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Tea cocktails are some of my favorite, but are notoriously tricky to get right. Their often subtle flavors can make them hard to integrate into a cocktail. With this recipe from More Savory Goods though, I knew this would be good. The first step was to source jasmine pearls. We only had ordinary jasmine leaves in the pantry, and I was pretty sure their aroma wouldn't be strong enough. However, if it's one thing the Bay Area is good for, it's having a specialty shop for ever

Last year, I made a batch of orangecello with the oranges grown in my backyard. It's been around since before I was born, and in my opinion, beats any orange I've ever had from a supermarket. Something about picking it right of the tree and eating it just feels way better than one from an unknown origin that always tends to be a bit too sour, or too small, or too dry. And when you live in a region known for growing fruits, it's best to take advantage of it. The problem I ha

We're getting closer to cherry blossom season both in Japan and here in the States, and I wanted to create a cocktail that enveloped the concept of cherry blossoms. This project started last year in December and ended up being quite the endeavor. A lot of cherry blossom cocktails involve the use of cherry liqueurs or maybe a dried cherry blossom flower as a garnish to try and emulate the "feeling" of the sakura season, rather than having it taste like it. However, the taste

After the success of making vodka fat-washed with truffle oil, I wanted to keeping venturing down the path of fat-washing, and my attention turned to sesame oil. I had used sesame oil before in cocktails, usually by ever so carefully dripping a few drops of it into my tin shaker, trying not to add too much lest it overtake everything else in the cocktail. However, instead of adding sesame oil to the cocktail as a whole, fat-washing would allow me to use it to affect one compo

This recipe comes from More Savory Goods' video , a recipe he calls a "savory and spicy margarita". Itself adapted from a recipe from Imbibe , it's a fascinating look at some unique ingredients and I put my own special little spin on it as well. Enter Ancho Reyes Verde . It's a poblano pepper liqueur that's 40% ABV, making it...really strong for a liqueur, actually. This is the first alcohol I've had that is spicy, but you can genuinely taste the toasty notes of peppers in

With ingredients hailing from Peru, France, Barbados, and around the world, this cocktail is truly multinational. This recipe is the same as the Scarlet Glow , which I renamed because mine didn't turn out glowing red like theirs. It calls for: 2 oz pisco 3/4 oz pink grapefruit juice 1/2 oz yellow chartreuse 1/2 oz hibiscus simple syrup (equal parts simple syrup and brewed hibiscus tea) Pour all liquids into shaker. Shake with small ice cubes Double strain into a rocks glass

Unlike many of my cocktails, this one didn't start out with the intention of making a cocktail, but rather experimenting with one of its ingredients: fat washed vodka. I'd always wanted to get into fat washing cocktails. I'd milk washed cocktails many times before and was quite experienced with the process, but fat washing was something I hadn't had the chance to get into, due to how seemingly daunting the process is. However, I didn't particularly want to melt down butter or

I'm quite a fan of the equal parts formula. Simple to make, straight to the point, and also quite loaded on the alcohol content. This time, the main feature was umeshiso liqueur, combining Japanese plums and shiso leaves to create a brilliant mixer that is quite on the sweet end. To be honest, while I do pick up on some shiso notes in this liqueur, the sweetness of the plum is a lot stronger, which makes me wonder if I'd be able to recreate something similar to it by infusing

Hojicha is great as a tea and in desserts. A nice hojicha soft serve far eclipses its matcha equivalent. But when it comes to the world of cocktails, matcha and hojicha serve VERY different purposes. While matcha is most commonly used drink-wise in the ever so popular matcha latte or rarely in cocktails such as the Yuzu Salty Dog and the Tea Ceremony from Martiny's in NYC, hojicha is used as simply plain tea and doesn't see much application past that. This cocktail, like man

How much lavender could I use in a cocktail? While most people exercise moderation, I wanted this cocktail to be an exercise in how much of an ingredient can be used in something while still having it taste phenomenal. While searching "lavender gin sour" on Google might reveal some common recipes to use as a baseline, I didn't start there. Rather, I first took inspiration from this video by More Savory Goods showcasing a Jasmine Gin Sour. It's amazing, by the way, and was th