Matcha Gin Sour
Gin, lemon, sugar, a teaspoon of matcha and an egg white, dry-shaken. The green-tea gin sour of the 2010s — grassy, bitter-sweet and pale green under the foam, and a drink that tastes of the tea.
Built to the standard modern spec; not yet tested in our kitchen. How we test.
The recipe.
Scaling adjusts quantities only. Prepare shaken drinks in individual portions.
Let’s make a good drink.
Sift the matcha into a shaker and add the simple syrup; stir to a smooth paste.
Add the gin, lemon juice and egg white and dry shake without ice for 10 seconds.
Add ice and shake hard for 12 seconds.
Double strain into a chilled coupe and dust a little matcha on the foam.
A thoughtful finish
- Sift the matcha and paste it with the syrup first, or it clumps.
- Dry shake first; the foam is the texture.
- A quarter-ounce more syrup if the matcha is bitter.
Common mistakes
- Unsifted matcha, which leaves green lumps.
- Too much matcha; a teaspoon is plenty.
- Skipping the dry shake.
A few good questions.
What does a Matcha Gin Sour taste like?
A gin sour with green tea's grassy bitterness under a pale green foam — vegetal, tart and smooth.
Which matcha?
Any; ceremonial grade is brighter and smoother, culinary grade more bitter.
Is there caffeine?
A little — about a third of a cup of coffee.
Vegan?
Aquafaba foams nearly as well as egg white.
Variations
- Gin Sour — Gin, lemon, sugar and egg white.
- Earl Grey MarTEAni — Earl Grey gin, lemon, sugar and egg white.
- Hibiscus Gin Sour — Gin, lemon, hibiscus syrup and egg white.
- Green Tea Shot — Irish whiskey, peach schnapps and sour.
Where it comes from
c. 2015 · United States / Japan
Matcha, the powdered green tea of the Japanese tea ceremony, reached Western bars in the mid-2010s on the back of the matcha latte, and the Matcha Gin Sour was its first durable cocktail: a gin sour with a teaspoon of matcha whisked or shaken in, and an egg white for the foam, which the powder tints pale green. Matcha’s grassy, vegetal bitterness suits gin’s juniper and lemon’s acid, and the foam softens it; the tea also gives the drink a faint caffeine lift. It appears on menus from Los Angeles to Tokyo and in Difford’s and the usual sites. Ceremonial-grade matcha is bright green and smooth; culinary grade is browner and more bitter, and both work in a shaker.
Sources
- Difford's Guide, Matcha Sour, 2016 (reference)
- Punch, Matcha Cocktails, 2018 (reference)
- Liquor.com, Matcha Gin Sour, 2021 (reference)
Strength. About 1.47 US standard drinks at an estimated 15.1% ABV, estimated from the ingredients and technique, not measured. What that means.
A little character in every sip.
A keeper?
Save this drink for your next cocktail hour.
Saved in this browser.The next great drink
might already be on your shelf.
Choose your bottles and mixers. Discover what you can make.
Your next sip.
More Gin drinks ↗
20th Century
Gin, Lillet, white crème de cacao and lemon. A 1937 drink named for a luxury train, and the proof that chocolate and…
Aviation
Gin, maraschino, lemon and a whisper of violet — a pre-Prohibition sour that spent fifty years incomplete because one ingredient vanished.
Bees Knees
Gin, lemon and honey. A Prohibition-era sour that was invented to hide bad gin and turns out to be the best thing…