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One day, I had a very healthy guest who could not drink any alcohol, not even a drop, (except bitters of course hehehe)… it had to happen.
I was pretty embarrassed cause I focused all my skills on melting ingredients to spirits ; and alcohol-spirits really means to me the spirit of a drink, the based layer, the structure, the skeleton.
The main problem as you can imagine is finding a way to mark down a mocktail thru ingredients you can easily find in a city. Avoiding the typical and icky all-fruit-juice.
The guest was a french lady and as I love complexity and exotism, the choice was obvious to me : my strength was in my japanese roots, giving a chance to my guest to discover new horizons, ingredients, flavors and enjoy a new culture.
Cause of my guest’s activities and gender, I opted for a herbal and healthy long drink.
I use 抹茶 (Matcha : Japanese powdered green tea. It is very bitter and super tonic), シソ (Shiso Leave : which is a large japnese aromatic leave), 柚子 (Yuzu : a japanese citrus mainly used for it’s zest, the perfume is very particular and spicy)
So here is the mocktail and cocktail version. I hope you will enjoy it.
Careful reader. Matcha is pretty powerful stuff and even more powerful, to me, than redbull. I often use it after 2 consecutive skipped nights to keep me awake. If you go to bed, don’t even think about it :}
乾杯 !
- 1oz. Gin (optional)
- 1 tsp. 抹茶 (Matcha)
- 1 tsp. Orgeat Syrup
- 1 tsp. 柚子 (Yuzu)
- 2 シソの葉 (Shiso)
- Dashes : Celery Bitter (セロイムビター)
- Dash : Shiso Tincture (シソチンキ剤)
- Tonic Water
- Garnish : シソの葉 (Shiso Leave)
- Dissolve Matcha in 1oz. of clear clean water (or gin). Add suryp, yuzu, bitters (and the spirit for the cocktail version)
- In a shaker, muddle the 2 Shiso leaves and add the previous mix. Shake with ice
- Strain into a chilled highball glass, top with tonic water and garnish