brew for drinking, we’d end up with a drink closer to an Arnold Palmer than a margarita.)

Overextraction draws out bitter tannins; this makes for a lousy cup of tea, but creates a great base for a fake margarita. The tannins cut through the cloying sweetness of the blue agave syrup, allowing you to notice all the other wonderful flavors that sugar tends to overwhelm, while the residual bergamot oil does the work that triple sec normally handles within a margarita.

Tequila wouldn’t be tequila without a little bit of burn, and you can accomplish that with the addition of a tiny touch of smoked paprika or chipotle powder that will sell the illusion without making things savory. Shake it up with lime juice and ice, and serve with salt — a salted rim on your glass is crucial — and be amazed by your incredible feat of sober sorcery.

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Virgin Margarita

This nonalcoholic margarita — tart, refreshing and complex — relies on an Earl Grey simple syrup and a pinch of smoked paprika to imitate the flavors you’d typically find in the tequila-based cocktail.

For the Earl Grey simple syrup

½ cup boiling water

1 Earl Grey tea bag or 1½ teaspoons loose Earl Grey tea in a tea infuser (see Notes and Where to buy)

⅓ cup blue agave

For the margarita

1 lime, halved

Large/coarse-grain salt, for rim

Ice

3 ounces fresh lime juice (from 3 to 4 limes)

Pinch smoked paprika or chipotle powder, plus more as needed

Make the Earl Grey simple syrup: Pour the boiling water in a liquid measuring cup, add the tea and steep for about 5 minutes. Remove the tea and gently but tightly wring out the liquid from the tea bag or shake the tea infuser to extract as much liquid as possible. Stir in the agave until fully dissolved and let cool completely. You should get a generous ¾ cup. If not using right away, transfer to a bottle or lidded container, and refrigerate until needed.

Make the margarita: Chill two rocks glasses in the freezer for 5 to 10 minutes. Meanwhile, make a small pile of salt on a plate. Cut a wedge off of one of the lime halves, and thinly slice the remaining lime half into wheels. Rub the lime wedge around the outside rim of the glass, then roll that rim gently over the salt to create a salt edge. Fill the glass with ice, and repeat with the other glass.

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice, stir together the Earl Grey simple syrup, lime juice and smoked paprika until thoroughly chilled and diluted, about 15 seconds. Taste, and add more smoked paprika, if desired. Strain into the prepared glasses, garnish each with a lime wheel and serve immediately.

Makes 2 drinks.

Substitutions: Earl Grey tea can be substituted with black tea or lapsang souchong (smoked black) tea, but the final flavor will be quite different. Blue agave can be substituted with regular agave.

Variations: To make a frozen nonalcoholic margarita: In a blender, combine the Earl Grey simple syrup, lime juice and smoked paprika. Add enough ice to bring the liquid to the 2-cup mark, then blend until smooth and slushy, about 10 seconds. Divide between salt-rimmed glasses and serve right away.

Notes: It’s important to seek out the best-quality Earl Grey tea you can find. Look for bergamot oil in the ingredients or, at the very least, natural bergamot flavor. Avoid a tea blend that uses artificial flavors.

Make ahead: The Earl Grey simple syrup needs to be prepared and completely cooled before making the cocktail.

Storage: The Earl Grey simple syrup can be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.

Where to buy: Blue agave syrup can be found at well-stocked supermarkets, natural food stores and online. Quality Earl Grey tea — either loose or in bags — can be found at well-stocked supermarkets, tea shops, specialty shops and online.

Nutrition per drink: 132 calories, 35g carbohydrates, 0mg cholesterol, 0g fat, 3g fiber, 0g protein, 0g saturated fat, 14mg sodium, 29g sugar

— Food writer Allison Robicelli