Long Island Iced Tea

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (212 ratings)

Serve in a Collins glass

Ingredients:
0.42 oz Light white rum (charcoal-filtered 1-4 years old)
0.42 oz Hayman's London Dry Gin
0.42 oz Ketel One Vodka
0.42 oz Patrón Silver blanco tequila
0.42 oz Cointreau triple sec liqueur
0.42 oz Monin Pure Cane Syrup (65.0°brix, equivalent to 2:1 rich syrup)
0.42 oz Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
0.42 oz Lime juice (freshly squeezed)
2 oz Cola (e.g. Coca-Cola or Pepsi)
× 1 1 serving
Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

  1. Select and pre-chill a Collins glass.
  2. Prepare garnish of lemon slice wheel.
  3. SHAKE first 8 ingredients with ice.
  4. STRAIN into ice-filled glass whilst also pouring cola.
  5. Garnish with lemon slice.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 7/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 5/10

Review:

A cooling, combination of four different white spirits, triple sec, lemon and lime, crowned with a splash of cola.

View readers' comments

Variant:

Tokyo Iced Tea - with green melon liqueur
Adios, Motherfucker ( (AKA Alaskan Iced Tea) - with blue curaçao

History:

This infamous drink reached the height of its popularity in the early 1980s and by 1985 The New York Times reported, "A potent alcoholic drink called Long Island Iced Tea is sweeping the Island's bars as well as watering spots across the country."

Of the many stories surrounding its origin, perhaps the most credible attributes its creation to the 1970s, perhaps 1972, by Robert "Rosebud" Butt at Oak Beach Inn in Babylon, New York. This area of New York State is known as Long Island and the drink resembles an iced tea, so disguising its alcoholic contents – a fact that has many claiming its true origins go back to Prohibition.

Nutrition:

One serving of Long Island Iced Tea contains 209 calories

Alcohol content:

  • 1.3 standard drinks
  • 11.56% alc./vol. (11.56° proof)
  • 18.5 grams of pure alcohol

Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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Manuela Rodrigues’ Avatar Manuela Rodrigues
3rd June at 22:57
*typo*

« (...)
2. Prepare garnish of *lime* wedge.
(...)
5. Garnish with *lemon* slice or wedge.
(...) »
Peter McCarthy’s Avatar Peter McCarthy
16th June 2024 at 07:38
This drink has a reputation of being a vehicle for easily consuming bad-tasting well-spirits, but it really is an impressive feat of mixology: 4 spirits; 8 ingredients are of equal parts; it all works somehow. This was the first homemade one that I've tried and it, not very surprisingly, was the best one I've ever had. I'd imagine that's mostly a result of using decent ingredients: Plantation 3 Stars, Hayman's London Dry, Ketel One, El Espolon Blanco, & Cointreau.
Avery Garnett’s Avatar Avery Garnett
2nd March 2024 at 18:50
this sure does taste like you emptied the liquor shelf into a glass and topped it with cola.
Jose Cruz’s Avatar Jose Cruz
1st November 2023 at 03:46
limit cola to 50ml and simple syrup to 15ml ;)
20th January 2022 at 06:36
A unique, conceptual drink that feels light and fresh despite containing a lot of booze, actually.
Promise Xu’s Avatar Promise Xu
18th September 2021 at 02:39
If you are tempted to cut the corner a bit and put in only lemon or lime juice, please don't. The combination of these two, IMHO, gives a delightful depth to the flavour.
11th September 2021 at 19:47
Kan sagtens drikkes, men spild af ingredienser. Smager af tequila og citrus og der findes meget bedre tequila cocktails.
Kevin Duffy’s Avatar Kevin Duffy
31st January 2021 at 14:46
I always like to add a dash of angostura bitters to mine for a little extra depth.
Areum Jeon’s Avatar Areum Jeon
30th October 2020 at 12:09
I love this orinigal version, but do you have an Adios Mother F.(or a Alaskan Iced Tea) recipe, which is a blue riff on this cocktail, here too?
Simon Difford’s Avatar Simon Difford
15th June 2021 at 07:11
Please see "Variant" above for a link to the blue Adios Motherfucker version.
Simon Difford’s Avatar Simon Difford
30th October 2020 at 14:08
I've just added a link to the Adios Mother... page above. Thanks for bringing omission to my attention.
25th August 2020 at 19:27
I discovered it years ago in Cyprus. I will next try the long island spiced tea