What happens when you combine soul-balancing elixirs with vodka? Enter chakra cocktails. Happy hour just got a little more meaningful.
Rohini Moradi, the conscious creator behind the spiritual tinctures, spent nearly 10 years behind the bar watching people sip cocktails filled with artificial ingredients. “Seeing everyone consume these horrible, sugary drinks— to watch people deteriorate in front of you, is pretty scary,” Moradi recalled. She wanted to create natural cocktails with a higher purpose.
Moradi hails from a lineage of healers. Growing up Iran in the 80s, her father was an advocate for “using the Earth’s gifts to cure ailments.” After a doctor recommended an operation on a malignant cyst when she was 18, Moradi began to explore alternative treatments using herbs prescribed by her dad. After making a full recovery, she became obsessed with studying the benefits of organic herbs and spices.
Moradi combines her knowledge of mixology with natural remedies to make boozy drinks that actually make you feel better. (photo courtesy of Moradi)
Since becoming a bartender at age 21, Moradi has been actively fiddling with ways to use her unique knowledge of natural remedies and mixology to help others. “I was serving these [chakra] cocktails at a bar on Haight Street and built up a crowd from the usually quiet shift.” She saw a gap in the market for the chakra-curious cocktail lover, and in 2013 her company Wheel Apothecary was born. Moradi has handcrafted seven different tinctures, each one to focused on a different chakra, or energy center in the body— all organic, all non-GMO, all tasty enough to replace your go-to Sazerac.
How do they work? Say you’re feeling bummed because that last Tinder date was a disaster. Your heart chakra may be blocked up. This can manifest physically, with increased stress or immune issues. A few drops of Moradi’s heart chakra elixir added to vodka could do the trick— or at least take the edge off. The alcohol thins the blood, allowing the chakra mixtures to be better absorbed into the blood stream at a high potency.
Moradi now runs a bartending school, The Cocktail Camp, where she implements her theories influenced by herbal medicine and nutrition. Though reception for the elixirs has been widely positive around the Bay Area, she isn’t looking for fame or fortune. Instead she goes by a mantra that “the people who want it will find it.”
Could our spiritual center be found at the bottom of a glass? We’ll cheers to that. // You can find the chakra tinctures on the Wheel Apothecary website, wheelapothecary.com
That Girl (Second Chakra, affects creativity and sexuality)
1.5 oz Hana Gin
1/2 oz Roya Spirit Simple Syrup
¼ oz Tangerine Juice
8 drops Sacral Tincture
In a shaker:
1. Add all ingredients then add ice.
2. Shake until tin frosts over.
3. Double strain into cocktail glass and enjoy.
The Merman (Fourth Chakra: promotes love, joy, and inner peace)
1.5 oz Seven Stills Whiskey
1/2 oz Roya Spirit Simple Syrup
A pinch of dill
8 drops of Heart Tincture
In mixing glass:
1. Muddle dill until the scent takes over, then add all other ingredients.
2. Fill with ice and stir until glass frosts over.
3. Double strain into cocktail glass and enjoy.
Ro's Merry Baby (Third Chakra: boosts confidence and self-control)
1.5 oz Hana gin
1/2 oz Roya Spirit Simple Syrup
1/2 oz lime juice
10 strands of rosemary
8 drops of Naval Tincture
In a shaker:
1. Muddle rosemary until scent takes over.
2. Add Hana gin, Roya Spirit Simple Syrup, and lime juice.
3. Fill with ice and shake until tin frosts over.
4. Double strain into cocktail glass and enjoy.
