Discover how to enjoy the popular izakaya drink "Green Tea Highball" authentically at home. We'll cover the basic recipe, an authentic recipe using deep-steamed sencha from Shizuoka, and even variations with yuzu and gin.
What is a Green Tea Highball?
A Green Tea Highball (or Green Tea High) is a cocktail made by mixing spirits like shochu or whiskey with green tea. It's low in sugar and calories, and you can also get catechins and theanine found in tea, making it popular among health-conscious individuals.
Basic Green Tea Highball | Golden Ratio Recipe
Ingredients: Shochu (ko-rui recommended) 60ml, Green Tea 120ml, Ice (as needed)
Instructions:
- Fill a glass generously with ice.
- Pour in the shochu.
- Add cold green tea, twice the amount of shochu (golden ratio 1:2).
- Stir lightly with a muddler and serve.
Next-Level Green Tea Highball | Brewed from Tea Leaves
While you can make it with bottled green tea, using green tea brewed from loose leaves significantly enhances the flavor. Deep-steamed sencha from Shizuoka Prefecture, in particular, has a strong richness and umami that won't be overshadowed by the alcohol's flavor.
To go even further, the "infusion" method, where tea leaves are steeped directly in alcohol, is recommended. This method extracts about 1.4 times more catechins than brewing with hot water, allowing the tea components to dissolve directly into the alcohol.
Gin is the Perfect Partner for Yuzu Green Tea
For green tea cocktails with yuzu or Japanese sansho, gin is the best match. Juniper berries, the core ingredient of gin, belong to the same "botanical aroma" family as yuzu and Japanese sansho. Ingredients with similar scents naturally blend well. Furthermore, the slightly bitter quinine notes of tonic water and the roasted aroma of kamairicha (pan-fried green tea) create a synergy. These three elements converge on a common axis of "bitterness," resulting in a crisp, dry cocktail.
For more details on choosing alcohol, please see "Choosing the Right Spirits for Tea Cocktails."
Arrangement Recipe: Yuzu Green Tea Gin & Tonic
This combination, the driest of the four kits, pairs well with the Gin & Tonic format.
Ingredients
- Tea Infusion (extracted with gin) 30ml
- Tonic Water 180ml
- Lemon juice (a little, to taste)
- Plenty of ice
Instructions
- Fill a glass generously with ice.
- Pour the lemon juice into the bottom of the glass — the acid helps to keep the yuzu aroma components (limonene) in the liquid and prevents the carbonation from dispersing the scent.
- Pour in 30ml of Tea Infusion.
- Stir gently.
- Slowly pour the tonic water along the inside wall of the glass.
- Stir lightly once and serve.
Finished product: approx. 6% alc.
If you want to learn more techniques, also check out "10 Tips to Make Your Home Cocktails Significantly More Delicious."
For Easy Enjoyment
With "Toshoshi no Ichigeki Yuzu Green Tea Highball" which combines the umami of deep-steamed sencha with the refreshing aroma of yuzu and the spice notes of cardamom and Japanese sansho, you can have the same experience simply by steeping a tea bag in your favorite gin. All four arrangement recipes are introduced in "4 Arrangement Recipes You Can Make with Convenience Store Ingredients."