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Intro

I like this cocktail because it’s so versatile — you can make this with alcohol, without alcohol, as a single cocktail, as a large format cocktail...it goes on and on.  The earthy, grassy notes of matcha paired with the floral, citrusy flavors of yuzu and the hint of sweetness from honey is an amazing combination!  

I’ve made many versions of this cocktail — with egg white, without egg white, with shochu as the base, with vodka as the base, with a variety of garnishes...Anyways, what I’m trying to get at is that this can be a very flexible cocktail!  If hosting a party, it’d be better to make the non-egg white version detailed here or else I’d recommend buying an ISI whipped cream canister (or just know you’re in for a hell of an arm workout if shaking egg white cocktails by hand haha).  If you’re making this sans-alcohol, use regular ice cubes or crushed ice.

A couple notes on the ingredients:

• I wouldn’t use any fancy ceremonial-grade matcha for this; it’d be a waste

• Make sure to not use boiling water (or water that’s too hot), or else the matcha will oxidize too much, brown in color, and lose a lot of the flavor

• Yuzu extract (sometimes called yuzu juice) is relatively easy to find at your local Asian supermarket; sometimes Whole Foods will have it or you can just turn to Amazon!  The one I use in this recipe is pictured here; whatever you do, make sure you’re buying 100% yuzu concentrate/juice and NOT a yuzu soda, yuzu ponzu, etc.

For the matcha mixture (enough for ~ 7 cocktails):

• 2 TBSP matcha powder

• 1 cup water

• Scant ¾ cup of honey

For each cocktail:

• 2 oz prepared matcha mixture

• ¼ oz yuzu concentrate

• Alcohol base (if using):

  • 2 oz vodka + ¾ oz dry vermouth, OR

  • 3 oz vodka + muddled pink peppercorns, OR

  • 3 oz shochu, OR

  • 2¾ oz London dry gin

• Big ice cube (1½ - 2” cube or sphere)

• Garnish: lightly crushed pink peppercorn or candied ginger piece (optional)

Make the matcha mixture (enough for ~ 7 cocktails):

1. Heat up your 1 cup of water to ~80 degrees Celsius (or remove from heat well before boiling if you have no way of measuring temperature); remove from heat

2. Put the matcha powder and honey in a chawan matcha bowl (or any other small bowl) and slowly pour in the water and whisk well; put aside to cool until no longer hot, giving it a good whisk every once in a while

For each cocktail:

To a cocktail shaker, lightly muddle some pink peppercorn (if using only vodka) and add standard ice, 2 oz of the prepared & cooled matcha mixture, yuzu concentrate/juice, and your alcohol base (if using)

Seal and shake for at least 20 seconds; double strain into a coupe over a large ice cube/sphere

Garnish with lightly crushed pink peppercorn or candied ginger (optional)

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