Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

Be a Matcha Matcha Man and Whip Up These 4 Matcha Cocktails

Sam Slaughter
By

Walk into any hipster coffee shop in the nation now and you’re going to see matcha. It’s the stuff that looks like green cocaine, but isn’t (well, literally, at least). Matcha is, in fact, ground-up green tea. Before harvesting, these green tea leaves are shade-grown, which produces more caffeine and another compound, theanine, which are both why matcha is praised for its energy-giving abilities. When they’re finally on their way to process, the stems and veins are also removed.

More Cocktail Recipes

As with the best ingredients, matcha is versatile — it’s  great for cocktails. I mean, who doesn’t want a healthy caffeine boost when they’re drinking? Below, we’ve gathered some great matcha cocktails to tempt your palates. (As an added bonus, all four cocktails contain one of our favorite liqueurs: St-Germain.)

Recommended Videos

Don’t usually carry matcha in the house? Pick some up here.

Related

Green in the Afternoon

matcha cocktails green in the afternoon
Image used with permission by copyright holder
  • 0.5 oz St-Germain elderflower liqueur
  • 0.25 oz limoncello
  • 2 dashes of absinthe
  • Pinch of matcha power
  • Sparkling wine

Method: Add to ingredients to a flute glass, top up with sparkling wine, and stir gently.

Green Blossom

matcha cocktails green blossom
Brent Hofacker/123RF Image used with permission by copyright holder
  • 0.75 oz tequila
  • 0.75 oz St-Germain
  • 0.5 oz matcha power mixed with water (1 to 1)
  • 0.5 oz cloudy apple juice
  • 0.25 oz lemon juice

Method: Shake ingredients with ice and pour into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a green apple slice. 

Matcha Flip

matcha cocktails matcha flip
Image used with permission by copyright holder
  • 2 oz sake
  • 1 oz St-Germain
  • 0.5 oz coconut & matcha powder syrup
  • 1 whole egg

Method: Add all the ingredients into a shaker and dry shake with no ice to emulsify the egg then add ice shake vigorously and strain into a glass. Add a pinch of matcha powder as a garnish.

(Green in the Afternoon, Green Blossom, and Matcha Flip all created by St-Germain Global Ambassador, Camille Ralph Vidal)

Goodnight Julep

matcha cocktails goodnight julep
Food Photographer/Getty Images Image used with permission by copyright holder

(Created by Nitecap, New York City)

Method: Take your julep tin and rub the mint leaves around the glass. Discard mint. Add all ingredients and swizzle with crushed ice. Top with more crushed ice and garnish with a lavish mint bouquet, matcha powder, and powdered sugar.

Editor’s Note: This article is part of The Manual’s larger Journey to Japan travel guide. Over the course of a month, our writers had the pleasure of experiencing Japan in its many forms, from high-rise bars in Tokyo to traditional tea-ceremonies in Kyoto. We hope this series of articles will not only inform, but inspire you to take your own trip to the Land of the Rising Sun.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Sam Slaughter
Sam Slaughter
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Sam Slaughter was the Food and Drink Editor for The Manual. Born and raised in New Jersey, he’s called the South home for…
You’re overlooking the most important ingredient in your cocktail
Steel Hibiscus cocktail.

When you list off the most important parts of making a good cocktail your mind likely goes immediately to good ingredients: quality spirits, freshly squeezed citrus juices, and well-matched mixers. You might also consider the importance of using the right tools, like getting a proper mixing glass so your stirred drinks can be properly incorporated, or a good strainer so that there aren't little shards of ice in your cocktails. And then there are the fun additions like elaborate garnishes, bitters, or home-made syrups which can add a personal touch to your drinks.
All of those things are important, absolutely. However I think there's one ingredient that can make or break a good cocktail, and it's something many drinkers don't ever stop to consider. It's the humble but vital ingredient of ice.

Why ice is so important
In mixed drinks like a gin and tonic or a screwdriver, ice is added to the drink primarily to chill it down to a pleasing temperature. That's a topic we'll come back to. But in cocktails which are shaken or stirred, ice is far more important than that. Cocktails are typically composed of between around 20 to 30 percent water, and this water comes from the ice used in the preparation process.
When you stir ingredients in a mixing glass or shake them in a shaker with ice, you are chipping away small pieces of the ice so that it dissolves and blends with your other ingredients. You might imagine that water doesn't make much of a difference to taste, being tasteless itself. But it's vital in opening up the flavors of other ingredients. That's why many whiskey drinkers like to add a dash of water to their whiskey when they drink it neat.
If you're ever in doubt of how important water is to cocktails, it's worth trying to make a drink with no ice. Even if you mix up the ideal ratios for a drink that you love and put it into the freezer so that it gets to the chilled temperature that you usually enjoy it at, if you sip it you'll find that your drink tastes harsh, unbalanced, and incomplete. Even for special room temperature cocktails like those designed to be drunk from a flask, you'll generally find water being added at a rate of around 30%.
When you make your cocktails you should be sure to stir for a long time – around 30 seconds is a good start – or to shake for a good while too – I typically do around 12 to 15 seconds – in order to melt enough ice to get plenty of water into your cocktail. Despite what you might imagine, this won't make the cocktail taste watery but will rather make the flavors stand out more as well as often improving the mouthfeel of the drink. A good rule of thumb is to mix or shake until the vessel is cold to the touch. That means your ingredients are sufficiently incorporated with the ice.

Read more
How to reverse sear for a flawless steak every time
Trust us, you're going to want to try this method
Sliced steak on cutting board

It seems that every day, there's a new method of cooking that seems, honestly, pretty superfluous compared to the old-fashioned way of doing things. As a cooking purist myself, I sometimes find it difficult not to roll my eyes at many of the new techniques and culinary trends or methods that promise to be "easier than ever" or the "best" way to cook something. Usually, I like to cook the way my Grandmother did. Give me a wooden spoon, a good cast iron pan, an oven, and some fire, and I'll be good to go. Admittedly, I've been pulled out of this way of thinking once or twice - like the time I finally dropped my pride and tried sous vide ribs. Good lord. That one delicious experience showed me that - just maybe - there's still a little room for modern cooking upgrades every now and then. Reverse searing is one of those modern upgrades. And for those of us who still cringe a bit when trying out a new cooking gadget, worry not. Only the process itself is modern. This method requires absolutely no specialized equipment - just an oven and a good-quality pan.

Reverse searing steak allows for a better handle on temperature control, decreasing your chances of overcooking that beautiful ribeye. This method also creates a gorgeously caramelized crust on the outside of your steak. When placed in the oven first, the surface of the meat will dry more thoroughly and make for a better pan-sear later on.
How to reverse sear a steak

Read more
The 10 best gins for a refreshing gin and tonic
Grab one of these for your next G&T
Gin and tonic lime lemon rosemary

The gin and tonic is always in season, even in the depths of winter, but there's something perfect about a great G&T as the days get longer and warmer (aka, right now). Naturally, the best gins make for the best G&T, so don't sell your drink short.

Quinine, the main flavoring and base of tonic water, turned out to taste pretty bitter and nasty, so people turned to gin to help get their daily dose of the malaria-fighting compound. Combined with a little lime juice, a warm-weather classic was born. These days, the G&T can be simple or extravagant, so to help you find your best version, we've put together a list of our favorite gins for a G&T. Here are the best gins.

Read more