The Matcha Craze Comes To The Cocktail Bar

The Matcha Martini

Yoshi Matcha Liqueur

If you hadn’t already noticed, matcha is kind of a big deal these days. In fact, it’s the fastest-growing subsegment of coffee/tea in the United States today – expanding 8x more rapidly than the overall coffee sector today. If you live in or around any major city, you hardly need to see these stats in writing. You can simply walk down the streets and gawk at the massive queues perpetually forming outside of places like Cha Cha Matcha (or 12 Matcha if you’re in Manhattan, specifically).

From coast to coast, the trendiest cafes these days are peddling ceremonial-grade expressions of the revered style of green tea that’s been powdered and celebrated in China and Japan for centuries. It’s this cultural significance, along with intensity of flavor – and caffeine – and even purported anti-oxidative health benefits, that make the drink uniquely suited to a modern, always-on-the-go audience. Its vibrant green photogenic appeal doesn’t hurt in the Instagram era, either.

The trend extends well beyond the cafe, too. There are brands such as Jade Leaf bringing high-grade offerings – along with all of the traditional tools of implementation – directly to your door via monthly subscription services. Hotels are also working it into their in-house amenities. Last month in Los Angeles, Viceroy Santa Monica launched a partnership with More Than Matcha, showcasing a “wellness-forward daytime pop-up” from the LA-based brand. And the Six Senses luxury hotel chain is celebrating the month of June (prime season for fresh tea in Japan) with an wholly matcha-infused afternoon tea service at its newest outpost in the heart of Kyoto.

It was only a matter of time until the trend spilled over into the realm of cocktails. The only question is, what took so long?

Well, to be clear, craft bartenders across the US have been working the ingredient into menu offerings for the better part of a decade. Ramen-San in Chicago put a Bees Knees with matcha-infused yuzu bourbon on its drink list back in 2015. Fig Restaurant inside the Fairmont Miramar was presenting a Matcha Mai Tai around that same time. Countless other examples cropped up at cocktail bars across the latter parts of the 2010s.

But it wasn’t until last year that we finally saw the introduction of the world’s first premium matcha liqueur. It’s called Yoshi, and it has already become a hit in bars and bottle shops across the greater Northeast. The immediate appeal is obvious; the 34-proof bright green booze combines ceremonial grade matcha and shelf-stable oat milk with a well-textured neutral grain spirit base to form a rich and creamy liquid. It delivers aromas of fresh cut grass and a subtly herbal, bittersweet taste familiar to fans of the fresh tea.

Despite the creaminess of body and the sweetness of the finish, it’s actually dairy-free, gluten-free and lower in sugar and calories than most of its competitors in the cream liqueur category. Though when it comes to direct competition, it’s pretty much the only game in town – for now. And for good reason: it took the founders of the brand more than two years to develop a proper recipe that delivered on flavor while avoiding unseemly separation in the bottle.

Indeed, Yoshi brandishes its contents proudly in a transparent glass. Simply uncork it and shake with ice for a chilled pour (or opt for the brand’s signature Matcha Martini serve, which involves 2:1 liqueur to vodka along with .5 of simple syrup and an egg white, to be shaken up into a frothed frenzy). Though its name is used to invoke good luck in Japanese, many US drinkers will probably associate the name Yoshi with the beloved Nintendo dinosaur of Super Mario World fame – who just so happens to be matcha-toned, himself.

Yet despite the playfulness of the brand, this is very serious liquid. A lot of thought went into its design. Quality of ingredients is evidenced in each sip. There has to be such in order to justify its $40 a bottle price tag. At any rate, if it leads the charge in an imminent matcha booze boom its success will have nothing to do with good luck and everything to do with being the right product at the right time. Other matcha brands following in its wake would be green with envy.